The GEIER and SCHMID Family Farms in Selma, Texas
1854-1894
The Geier and Schmid family homesteads were located approximately 16 miles northeast from San Antonio along the Cibolo Creek in Selma, Texas.
Wilhelm Geier, his wife, Theodora, and their daughter, Johanna came to Texas by ship from Wolfenbuttel, Germany. They left Bremen, Germany and landed at the Port of Galveston on or about the first day of March 1849. They moved inland and settled in Comal County. Geier became a United States citizen on November 20, 1851, when he appeared in open court during the Fall Term of 1851 to "renounce and abjure forever all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state and sovereignty whatsoever, particularly to the Duke of Brunswick, of whom he was before a subject."
Geier, his wife, and daughter are listed in the 1850 Comal County Census as William Geier (41), Dorothea (37) and Johanna (11).
Martin Schmid and Johanna (Geyer) Geier applied for a marriage license before the Clerk of Comal County, Conrad Seabaugh, in New Braunfels, Texas on January 12, 1854. Their vows were solemnized by a "Minister of the Gospel" on January 15, 1854. Said minister was Pastor Eisenlohr of the New Braunfels Protestant Church. Click here for a photo of Martin and Johanna Schmid.
On April 26, 1855, Wilhelm Geier and Martin Schmid in a quest to own their own land moved their family from the safety of the larger New Braunfels, Texas to a new community out in a new territory when they jointly bought 127 acres of land from John and Martha Jane Harrison along the Cibolo Creek in Selma, Texas. Martha Jane Harrison had purchased her land from Johannes Keaderli and Henry Kempel on January 26, 1852. Johannes Keaderli was an original settler who was among those who came with Prince Solms of Braunfels to settle New Braunfels. In November 1850, Martha Jane Harrison and her husband, John, along with Wm. H. McCullough began the first stagecoach service through New Braunfels when they:
"gave Joseph Landa a draft for $1125 on the Post Office Department, Washington, 'For horses and wagons to be used on Route No. 6285.'"
(Note: There is a stage coach stop still in existence at the junction of Evans Road and IH-35 in Selma, Texas to this day which more than likely would be a part of this stage line.)
In New Braunfels, Texas, on November 2, 1858, Martin Schmid filed his petition ex parte in open court to become a United States Citizen. As the Court "being satisfied by the affidavits of Julius Eggeling and Andreas Lentz, that they have known the petitioner fully five years last past, that during that period he has resided within the United States of America and during the last years thereof within the State of Texas and has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of same" granted Schmid his citizenship after he renounced his allegiance and fidelity to the King of Wuerttemberg.
In 1862, Martin Schmid was listed as a Second Sargent in the "second of the three Comal County volunteer companies for service in the Confederate Army to move out from New Braunfels" under Captain Theodore Podewil's Company of Texas Mounted Riflemen. This company, Company F, was part of the 36th Regiment Texas Calvary, which was also called the 32d. The 36th Regiment was led by Col. Peter Woods and was on active duty from February 1862 through May 1865.
During his tenure as a Sargent in the Civil War, Schmid was stationed with his company at the following camps:
1. San Antonio, Texas March 31, 1862;
2. Camp Clark, Texas March 31-June 30, 1862;
3. Camp Clark, Texas July-August 1862;
4. Port Lavaca, Texas November 1, 1862-February 28, 1863;
5. Camp Sibley, Texas March-April 1863;
6. at Camp on Rocky, May-June 1863; and,
7. Camp Sidney Johnston, January-February 1864.
In the latter years of the war, this company was among the Texas troops in the Trans-Missippi Department; Roster of the 32d Regiment Texas Cavalry, Brig. Gen. X. B. Debray's Brigade, Wharton's Cavalry Corps.
In February 1869, a few years after returning from the war, Martin Schmid and his father-in-law, Wilhelm Geier, decided to split up their farm in Selma. Their agreement was for Geier to take 32 acres while Schmid took 95 acres.
Martin and Johanna and her parents were small ranchers in comparison with some of their neighbors, but their two farms laid adjacent to each other in the midst of some of the better known and larger farms there in Selma such as the William Davenport and Robert Evans properties. The families of that time in Selma depended upon each other for survival and they shared in each other's everyday lives. They also shared the responsibility of keeping their farms and families safe from Indians who made raids into the farming community and ran off with the farmers' horses. Letter No. 149 of the Texas Indian Papers 1825-1916 states:
No. 149
LETTER FROM W. E. JONES TO E. M. PEASE
Austin Monday night
24 Sept. '55
Govr. Pease,
Mr. James A. McKee, of Lavaca, arrived here tonight on the San Antonio Stage and brings information that a party of Indians on Friday night last drove off from the Cibolo near the crossing of the stage road to San Antonio sixty horses, of which 49 belonged to Mr. Davenport--
It seems that the Indians were known to have been in the neighborhood and a party had been searching for them-- On Friday night there horses were driven out into the prairie with the intention of watching them and detecting the Indians in the act of taking them-- Some mistake occurred about the meeting of the party and the Indians carried off the horses.
The stage driver says that the horses were driven off while the men were at supper --
Yours in haste
W. E. Jones
[Endorsed] His Excy, Govr Pease -- Present
These families were in grave danger from the Indians during these raids as attested to in Letter No. 141 of the Texas Indian Papers 1825-1916 which shows:
On the 20th they stole from Davenport, Wallace and others on the Cibolo (16 miles N.E. of San Antonio) from 80 to 100 head of horses; and from Mr. Bennett 5 miles N. of Town about 30 Head.
On their way down the Cibolo, they killed a negro woman belonging to Mr. Sewell, near the mouth of the Martinez--and a short distance below, butchered in cold blood a promising lad of about 12 years of age, the son of Revd Mr. McGee.
The letter goes on further to state:
The most populous County of the State has been traversed from one extrimety to the other by bands of Savages in open hostility, without a show of resistance other than could be offered by small parties of men started in pursuit upon the impulse of the moment, without provissions--half armed, and often without their hats and coats.
Throughout their married life, Martin and Johanna lived next to her parents there in Selma. They began raising a family and had four children, William (Bill), Sam (DOB 3/28/1858), Sedonia, and Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie). The Schmid family (except for Bill) and the Geiers are listed in the 1880 Bexar County Census. In this census, it shows that Johanna was a "paralized" person, but gives no explanation as to how or why she was paralyzed. Their youngest child, Sedonia, is listed as "at school."
A one-room frame school was established in 1859 on a site directly in front of the present Catholic Church. Pupils came from the surrounding territory, some traveling a hazardous route of more than ten miles. The tuition was two dollars a month and the length of the school year varied from six to ten months. As many as 44 pupils were enrolled in the school at one time and it served the community for fifteen years.
In his Last Will and Testament written in 1876, witnessed by his friends and neighbors, R. B. Evans and James McCann, Martin Schmid left 60 acres in Guadalupe County to his oldest son, Bill, and a like amount in cash ($300.00) to his other children to be inherited by them on their 21st birthdays or on the occasion of their marriage, whichever came first. To his wife he left "a tract of land consisting of 95 acres." He describes his land as that being surrounded by his neighbors as follows:
to wit, bounded on the east by the Rio Cibolo, on the North, by the Frank Bitters estate and James McCann, on the west by S.B. Sproul on the South, by William Geier.
The first item in his will is where "I desire and direct that my body be buried in a decent and Christian like manner suitable to my circumstances in life." The second item is that "I desire and direct that my just debts be paid without delay by my executrix to be hereafter appointed." Id.
He also leaves his wife, Johanna, his personal property -- that being the "household and kitchen furniture, horses, mules, cattle, wagon and farming utinsels, for the use and mantainance of my children during her natural life." Id.
Martin Schmid died on or about June 15, 1880. He was buried there on his farm.
Martin Schmid’s oldest son, Bill, had become a well-known law officer and had also served as postmaster for Selma, Texas from October 25, 1886 until August 1889. About nine years after his father’s death, Bill would be "cowardly" murdered by George Bolton on Sunday, August 11, 1889, at approximately 5:30 p.m. in Davenport, Texas (Bracken, Texas). The article states that:
"It was none the less cowardly because the victim was a bully and his taking off a relief to the community."
The article in The Daily Light goes further to state that:
Bill Schmitt was raised in Selma, Bexar County, where his wife and family now reside. Bolton is from Guadalupe where his people still live. Schmitt is the man who stabbed and killed Tobe Riley, of Medina county, some four years ago, almost on the very spot where he met his fate at the hands of Bolton last night. He was at one time a deputy sheriff of this county and was a hard citizen, his reputation for a tough being a most unenviable one.
The men had had previous trouble between them, but what that was was "not ascertained." There had been a:
shooting match at Davenport, both the men were in town and Bolton had been drinking. When Schmitt came within range of Bolton's gun the latter secured his piece and snapped a cap the cartridge not exploding. A second attempt was more successful and Schmitt fell, his breast literally shot to pieces. The murderer mounted his horse and rode off. Word was sent to New Braunfels, as the killing was in Comal County and sheriff Ham was at Davenport in less than two hours. Up to last accounts the result of the chase after Bolton had not been learned. On shooting Schmitt Bolton exclaimed, 'There -- I said I'll kill you and I did.' On his way home the murderer cooly informed the brother of the murdered man of what he had done, told him to look out for the body and rode on.
Bill Schmid was buried with his father on the family farm there in Selma.
He left behind his widow, Augusta, and his five children, John M., Emma E., Minnie S., Wm. R. (Rudolph), and Lydia R. Schmid. Augusta married a second time to John Renken and applied for guardianship of her minor children. Acting as sureties to her guardianship Oath dated January 24, 1895, were Emil Boettinger and Charles Jonas. Also signing on the Oath was Martin Stahl. Due to hardship and the inability to sustain her children financially, Augusta was forced to sell off her and her children's land "to wit: an undivided one eighth interest in 95 acres of land situated in this county, on the west band of the Cibolo Creek, about 16 miles N. E. from the City of San Antonio, being the upper 95 acres of subdivision No. 8 of survey No. 68 in the name of Toribio Herrera" to Andreas Stautzenberger for $300.00 on March 18, 1895.
She also sold to Emma Handschue for the sum of $575.00 "a one half undivided interest in and to certain real estate consisting of 16 lots in the Village of Selma, Bexar County, Texas, being a part of survey No. 68, T. Herrera original grantee, on the West bank of the Cibolo Creek near the New Braunfels Road, with the improvements thereon: Which said lots have metes and bounds as follows; -- Beginning at the S.W. corner of Block No. 6; thence N. 30, W. 160 varas to the S. W. corner of a lot heretofore sold by Marie and Adolph Bremer to John Rohm; thence N. 60, E. to the Cibolo; thence with the meanders of the Cibolo to the S.E. corner of block No. 5; thence S.60 W.100 varas to the place of beginning, the same being all of block No. 5 and all of block No. 4 except so much as was heretofore conveyed by Marie and Adolph Bremer to John Rohm. (Augusta remarried for a third time as she shows up in Johanna's probate records in 1901 as Augusta Kraemer on the Listing of Receipts and Disbursements in the Final Account dated May Term, A.D. 1901.)
Johanna remained on her farm until May 31, 1894, when she and her children sold their 127 acres to Andreas Stautzenberger for a sum of $3,000.00. Signing off on the deed were Johanna; daughter Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. Otto Bueche) [Click here for a photo, and click here for a photo of Otto's children.]; former daughter-in-law, Augusta Renken and her husband, John; son Sam Schmid; and daughter Sedonia and her husband, Robert E. L. Haile. [Click here for a HAILE family photo.] After almost 40 years of living on her farm in Selma, Texas (1854-1894), Johanna moved to San Antonio, and lived on Pierce Street near Ft. Sam Houston's Quadrangle until she passed away in August of 1899. The Bond and Oath of Administrator were signed by her former friends and neighbors, J. E. Davenport and N. A. Edens, as sureties to her probate record dated July 19, 1899. (The Davenports and Edens were two of the first families to the Selma area.)
Johanna was buried next to her husband and son at their farm in Selma, Texas.
Daughter Lizzie Bueche must have been either widowed or divorced (unlikely the latter) as she is seen as Lizzie Wuest (Mrs. Adolfo Wuest) in the Listing of Receipts and Disbursements in the Final Account of her mother's probate records dated May Term A.D. 1901.
(NOTE: No records can be found as to the dates Johanna's parents died or about the estate of Wilhelm Geier and his wife, Theodora. A search for probate records was done in Comal County and Bexar County to no avail. It can be fairly assumed that since Johanna and her children sold 127 acres to Hugo Stautzenberger in 1894 that Johanna had inherited back the 32 acres that her father, Wilhelm, had separated from his son-in-law's property in 1869.)
The Geiers were buried next to their daughter, Johanna, their son-in-law, Martin, and their grandson, Bill, on their farm in Selma, Texas.
Sam Schmid continued to live in the Selma area after his mother’s death. He had married Lena Hall (DOB 11/7/1859), a prominent settler who came to Bexar County in 1876. Together they had 7 children all born in Selma. Those children being: (sons) Sam W., William Guy, Archibald, James Edward, Jackson P. and (daughters) Effie and Minnie. On August 24, 1901, Sam and Lena bought 400 acres from A. J. Powers and moved their family to the Lockhill-Selma area off Fredericksburg Road. (Where Southwest Methodist Hospital stands today). Sam had begun to build his land holdings with a purchase in Selma from the New York and Texas Land Company, Limited (head-quartered in Palestine, Texas) when he bought 188 ¾ acres from them on May 3, 1881 for $660.00. (This deed was signed off on by the President of the company, Ira H. Evans.) Sam Schmid died on February 9, 1929, and his wife, Lena, passed away four years earlier on January 27, 1925. They are buried in Lockhill-Selma Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas along with some of their children and their spouses.
(NOTE: Andreas Stautzenberger’s son, Hugo, sold the 127 acres to Henry Friesenhahn on January 1, 1907. The Friesenhahn’s owned the property through the 1950’s. This property today is owned by the City of Universal City and has been developed into a municipal golf course. The Texas Historical Commission has awarded a historical marker to the Schmid and Geier Farm and the marker will be placed at the 12th Fairway of the golf course at the site of the Martin Schmid Family Cemetery.)
Submitted by Jean M. D. Heide
San Antonio, Texas
Great, great granddaughter of Martin and Johanna Schmid
Great Granddaughter of Sam Schmid
And Granddaughter of Archibald Schmid
Sam & Bill Schmid, sons of Martin and Johanna
Sam Schmid
Click here for a photo and transcription of the "Site of Geier and Schmid Farm" historical marker.
