Experiences and Observations: an autobiography of a German Texan newspaperman

By William Andreas Trenckmann and William Trenckmann

This is the autobiography of William Andreas Trenckmann, prominent German American newspaperman from Austin County, Texas. He grew up in Millheim, one of the five Lateiner Settlements in Texas, tight knit communities of German intellectuals forced to leave their homeland because of their participation in the unsuccessful movement to overthrow monarchies in Europe in 1848. They were opposed to slavery and against secession from the Union in 1861, and suffered because of these beliefs during the Confederacy. Trenckmann was valedictorian of the first graduating class at Texas A&M College, taught in the schools at Frelsburg, Shelby and Bellville, then launched a highly successful career as publisher of a German-language newspaper, the Bellville Wochenblatt. He served two terms as the Austin County representative in the Texas legislature. He moved to Austin in 1909, where he continued to publish Das Wochenblatt. Trenckmann used his newspaper to champion his favored causes, and oppose others. He was a strong supported of civil liberties and free elections. He opposed prohibition, Sunday Laws, and the Ku Klux Klan. One of Trenckmann's enduring traits was a devotion to his German heritage, which he described in great detail in his memoirs. He strongly believed that German immigrants should learn English and adopt American institutions, at the same time maintaining their German language and cultural mores. In his memoirs he vividly described the turmoil he and other German Texans experienced during World War I. They openly supported theirfatherland in the early years of the war, but wereforced to relinquish this support and much of theircultural habits when the United States entered theWar in 1917. Trenckmann's descriptions of his early days in Millheim, coupled with mention of many of his contemporaries of that time, will be of interest to those living in that area today as well as those living elsewhere whose ancestors were German immigrants to Austin County. His descriptions of Austin in the 1920's include stories of the cultural icons of German heritage remaining today - Sangerunde Hall and Scholtz Garden. William and his wife Matilde Miller Trenckmann had four children.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1514335751
• ISBN13: 9781514335758
• Release Date: June 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"