The Fisher–Miller Land Grant was part of an early colonization effort of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

. Its 3,878,000 acres covered between the Llano River and

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

. Originally granted to

Henry Francis Fisher Henry Francis Fisher (in German ''Heinrich Franz Fischer'', 1805–1867) was a German Texan. Born in Kassel, Electorate of Hesse in 1805, Fisher left the mainland in late 1833 spending a year each, in London and New York, and two years in New Orlean ...

and Burchard Miller, the grant was sold to the German colonization company of

Adelsverein The ''Mainzer Adelsverein at Biebrich am Rhein'' (''Verein zum Schutze Deutscher Einwanderer in Texas''; "Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas"), better known as the ''Mainzer Adelsverein'' (; "Nobility Society of Mainz"), orga ...

. Very few colonizations resulted from the land grant, as most settlers preferred Fredericksburg and New Braunfels, which lay outside the land grant boundaries. A granite monument located near Lookout Mountain in Burnet County summarizes the history and importance of the Fisher-Miller Land Grant and was designated as a

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL) is a designation awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for historically and architecturally significant properties in the U.S. state of Texas. RTHL is a legal designation and the highest honor the st ...

in 1964, Marker number 9438.

Counties within Fisher–Miller Land Grant

Ten counties were formed from the Fisher–Miller Land Grant: * Concho * Kimble * Llano * Mason * McCulloch * Menard * Schleicher * San Saba *

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

Tom Green Michael Thomas Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian and American comedian, show host, actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted '' The Tom Green Show'', whi ...

Republic of Texas land grants

The

issued colonization land grants with individuals and conditional upon said individuals establishing settlements in a stated geographical area of Texas. They were limited to a given time period in which the colonization had to take place.

Fisher and Miller

On February 8, 1842,

, Joseph Baker and Burchard Miller, representing the San Saba Colonization Company, petitioned for a land grant from the Republic of Texas. On June 7, 1842, Henry Francis Fisher and Burchard Miller received a colonization land grant to settle 1,000 immigrant families of German, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry. The grant was issued as the Fisher–Miller Land Grant. The contract was renewed on September 1, 1843 by the Republic of Texas House of Representatives. The Fisher–Miller Land Grant consisted of 3,878,000 acres over 5,000 square miles between the Llano River and

, in the heart of the

Comancheria The Comancheria (Comanche: Nʉmʉnʉʉ Sookobitʉ, 'Comanche land'; Spanish: ''Comanchería''), also known as the Comancherian Empire, was a historic region covering modern New Mexico, West Texas, and nearby areas that was occupied by the Comanch ...

. These lands constituted part of the hunting grounds of the Penateka Comanche Indians. Fisher and Miller had no success of colonization within the allotted time, but were able to get the timeline extended.

Adelsverein

When Fisher and Burchard Miller sold the grant to the

on June 26, 1844, they were aware of the dangers of settling in Comancheria, but did not inform the Verein. Likewise, the Verein accepted the sale on face value and did not question it. The Verein was also obligated to take over expenses of the San Saba Colonization Company, and to make Henry Fisher part of the Verein colonial committee. The first Adelsverein Commissioner-General Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels had no success in colonization of the land grant. The responsibility then fell to John O. Meusebach as his successor. Meusebach successfully negotiated a non-government peace treaty with the Penateka Comanche in 1847.

Darmstadt Society of Forty

Darmstadt Society of Forty founders Hermann Spiess and Ferdinand Ludwig Herff were approached in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

Vice President and Executive Secretary-Business Director Count Carl Frederick Christian of Castell-Castell, who made a deal with them to colonize two hundred families on the Fisher–Miller Land Grant territory in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In return, they were to receive $12,000 in money, livestock, equipment and provisions for a year. After the first year, the colonies were expected to support themselves. Emil Kriewitz was detailed to guide the settlers through the land grant territory. The colonies attempted were

Castell A ''castell'' (: literally, ''castle'') is a human tower built traditionally at festivals in a part of Catalonia (Spain), now also found in the rest of Catalonia, in the Balearic islands and in the Valencian Community. At these festivals, s ...

, Leiningen, Bettina, Schoenburg and Meerholz in Llano County; Darmstädler Farm in

Comal County Comal County ( ) is a County (United States), county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 161,501. Comal County is known for its rich German-Texan and Eu ...

; and

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

in Kendall County. Of these, only Castell and Tusculum (later Boerne) survives.

Notes

References

External links

Texas General Land Office
{{Texas History Navbox Pre-statehood history of Texas German-American history German-American culture in Texas Republic of Texas Texas Hill Country Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks Concho County, Texas Kimble County, Texas Llano County, Texas McCulloch County, Texas Mason County, Texas Menard County, Texas San Saba County, Texas Schleicher County, Texas Sutton County, Texas Tom Green County, Texas Land grants