This article illuminates the story of the Swiss emigrant Charles Conrad Amsler (1808-1874). He came to the United States in 1833 from Schinznach, Canton Aargau. He was the first of his family to arrive in America. Over the years, most of Charles Conrad’s siblings and his widowed mother would join him. For almost 300 years, his family had owned a flower mill in Schinznach. The first written record of this mill goes back to the 14th century.
This work draws on two extraordinary publications, authored by diligent researchers, Amanda Amsler-Howze (1901-1996) and Bruno Maurer (1920-2001). Amanda’s book «Amslers of Austin’s Colony» published in 1976, is an extensive account of the Amsler family history from the humble beginnings in Texas. Based on the work of Amanda we get a glimpse of Mexican Texas, the Texas Revolution and the short-lived Republic of Texas before it was annexed in 1845 as the 28th state in the United States of America.
Bruno, an expert local historian, has researched the history of the ancient flower mills and their owners in Schinznach, titled “Name und Ursprung der Schinznacher Mühlen”. Published in 1989 with only 50 copies, the book has been out of print. Recently, this extensive work in German has been digitalized. Bruno’s research documents centuries of Amsler miller dynasties in Schinznach and in some cases their eventual decline. Both accounts provide the structure which frames the life of our protagonist, Charles Conrad Amsler.
In addition, a wide variety of sources were consulted to reconstruct the early days of the settlers: www.texapedia.info, Wikipedia and books focused on German immigrants in Texas:
“The History of the German Settlements in Texas 1831-1861”, Rudolph Leopold Biesele, 1987
“The Millheim and Cat Spring Pioneers”, James Woodrich and Stephen Engelking, 2017.
History of the Mills in Schinznach
Bruno provides a detailed account of the history of the mills in Schinznach. The first documented mention is a deed of sale drawn up in 1371 in the town of Brugg (Brugg City Archives). It concerns the sale of two mills in Schinznach; the Truchsessen (administrators) of Habsburg sold the property in Schinznach to Johann von Ostra, then lord of Schinznach, who resided at Villnachern Castle.
Further documents detail various changes in ownership of the two mills, inheritance disputes, and court rulings. With the conquest of the Habsburg controlled Aargau by the Bernese in 1415, the sources become more detailed and records of the properties more precise. The land tax registers and tax ledgers of Königsfelden contain the names of the owners and the taxes due on their properties.
In 1560, Uli Amsler appears in these documents for the first time as the owner of the “Upper Mill”, succeeding the previous owner. Gradually, his sons also became liable for tax payments for their land possessions; Jeremias and Gideon are named. The latter moved to nearby Lenzburg. Another descendant was Heinrich, who became a citizen of Aarau in 1575 and also built a mill there.
The Upper Mill remained in possession of the same Amsler family for about nine generations. Happiness and sorrow, joy and grief were constant companions of this Amsler miller dynasty. Despite many misfortunes, they managed to keep the property in the family for over 280 years. Hans Ulrich, born in 1788, was the last representative of this family. According to a census from 1816, he was the owner and later seller of the Upper Mill.
In 1822, Hans Ulrich was forced to sell the mill. There was great economic hardship at the time. A few years earlier, the “Year Without a Summer” had led to crop failures and famine, caused by climate change resulting from a massive volcanic eruption in what is now Indonesia. The extensive renovation of the mill building in 1813 also incurred considerable costs. The debt burden had become too great.
Moreover, Hans Ulrich’s health was severely compromised; he suffered from “consumption” or tuberculosis. The sale of the mill, the accompanying barn, farmland, vineyards, and orchard yielded 7,500 guilders — barely enough to pay off all the debts.
The family residence had previously passed into the possession of the eldest son, Conrad, but this property, too, had to be sold in 1824 to the new mill owner, Heinrich Salm, for 550 guilders. A few years after the loss of the family estate, Hans Ulrich Amsler died on September 28, 1828, at the young age of 42.
Ancestors of Karl Konrad Amsler (1808-1874)
Charles Conrad is the anglicized version of Karl Konrad. He was the oldest boy of 12 children born to Hans Ulrich Amsler and Barbara Schaffner. His father owned one of the three flower mills in Schinznach, known as the “Upper Mill”.
Early years in Switzerland
Little is known about Charles Conrad’s youth in Schinznach. He got a basic school education in Schinznach and according to his grandson he was able to learn the trade of a locksmith. In those days an apprenticeship was a costly endeavor, only available to wealthy families. Fortunately, his father had the means to finance an education before his untimely death and loss of the family estate.
The recollections by John C. Amsler (1864-1946) titled “The Torch’s Final Flare” were written in 1936/7. The introduction shows a deep respect for grandfather, often referred to as “Patriarch”:
“My permanent home at Cat Spring was my paternal grandfather’s home, where, besides myself, the most important ones were grandfather, grandmother (next in importance and authority to myself), my father, Charles, his wife, Julia, and three other sons, and one daughter.”
These memoirs are not always reliable and occasionally corrections are in order. However, the account of the apprenticeship seems to be accurate:
“Grandfather was apprenticed to a Locksmith by his mother, and, having completed apprenticeship, traveled for 3 years in Switzerland and Germany as a Journey Man Locksmith where his “Wanderbuch”, in which are notations by Chief of Police of each town that he visited indicating his work and length of sojourn”.
By the end of the apprenticeship Charles Conrad was around twenty years old. His father had recently passed away, and the family fortune had disappeared. Despite the dramatic turn of events, on November 19th,1832 he got married to Maria Leuenberger. She was the oldest daughter of the local miller in nearby Kölliken and therefore belonged to the rural upper class.
The Amsler family was in a difficult situation. With most of the property gone, it was a big challenge for the recently widowed mother to support a dozen children. Susanna was the youngest, barely one year old when her father died. Verena, the oldest of the twelve siblings, was 21 years old. The family concluded that the oldest son should leave his home in Schinznach and look for a better future abroad.
A few months later the newlywed couple left Switzerland, traveled to Le Havre in France and from there sailed to the United States, arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 9th, 1833.
Missouri or Mexico?
Until 1830 there had been relatively little immigration to the United Status, estimated to be around 60’000 people each decade. In the following decade, immigration more than doubled. Many of the new arrivals settled in the Midwest, this was also the first destination of our protagonist and his bride.
Instead, the Amsler couple decided to settle for a territory that was under the rule of Mexico, a country that only 12 years earlier had achieved independence from the colonial rule of Spain. An interesting change of plans that deserves some scrutiny.
They had prepared for the trip, reading whatever literature was available at that time. They must have come across the book by Gottfried Duden “Bericht über eine Reise nach den westlichen Staaten Nordamerikas”. Duden had traveled to the United States in1824 and spent four years in Missouri. After his return to Germany, he wrote a report of his travels and experiences. Due to rigid censorship of the press in Germany, his book was published in St.Gallen, Switzerland in 1829. It is likely that the couple, inspired by the above account, decided for Missouri. But illness and destiny changed their course. Amanda Amsler-Howze writes:
«Charles Conrad and Mary (as they signed themselves in America) proceeded up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri, where he engaged in farming and worked at his trade whenever possible. A severe bout with typhoid, while Mary suffered from chills and fever, decided Charles to return to New Orleans and seek other employment. In that city they saw some of Stephen F. Austin’s glowing literature about the fertile lands of Texas and determined to sail for the land of promise. Landing at the mouth of the Brazos River, they slowly made their way inland by the prevailing mode of travel, the ox team, to Austin’s Colony in present Austin County, which they reached in July 1834».
Stephen Austin’s Colony
To populate the vast territory, Mexico had liberalized its immigration policies. The government allowed empresarios (government allowed speculators) acquire large land parcels if they agreed to bring in settlers and make the area profitable. One of them was Moses Austin (1761–1821), who in 1820 contracted with Spain to bring “500 families on the vacant lands remaining within the limits of the colony already established”.
In the Mexican War for Independence Spain had lost control over its North American territories and in 1821 the new country of Mexico was formed. Moses wanted his son Stephen to finish his Texas colonization scheme.
The change of sovereignty meant his father’s agreement with the Spanish Crown was no longer valid. Determined to salvage the project, Austin traveled to Mexico City and met with the new national leaders. After spending a year in the capital, Stephen Austin persuaded the Mexican authorities to renew his father’s contract. As a condition, he swore allegiance to Mexico and accepted citizenship, and was obliged to enforce loyalty, regulate land titles, and ensure that settlers adapted to Mexican requirements. The settlers were required to satisfy four regulations:
- They had to be Catholic.
- They had to be of good moral character.
- They had to improve the land (usually by adding structures).
- They had to cultivate the land within two years or forfeit it.
Between 1823 and 1825, Austin granted 297 titles under this contract. Each head of household received a minimum of 177 acres or 4,428 acres depending on whether they intended to farm or raise livestock. These initial American families in the territory were later celebrated as the “Old Three Hundred”.
Stephen Austin also actively sought German and Swiss settlers as he admired their character and work ethic and general opposition to slavery, which the Mexican government had abolished in 1829. He reached out to German officials. They replied that it would be difficult to convince settlers to select Texas over United States territory, but if he could attract a few families to come to Texas and they liked it, he would have no problem attracting more.
German settlements in Mexico go back to the time when it was still under Spanish rule. Already in 1821, a few settlers were attracted by the liberal land grants by the Mexican Government. In 1829 Friedrich Ernst was another German settler who brought his family to Texas. He had originally intended to settle in New York. Upon reading Duden’s book he decided to go to Missouri. He interested Charles Fordtran to make the journey with him. When they arrived at New Orleans, a fellow passenger gave Ernst a pamphlet containing a description of Texas, probably a prospectus of Austin’s colony. Ernst changed his plan once again and went to Texas.
Ernst and Fordtran landed at Harrisburg on April 1, 1831, and went from there by ox cart to San Felipe de Augustin, fifty miles inland. On April 16, Ernst received a league of land (4,338 acres or 1’796 hectares) on the west side of the west fork of Mill Creek, a region then still inhabited by Indians. Those Indian were quiet and friendly and did not molest the new settlers. Ernst gave Fordtran one-fourth of his league for surveying it for him. This covered the cost of 160 Dollars, an amount that very few settlers could afford. Stephen F. Austin was careful not to issue titles to colonists until a survey had been conducted.
One of the immediate effects of Ernst going to Texas was that other German families followed him. In early 1832 he wrote a long letter to a friend in Oldenburg, Germany, which was published in a local newspaper and widely read. 1834 it was reprinted in another popular book by Detlef Dunt “Reise nach Texas”. Ernst pictured Texas in glowing terms, with a climate resembling southern Italy and soil so rich, it never required fertilizing
Johann Friedrich Ernst (1796–1848) and Charles Fordtran (1801–1900) had settled about 30 miles west of San Felipe in 1831. The location would later become the little town of Industry in Austin County, the cradle of the German settlement in Texas. It is not known whether the Amsler couple had read the letter of Friedrich Ernst, but they must have heard of the exuberant descriptions of this wonderful land.
Traveling together with Charles Conrad and Mary were members of the Kleberg and Von Roeder families. Amanda recounts the early days after arriving in their new home:
«In Texas, where a good source of water has often determined the location of a settlement, a bountiful spring was discovered not far from San Felipe de Austin. Near this spring developed a community whose name became Cat Spring [a few miles southwest of Belleville] because, as legend has it, a wildcat (Mexican puma) was shot there by the son of Rudolf von Roeder in the early days of the settlement…
…By the time Charles C. and Mary Amsler reached the future site of Cat Spring in July 1834, they had only fifty cents in cash, but they were permitted to occupy a recently vacated hut a mile and a quarter from Mr. Fordtran’s place near Industry. Charles and Mary remained in the hut only “until they could come into their own headright of land,” which was when Charles Jr. was about three months old [in summer of 1836]…»
Note: According to Wikipedia, a “headright” refers to a legal grant of land given to settlers during the period of European colonization in the Americas.
Military Service
Another important source of information is found in the “Recollections of Charles Amsler”, published in 1903 on pages 55-58 of Volume VII of the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association. In this sketch, Charles is quoted as saying that in the autumn of 1835 he and his wife were picking cotton on Mr. Nichols’s farm on Piney Creek when he learned that reinforcements were needed by the Texas army then besieging San Antonio de Bexar, where the Mexican troops were established in the Alamo.
Charles managed to procure a horse and a «worthless rifle» and set out alone. The narrative tells of Charles meeting with then General Stephen F. Austin and various other officers on the way to San Antonio de Bexar (located in San Antonio, Texas). There he volunteered to storm the town, as certified by his Captain John York (source: State Archive of Texas):
I hereby certify that Charles Amsler of my company entered the Federal Army of Texas on the 28 day of November 1835 and is one of the number who entered Bexar on the morning of the 5th of December he has in all respects discharged his duty with honor to Texas he has ten days to return home.
Signed by John York, Captain of Brazos Guard and Edward Burleson, Conn. in Chief
December 13th 1835
Shortly thereafter, James Grant and Francis W. Johnson organized the ill-fated Matamoros Expedition. This left San Antonio early in January 1836 with Charles C. Amsler an eager volunteer. But because of severe illness (he suffered from asthma and chronic dysentery all his life), he was left behind the march a few miles west of Mission Refugio and thus escaped the fate that befell most of the men who had started out. His honorable discharge reads:
Encampment Mission Refugio; January 23rd 1836
This is to certify that Charles Amsler is compelled by Sickness to absent himself from my company – this is an honorable discharge after 6 weeks Service
Signed: Thomas K Pearson, Captain
This marked the End of his military service. On the way home, Charles experienced several harrowing adventures before he finally reached his home on Mill creek and was reunited with his pregnant wife. A few months later, their first son Charles was born on July 12, 1836.
This rather short military career bore rich fruit, according to Amanda Howze:
As compensation for his military service, Charles Amsler on 13 December 1837 received Bounty Warrant #938 entitling him to 320 acres for service from 28 November 1835 to 23 January 1836. He assigned (sold for $500) this warrant to Walter Cooper (Bounty and Donation Land Grants of Texas, 1835-1888, Thomas Lloyd Miller, 1967). In addition, Charles Amsler received Donation Certificate # 1061 for 640 acres for participating in the Siege of Bexar (not the Battle of the Alamo) between the 5th and 10th of December 1835. He patented this section in Colorado County 25 Jan 1849, according to the book cited above.
This massive windfall was most welcome, as until this time Charles Conrad had very little cash, as Amanda describes under the title of «Charles C. Amsler’s Headright»:
«… before Charles Conrad Amsler received his military bounty land, he had acquired two thirds of a league from Louis von Roeder. It is not known whether Charles Conrad Amsler applied to the Mexican government for land when he first reached Austin County.
Possibly he (as many did) just picked out a tract of land he liked, started clearing it, and built a cabin on it. Then along came Louis von Roeder who bought the land and agreed to sell part of it (embracing “the said Amsler’s present improvement”) to Charles, who lacked the cash to pay the necessary fees.
With the establishment of the Republic of Texas had come the welcome news that land would be made available to those who had fought to achieve its independence and to those who were patriotic residents on 2 March 1836. As head of a family in Texas on Independence Day, Charles was entitled to a “first class headright” consisting of a league (4,428 acres for stock raising) and a labor (177 acres of land suitable for farming).
It took some time to set up the machinery for making those land grants, however, so on 21 October 1837 Charles Amsler and Louis von Roeder made an agreement whereby Von Roeder would convey two thirds of a league of land to Amsler in exchange for the league that Amsler expected to get from the Republic of Texas. It is believed that the nominal sum of $5,000 was inserted in the deed because future expectations are not legal tender. The deed was signed 21 October 1837 in the Republic of Texas, County of Austin, “Town of Austin” (San Felipe de Austin was the unofficial capital of Austin’s Colony until 1836).
It would be amazing if Charles C. Amsler had been able to amass $5,000 cash in such a short space of time – remember, he had only fifty cents in July 1834. It seems more likely that that was an arbitrary sum placed on his headright league of land which he was to surrender to Von Roeder. Land was selling for about 25¢ an acre, so two thirds of a league would cost about $738. Both John C. Amsler (in “The Torch’s Final Flare”) and M. Hartmann (in the 1899 Supplement to the Bellville Wochenblatt) wrote that, lacking the cash to get his land located, surveyed and legally recorded, Charles Amsler gave one third of his headright to “a moneyed neighbor, Mr. Von Roeder” for making the necessary arrangements…».
This fits: he gave a full league in return for two thirds of one. He now owned a large amount of land (3769 acres/1525 hectares) and in selling parts of his military service compensation land in December 1837, he obtained a considerable amount of cash. He had become prosperous.
In 1870 the Legislature of Texas approved a Pension Act to reward survivors of the Texas Revolution. Charles C. Amsler applied to the District Court of Montgomery County, stating all the details of his service. The pension Claim was approved, but payments (of $250 per annum) may not have started that soon. His name is not found on the lists of pensioners whose applications had been approved up to 1 Dec 1871 according to The Texas Almanac, 1857-1873.
The American Dream and Slavery
Hard work and good fortune had made the dream of a better life come true. Besides maintaining his farm, Charles Conrad Amsler built a grist mill, a cotton gin and in later years a sawmill. He had also established a stagecoach line to Cat Spring, where he was proprietor of the Amsler Inn. He made several trips back to Switzerland and over time most of his siblings and even his elderly mother would join him in Texas. He managed to convince relatives and friends back home to come to Texas as well.
His last trip back to his old home in Schinznach was after the civil war (1861-1865). At the same time, a fellow citizen of Cat Spring had sent a controversial letter to the Swiss authorities. In his letter Louis Constant, lieutenant colonel and postmaster of Millheim, accused Charles of wanting to replace his recently freed slaves with workers from Switzerland. These workers would have their travel expenses paid but would never be able to pay back what they owed and therefore be subject to slave labor. He described Amsler as a selfish and mean person and heartless speculator.
The Swiss authorities (Executive Council (Regierungsrat) of Canton Aargau) gathered information from multiple sources, sent inquiries to the United States and the local authorities in Schinznach. The local village council had nothing negative to report. Other Schinznach families such as Riniker, Hiltpold, Zulauf and Müri had emigrated to Austin County in Texas earlier and reported no complaints. Two letters were received from overseas, one from the Swiss Vice Consul in Galveston and the other from Georg W. Johnson, county judge in Austin County. The feedback was excellent and confirmed that Charles Conrad Amsler was an honorable and highly esteemed citizen.
It was undisputed that Charles Amsler as owner of a plantation had been a slaveholder before the civil war. Very likely he had been against abolition, like most of his compatriots in the South. Lieutenant colonel Louis Constant, however, was from the North, a Yankee who had been rewarded after the war with the job of postmaster in Millheim. The intruder was probably disliked by the southern locals as much as he hated Amsler.
In his recollections of 1936/7 Charles’ grandson refers to this exchange as follows:
“Years later, after the Confederate War when the subject [Charles Conrad Amsler] of this sketch had disposed of his business at Cat Spring, and embarked in the Saw Mill business in Montgomery County, leaving the business to the manager and assistant, C. Amsler, he set sail for Switzerland to procure labor for the mill business. At that time a former neighbor, a rabid abolitionist, advised the American Consul in Switzerland to keep an eye on him as he was a sIave dealer.”
The grandson also refers to the civil war, where three sons of Charles Amsler had served:
“…At this particular time, March 1865, the three sons were returning from the controversy that they had had with the U.S., principal matter concerned was about some $4000 worth of negroes whose status as chattel property was strenuously objected to by certain people in New England, Kansas &c, and grandfather had bought them in good faith. The first of these, a man, woman and girl he had bought on the auction block in New Orleans in 1843, paying $1500 for them. These he used, and I trust humanely, to assist in the operation of his business, principally farming.”
Although 70 years had now passed since the civil war, the attitudes in the South had not changed. The attempted humor does not camouflage the grandson’s contempt for equal rights.
Amanda Howze acknowledges the ownership of slaves and researched historic records:
«By 1843 Charles Conrad had accumulated enough money to go to a slave auction at New Orleans. Like his neighbors, he did not feel that any moral issue was involved in owning slaves. It was an accepted fact that the use of slaves was essential to the economy of the South, so, for $1500, he purchased a man, woman, and girl to assist him in his several enterprises and to lighten the chores of housekeeping for his wife. The 1850 Slave Schedule for Austin County, however, shows only one black female aged 60 and one aged 35 for “Charles C. Amsly,” so the man was disposed of somehow.».
Ten years later, just before the American civil war started, he owned seven slaves, as listed in the 1860 census and the related «Schedule 2 – Slave Inhabitants» for Cat Spring and New Ulm Precinct.
C.C. Amsler is listed as owner of three men, aged 30, 27 and 15 years of age, as well as three women, aged 25,12,18 and a small girl aged three. There were three «slave houses» listed, I presume that at least two families worked on the Amsler property.
The census of 1860 enumerated 182,566 slaves in Texas, or 30.2 percent of the total population.
At that time, manual labor was still a foundational key to economic success in the United States, enslaved labor producing agricultural commodities in the South, and wage labor driving industrial manufacturing in the North. Cotton accounted for approximately half of total U.S. exports.
Charles Conrad Amsler’s success and prosperity resulted from a combination of hard work, good fortune, and the forced labor of enslaved people. Their names remain unknown, a stark reminder of the deeply unjust system that shaped Texas history.
Charles and Mary raised a large family and were blessed with many grandchildren, including a boy named William Tell, in honor of the imaginary Swiss national hero.
Note: Digital Versions of Amanda’s and Bruno’s work are available upon request.
