A piece of Wendish history Virtual Cache
A piece of Wendish history
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A piece of history that most have never learned about!
The Wendish migration to Texas was impelled, in part, by the Prussian insistence that the Wends (or Sorbs, as they called themselves) speak and use the German language, even to the extent of Germanizing their names. The oppression of the Wendish minority extended to working conditions, with Wends being denied the right to do the skilled labor for which they were trained. If they were hired at all, they received less pay than their German counterparts. Prussian agrarian reform laws of 1832 dispossessed the Wends of their real property so they were, in effect, vassals to their Prussian lords.
But most intolerable was the requirement that the Lutheran Wends join the Evangelical Reform churches in one state-regulated Protestant body. The Wends believed this action would dilute their pure Lutheran faith and, rather than accept this decree, they made plans to immigrate to the New World.
In December of 1854, an English sailing vessel, the Ben Nevis, docked in Galveston harbor loaded with some 500 immigrants from Lusatia, an area in eastern Germany comprising parts of Saxony and Prussia. These Slavic pioneers who were to settle in Lee County made the journey from their homeland, not in search of prosperity, but rather in search of religious liberty and the right to speak their Wendish tongue.
This cache is at a monument in front of a Wendish Church located southeast of Giddings, Texas in Lee County.
To claim the cache, please email with the answers to:
1. what the date is on the windvane on the top of the church
2. According to the marker, what occurred at this site?
While there you can visit the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum located at N30° 06.988 W096° 59.206 and learn some more!
Additional Hints
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