"You're twenty-five years too late!" was the response of a Fredericksburg doctor when he learned of my upcoming plans to collect the German oral tradition of Fredericksburg, Texas. He was probably right, for a vast amount of the lore, songs, sayings, and remembered literature brought over in the minds of the German immigrants had already disappeared-more of it being lost with each passing generation. The materials in this book are the result of my effort to save as much of the remaining materials that were still alive in the minds of the German immigrants in the 1980s as they left Germany in the mid-1800s and came to the Texas Hill Country to start a new life. They brought with them this wealth of materials, mainly in their memories, and passed them down from generation to generation. Only small remnants of these materials remain in the oral tradition of today's Fredericksburg Germans.
This book contains the information collected over years of research and countless interviews. Each chapter provides the reader with German and English translations of the materials passed on to the author and includes stories, songs, poems, prayers, and so much more. Take a trip down memory lane and a step inside the minds of the German settlers that made the Hill Country their home all those years ago.
