Moritz Tiling

History of the German Element in Texas from 1820-1850 Moritz Tiling

I accidentally discovered Tiling's almost forgotten book whilst searching for information on a book I am working on with Jim Woodrick on the history of Cat Spring and Millheim Texas. This is part of the work carried out by a small dedicated group of authors and editors who have taken on the name 'The Millheim Literary Circle'. One of the interesting aspects of Tiling's work is that it gives us an intimate illustration of the German-Texan influence on life and culture and how it inspired those early pioneers. Undoubtedly many of the readers of the time could understand both English and German because he included a number of poems composed in German in this book and also Appendices including the constitution of the Adelsverein which was such a controversial part of the history of the German-Texan immigration. These I have left in the original language as there are still a few of us who can speak both languages. I hope that this book will remind readers of the enormous influence German culture had on the development of Texas and that in this way, Texans may rediscover some of their lost heritage. This edition has been completely reset in order to increase readability. Stephen A. Engelking MBA.