Wenslaus (Wenzel) Heinrich History

Born 22 Sep 1821

Wenzel & Magdalena lived in Halbendorf in house #53, where they had three sons, Joseph, Ferdinand, Leopold, and a daughter, Thekla. In 1866, Wenzel (45) and Magdalena (40) along with their four children, Joseph (16), Ferdinand (14), Leopold (10), and Thekla (7) were part of a group of Moravian families that journeyed to Bremen, Germany, where they boarded the ship FORTUNA which sailed into the port of Galveston in September of 1866.

From there these settlers traveled over land to High Hill, in Fayette County, and settled near their friends and relatives, which had emigrated there earlier. Wenzel's brother, Joseph, had come to High Hill in 1860 with another group of Moravian families. The Heinrich families, along with most of the other Moravian settlers in High Hill, were German-speaking. (On the passenger list of the FORTUNA, another person, Magdalena Heinrich, 21 years old, traveled with the Wenzel Heinrich Family to America, and went with them to High Hill. She later married Anton Kainer, who had come to the U. S. in 1866 on the FORTUNA.

Wenzel and Magdalena homesteaded 50 acres of land about 1/4 mile south of High Hill (Wursten). Their home here was severely damaged by a storm in 1875. This land was later sold to Anton Schmidt. Their next land purchase was 150 acres north of High Hill (Oldenburg), where they moved with their family. Later, Wenzel's son, Fred (Ferdinand), purchased the land and lived on it with his family and his parents. In 1922, the land was purchased from Fred by his sons, Charles and Ludwig. When Charles died in 1941, his land was sold to Milton Kaase. Ludwig's land went to his son, Eugene Heinrich.

Wenzel was a shoemaker and had a shoe shop in Wursten on the same side of the street as a grocery store/saloon, drug store, meat market, and blacksmith shop. On the other side of the street was another grocery store and mercantile store, tin shop/hardware store, saloon/cotton buying office, and blacksmith shop. In 1870, Wenzel and the other Catholic families in this predominately German/Catholic community helped to build the first St. Mary's Catholic Church in High Hill. According to the baptismal records for St. Mary's Church, Wenzel was Godfather to many of the children of his relatives and friends, obviously being well-liked. He was a member of the St. Joseph's Society. Magdalena was a member of the St. Anne's Society. (The Moravian Connection)