Heathcock Genealogy Database - Person Sheet
Heathcock Genealogy Database - Person Sheet
NameElisa Shultheiss 
Birth1811, Prussia
Death27 Sep 1845, Texas Age: 34
BurialNew Braunfels Cemetery, Comal Co TX3196
Spouses
Notes for Elisa Shultheiss
It is not known exactly what took Elisa and her daughter but the following account of conditions in New Braunfels at that time might be informative:3201
“The spring and summer of 1846 proved very trying on the inhabitants of New Braunfels. The winter of 1845-1846 had brought with it a considerable amount of rain. . . . Disease broke out among them and developed into an epidemic. The germs of the disease were brought to New Braunfels when the immigrants were finally moved from Carlshafen [another German settlement]. The warmer the weather became, the more the disease spread. . . . On the banks of the Comal a long shed, which came to be called the hospital, was erected, where the sick were taken and visited daily by Dr. Theodore Koester.
...
The epidemic was caused by a disease known as petechial fever . . . The disease was accompanied by a very severe fever, during which small crimson spots, caused by an extravasation of blood into surrounding tissues after a rupture of the vessels, appeared on the body. Petechial fever is called epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis in Webster, New International Dictionary. Others described the disease as scurvy accompanied with dysentery.”
“The spring and summer of 1846 proved very trying on the inhabitants of New Braunfels. The winter of 1845-1846 had brought with it a considerable amount of rain. . . . Disease broke out among them and developed into an epidemic. The germs of the disease were brought to New Braunfels when the immigrants were finally moved from Carlshafen [another German settlement]. The warmer the weather became, the more the disease spread. . . . On the banks of the Comal a long shed, which came to be called the hospital, was erected, where the sick were taken and visited daily by Dr. Theodore Koester.
...
The epidemic was caused by a disease known as petechial fever . . . The disease was accompanied by a very severe fever, during which small crimson spots, caused by an extravasation of blood into surrounding tissues after a rupture of the vessels, appeared on the body. Petechial fever is called epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis in Webster, New International Dictionary. Others described the disease as scurvy accompanied with dysentery.”
Notes for Jacob (Spouse 1)
Jacob Brecher, his first wife Elisa Schultheiss, and children Rosina and Gustav arrived in Texas as part of the German immigrations in the mid-1840s. Their point of entry was probably Indianola.3199 The following immigration record shows their arrival:3200
• 1844: Joh Jacob Brecher, wife Elis Schultheiss, child Gustav, child Rosina
Rosina and Elisa both died within a year of arrival and Jacob was widowed at age 37 with 3-year old Gustav. He met Caroline Karbach, then a 21-year old daughter of another German immigrant family, who arrived in Texas in 1846 and they were married in May 1847. The first census record for the family is the 1860 census, when they were living near New Braunfels with Gustav and five more children. Jacob was about 17 years older than his Caroline.
1860 Census of Comal Co TX (outside New Braunfels)
Name Age
Jacob Brecher 51 b Nassau
Caroline Brecher 34 b Prussia
Gustav Brecher 17 b Nassau
Wilhelmine Brecher 11 b TX
Louise Brecher 9 b TX
Carl Brecher 5 b TX
Amalie Brecher 4 b TX
Marie Brecher 5/12 b TX
1870 Census of Comal Co TX
Name Age
Jacob Brecher 61 b Prussia
Caroline Brecher 44 b Prussia
Louise Brecher 19 b TX
Karl Brecher 16 b TX
Amalie Brecher 14 b TX
Marie Brecher 10 b TX
Anna Brecher 8 b TX
Rudolph Brecher 6 b TX
• 1844: Joh Jacob Brecher, wife Elis Schultheiss, child Gustav, child Rosina
Rosina and Elisa both died within a year of arrival and Jacob was widowed at age 37 with 3-year old Gustav. He met Caroline Karbach, then a 21-year old daughter of another German immigrant family, who arrived in Texas in 1846 and they were married in May 1847. The first census record for the family is the 1860 census, when they were living near New Braunfels with Gustav and five more children. Jacob was about 17 years older than his Caroline.
1860 Census of Comal Co TX (outside New Braunfels)
Name Age
Jacob Brecher 51 b Nassau
Caroline Brecher 34 b Prussia
Gustav Brecher 17 b Nassau
Wilhelmine Brecher 11 b TX
Louise Brecher 9 b TX
Carl Brecher 5 b TX
Amalie Brecher 4 b TX
Marie Brecher 5/12 b TX
1870 Census of Comal Co TX
Name Age
Jacob Brecher 61 b Prussia
Caroline Brecher 44 b Prussia
Louise Brecher 19 b TX
Karl Brecher 16 b TX
Amalie Brecher 14 b TX
Marie Brecher 10 b TX
Anna Brecher 8 b TX
Rudolph Brecher 6 b TX