Much of the information presented here comes from existing sources such as memoirs and genealogical compilations. For this material I am indebted to those who wrote the stories down or kept them alive. My grandfather Carl Wiederanders wrote a detailed autobiography; his father Edward penned memoirs of his own life and that of his parents. My great-great-grandmother Wilhelmine Tips Reuter recorded poetry and occasional observations in the journal, or Stammbuch, she brought from Germany. Countless others collected names and dates, pored through old records, and compiled genealogies (see below). I am particularly grateful to my late aunt, Mimmi Doyle Schweers Beard, who collected material about the Schweers, Richter, and Reuter families. She fostered my interest and asked me to take over this work. My contribution to this body of knowledge includes writing biographies of my great-great-grandparents Wilhelmine Tips Reuter and Wilhelm Reuter — pieced together from journals, letters, books, memoirs, and legal records. I have translated much of Wilhelmine's recently discovered journal, which provides details about her life, her literary tastes, her family, and her travels. And I have found and translated letters and documents pertaining to Wilhelm Reuter's early years in Texas and his family in Germany, as well as records about Wilhelmine's second husband, Gustav Heusinger. I have also attempted to bring to life our roots in Germany. My curiosity about our forebears’ lives and stories has led me to explore the ancestral cities and towns of Cologne and Wickrathberg (Rhineland), Annaberg (Saxony), Schweinfurt (Bavaria), Stein (Baden), Barmen-Elberfeld (Rughrgebiet), Selent (Holstein), and Aurich-Oldendorg and Holtrop (Ostfriesland). In these locales I developed rich impressions of land and place, gained some insight into the social and economic conditions of the times, and collected additional genealogical, biographical, and historical data. Making the acquaintance of long-lost relatives and near-relatives has been a delightful bonus. Again, I am indebted to the generosity and expertise of so many in Germany: the pastors, city archivists, curators, historians, villagers, and relatives who shared their knowledge, records, and observations with me. Special thanks to Dieter and Gerda Wiederänders of Annaberg, Herr Dietrich Grütchen of Cologne; Frau Ulrike Krüner of Wickrathberg; Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Balssen of Stade, and Dr. Erich Schneider of Schweinfurt. Major sources of genealogical and family history information: “Family of Carl Gottlob Wiederaenders, Johanna Zein, and Johanna Dorothea Eleonore Wenzel,” compiled by Roland P. Wiederaenders, 1968 “Genealogy: David Datlev C. Schluentz Family,” compiled by Erwin Fredrick Hoffman, M.D. “Die Bremerverwandschaft in Deutschland und in Texas,” compiled by Robert. R. Robinson, Jr., Nortex Press, 1977 Additional sources are cited on individual pages in the “Stories” section. © Julia Moore, 2006. All rights reserved. Click on pictures to enlarge Flyleaf from Wilhelmine Tips’s Stammbuch Mimmi Doyle Schweers Beard Dieter and Gerda Wiederänders in their kitchen in Annaberg Herr Petersen with church records in Schweinfurt