Freidenker

The Latin Settlements were five communities of highly educated German immigrants founded in the late 1840s: Millheim in Austin County, Latium in Washington County, Bettina in Llano County, and Sisterdale and Tusculum in Kendall County. Their residents were called Lateiner, the Latin ones, and many later became prominent in the professions and politics. Glen E. Lich notes that many Texas freethinkers were not strictly agnostics or atheists but thought the idea of a deity irrelevant and opposed clerics and churches. A Freethinkers' Society met at Sisterdale in the 1850s, and freethinking lasted in Comfort until the 1970s.

What the plaque says

Freidenker Nineteenth Century Freethinkers From 1845 to 1861, a number of German Freidenker ("Freethinkers") immigrated to the Texas Hill Country. Freethinkers were German intellectuals who advocated reason and democracy over religious and political authoritarianism. Many had participated in the 1848 German revolution and sought freedom in America. The Freidenker helped establish Bettina, Castell, Cypress Mill, Luckenbach, Sisterdale ,Tusculum (Boerne) and Comfort. Laid out in 1854, Comfort soon was home to about half the population of Hill Country Freethinkers. Freethinkers valued their newfound freedoms of speech, assembly and religion. Their settlements, where a knowledge of Latin was considered essential for a cultured intellectual society, became known as "Latin Colonies." They strongly supported secular education and generally did not adhere to any formal religious doctrines. They applied themselves to the crafts of physical labor and divided their time between farming and intellectual pursuits. Freethinkers advocated universal equal rights, and their moral values were dominated by their respect for life. They actively supported such social issues as the abolition of slavery and the rejection of secession. Their loyalty to the Union during the Civil War cost many their freedoms and their lives. Following the war, many Freethinkers relocated to nearby urban areas, while others returned to Germany. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Treue der Union Monument — steps away
  An 1866 German-language monument in Comfort over the graves of Hill Country Unionists killed at the Nueces in 1862, its flag of thirty-six stars kept at half-staff.
• Old Tunnel State Park — 11 mi
  A railroad tunnel abandoned in 1942 that now shelters up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats, who fly out each evening from May through October.
• Schreiner Mansion — 15 mi
  The 1879 downtown home of Charles Schreiner, the Alsatian-born merchant, banker and rancher whose store and mohair trade built Kerrville.
• Luckenbach — 17 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.

More markers nearby

• "Treue Der Union" — steps away
• Peter Joseph Ingenhuett Homestead — 0.4 mi
• Comfort Community Theatre — 0.4 mi
• Hermann and Antoine Ingenhuett Homestead — 0.4 mi