Julius and Sophie Splittgerber

Splittgerber's years as sheriff fell in the Civil War, when Gillespie County was divided between Unionists and Confederates. When the commissioners' court tried to pay him in Confederate bills, he refused them as legal tender, and the court agreed and paid him in hard cash. On the night of May 25, 1864, about sixty armed men attacked the Fredericksburg jail, where two frontier ranger captains, William Banta and J. W. Caldwell, were held over killings in the district. They shot into the cells and killed a prisoner named H. Roberts. Splittgerber arrived with a posse, and the mob fled.

What the plaque says

Julius and Sophie Splittgerber Julius Theodor Splittgerber (1819-1897) was a German immigrant and prominent member of early Fredericksburg. He was born in Brandenburg, Germany to David (1741-1823) and Johanna Susanna Sophia Seiffert (1764-1829) von Splittgerber. Julius attended the University of Breslau to study farming. After graduation, he entered required military service and achieved the rank of second lieutenant in 1842. Splittgerber joined an endeavor led by Prince Carl von Solms Braunfels to settle German emigrants in Texas, arriving in 1845 on board the Arminius. In 1848, newly settled in the outpost town of Fredericksburg, he married Sophie Dorothee Miehe (c. 1832-1906) of Gadenstedt, Hanover. The couple had nine children: Carl (1850-1851), Theodor (1851-1927), Ida (1853-1935), Emma (1856-1943), Clara (1858-1862), Nina (1860-1928), Hulda (1863-1865), Elfriede (1866-1948) and Julius Alex (1869-1946). Julius Theodor operated a quarry and lime kiln. Around 1851, the Splittgerbers constructed a limestone house at what is now the corner of Schubert and Orange Streets. He resigned his Prussian army commission in 1853 and became an American citizen. When the Gillespie County sheriff died in 1862, Julius stepped in to serve the remainder of the term. However, his determination not to fully endorse the Confederates' cause brought increasing social pressure. Splittgerber decided to move to Menard in the 1870s, but the plan was financially disastrous. He spent the last twenty years of his life writing early historical accounts of Gillespie County and tutoring. Sophie decided to live with their children who had moved to Mason. Julius is buried in the family plot at Pioneer Rest Cemetery in Menard; Sophie is buried in the family plot at Gooch Cemetery in Mason. (2023)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Vereins Kirche and Main Street — 0.3 mi
  The octagonal Society Church on Fredericksburg's market square, rebuilt in stone in the 1930s, beside a main street laid out like a Rhine village.
• National Museum of the Pacific War — 0.6 mi
  A museum of the war in the Pacific in Chester Nimitz's hometown, dedicated at his request to the two million who served with him, with a garden given by Japan.
• Fort Martin Scott — 2.7 mi
  An army post of 1848 on Barons Creek beside the German town, where soldiers kept the peace of a Comanche trade and paid the merchants in hard cash.
• Luckenbach — 9.8 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

• Gun Cap Factory — steps away
• Dambach-Besier Home — 0.2 mi
• Bethany Lutheran Church — 0.2 mi
• Fredericksburg Social Turn Verein — 0.2 mi