Peter Bluntzer

Family records give Peter Bluntzer's birth as November 24, 1805 at Oderen, in Alsace, and his wife's name as Therese Jacob. The party left Strasbourg on November 22, 1843 aboard the Heinrich and reached Galveston on April 8, 1844, so the plaque's 1843 marks the departure rather than the arrival. Eight children are listed as crossing with their parents, from Leon, born about 1826, to Marie Madeleine, born about 1843. The source is a genealogist's family sheet citing French emigration studies and Texas passenger lists, so the dates deserve caution.

What the plaque says

Peter Bluntzer Early German colonizer in this are and donor of land on which this church stands. Migrated with his wife and children from Oderen, Alsace (in Europe), to Texas about 1843. Bound for Castroville with other pioneers, he stayed here after his wagon overturned, injuring his wife. This was the first Catholic family to settle in Coleto (present Meyersville). His enthusiasm for the new home led him to make two return trips to Alsace several years later to bring numerous families to settle here. After his young daughter Theresa was stolen by Indians, she was found some months later, in the woods, unharmed and dressed like an Indian princess; Bluntzer had always been kind to the local tribes. First mass in the community was said in the home of Bluntzer, a devout Catholic, in 1852. Area settlers united to build the first Catholic church in De Witt County -- Sts. Peter and Paul Church -- in 1859 on a 15-acre tract given by Bluntzer. Dedicated in 1860, the small log building was a predecessor to others built 1876, 1892, and the present one of 1939. First priest was the Rev. J. A. Koenig; first resident priest was the Rev. A. Hainke. Many early settlers are buried in the church cemetery. Bluntzer is buried in San Patricio. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum — 12 mi
  A cattle-country museum in Cuero's 1903 Knights of Pythias Hall, telling the Guadalupe Valley's 1866 drive north and the Sutton-Taylor feud that bloodied DeWitt County.
• Fannin Battleground State Historic Site — 17 mi
  The open prairie east of Goliad where Fannin's retreating column formed a square short of the Coleto Creek timber on March 19, 1836, and surrendered the next day.
• Goliad State Park and Historic Site — 18 mi
  Mission Espíritu Santo on the San Antonio River, a mission ranch whose herds seeded Texas cattle country, rebuilt from ruin by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
• Presidio La Bahía — 19 mi
  A Spanish fort on its third site since 1749, held in turn by filibusters, insurgents and Fannin's Fort Defiance, rebuilt in stone in the 1960s around a chapel that never fell.

More markers nearby

• Meyersville — 1.2 mi
• Site of the Home of Robert Justus Kleberg — 3.0 mi
• Site of the Home of Captain John York — 3.6 mi
• Weser — 4.2 mi