August Siemering

August Siemering (1828 – 1883), was a notable German Texan educator, writer, publisher and political leader.

August Siemering
Born(1828-02-08)February 8, 1828
Brandenburg, Germany
DiedSeptember 9, 1883(1883-09-09) (aged 55)
San Antonio, Texas
NationalityGerman Texan
OccupationPublisher
Known forFreethinker
Abolitionist

Early years

August Siemering was born in Brandenburg, Germany, on February 8, 1828.

Texas

Forty-Eighters and Freethinkers

A liberal in politics, Siemering emigrated from Germany in 1851,[1] and was among the first Forty-Eighters to settle in Sisterdale, Texas,[2] a Free Thinker Latin Settlement resulting from the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

The Forty-Eighters were intellectual liberal abolitionists who enjoyed conversing in Latin and believed in utopian ideals that guaranteed basic human rights to all. They reveled in passionate conversations about literature, music and philosophy.[3]

In 1853, Siemering was elected Secretary, and Ernest Kapp[4] the President, of the Freethinker abolitionist organization Die Freie Verein[5] (The Free Society),[6] which called for a meeting of abolitionist German Texans [7] in conjunction with the May 14, 1854 Staats-Saengerfest (State Singing Festival) in San Antonio, Texas. The convention adopted a political, social and religious platform,[8] including:

1) Equal pay for equal work; 2) Direct election of the President of the United States; 3) Abolition of capital punishment; 4) Slavery is an evil, the abolition of which is a requirement of democratic principles...; 5) Free schools – including universities - supported by the state, without religious influence; and 6) Total separation of church and state.

Teaching

In 1856, Siemering became a teacher[9] at the first public school in Fredericksburg, Texas a Catholic school.

Military service

Abolitionist Siemering was drafted into the Confederate States Army in 1861, serving three years before resigning his commission as a Lieutenant.[6] He referred to that war as "...a nightmare."

Publisher

The San Antonio Express News was first published by Siemering in 1865, along with co-publisher H. Palmer.[10] Siemering and Palmer also published the German language newspaper Die Freie Presse für Texas.[11]

Public service

In 1866, Siemering was appointed Chief Justice of Bexar County, but only served until August of that year, when an act of the legislature changed the office to an elected office of County Judge.[6] He chose not to run for election for the position. He was, however, the Republican Party's candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1880, losing to Democrat J.D. Sayers.

Personal life and death

During his tenure as a teacher in Fredericksburg, Siemering met his future wife Clara Schütze, daughter of another teacher. They married in 1859.

Siemering died September 9, 1883, and is buried in the City Cemetery in San Antonio.[12]

Works by Seimering
  • Siemering, August. Texas als Ziel deutscher Auswanderung. OCLC 25812235.
  • Siemering, August (1856). Lebensbilder aus den Süden (Life Images from the South). New York. OCLC 29977390.
  • Siemering, August (1982). The Hermit of the Cavern; a Novel of the Early Sixties. San Antonio, TX: Naylor Print. Co. OCLC 2733954.
  • Siemering, August; Burrier, William Paul; Dietert, Helen; Pue, Ronnie (2013). August Siemering's Die Deutschen in Texas waehrend des Buergerkrieges = The Germans in Texas during the Civil War. Tamarac, FL: Llumina Press. ISBN 9781605949994.
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References
  1. Biesele, Rudolph L: Siemering, August from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 09 May 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  2. Lich, Glen E: Sisterdale, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 09 May 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  3. Kennedy, Ira. "German Intellectuals on the Texas Frontier". TexFiles. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  4. Jordan, Terry G: Kapp, Ernest from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 09 May 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  5. Goyne, Minetta Algelt (1982). Lone Star and Double Eagle: Civil War Letters of a German-Texas Family. Texas Christian Univ Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-912646-68-8.
  6. Puglisi Jr., Richard L. "Bexar County Chief Justice August Siemering, 1830-1883". University of the Incarnate Word. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010. University of the Incarnate Word
  7. Biesele, Rudolph L: German Attitude Toward the Civil War from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 09 May 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  8. Biesele, R L. "The Texas State Convention of Germans in 1854". The Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 9 May 2010. The Texas State Historical Association
  9. "Fredericksburg School Teacher". Fbtx.org. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  10. "History of the San Antonio Express News". San Antonio Express News. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010. San Antonio Express News
  11. Donecker, Frances: Die Freie Presse für Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 09 May 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  12. "City Cemetery, Grave of August Siemering". Find A Grave. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
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