Nassau Plantation (Texas)

Nassau Plantation was a 4,428 acres (17.92 km²; 6.919 sq mi) endeavor purchased by the Adelsverein on January 9, 1843, in Fayette County, Texas, near what is now Round Top. A Texas State Historical Marker was installed in 1968, Marker 3550.^[1]

View of the historical marker on the site of the plantation

Nassau Plantation

Location of Nassau Plantation, Texas

Original purchase

The league of land was purchased near from what is now Round Top, from Robert Mills^[2] by Adelsverein officers Count Ludwig Joseph von Boos-Waldeck and Count Viktor August of Leiningen-Westerburg-Alt-Leiningen,^[3] at a cost of seventy-five cents an acre. It was named for the Duke of Nassau, in whose castle the Adelsverein was established.^[4] The acreage was developed as a full working plantation using slave labor bought by Count Boos-Waldeck in New Orleans, Galveston, and Houston. When Prince Solms inspected the plantation in 1844, he recommended the Verein divest itself of the property, rather than be associated with slavery.^[5]

Initially, the plantation had been considered as the primary base for arriving German immigrants, but the immigrants instead went to colonies established by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels and John O. Meusebach. Nassau Plantation became a luxurious noblemen's retreat for representatives of the Adelsverein. Prince Solms enjoyed horse racing and extravagant entertaining on the property.^[6] John O. Meusebach resided at Nassau from April to July 1846 to recover his health.^[7]

One of the early managers of Nassau appointed by Prince Solms was Friedrich W. von Wrede, Sr.^[8] from Oberhausen, Germany. On October 24, 1845, Wrede and New Braunfels botanist Oscar von Claren^[9] were scalped and killed by Indians while camping about ten miles from Austin.

Sale

The plantation was mismanaged and operated at a loss. Gustav Dresel, Special Business Agent for the Adelsverein, sold Nassau plantation and its twenty-five slaves on July 28, 1848, to Otto von Roeder.^[10][11][12] Von Roeder, in turn, sold off 800 acres (3.2 km²) of undeveloped land and the manor house to fellow Prussian nobleman, Baron Peter Carl Johann von Rosenberg, who immigrated to Texas in 1849 with his family from their estate, Eckitten, near Memel in East Prussia.^[13]

In 1853, Bexar County district court ordered the Fayette County sheriff to sell the league, to satisfy creditors of the Adelsverein. The sheriff sold the property to James A. Chandler on May 3, 1853. Chandler filed suit for legal title. In June 1868, Chandler recovered judgment.^[14][15]

Notes

1. "Nassau Plantation – Round Top, Fayette County, Texas". Texas Historical Markers. William Nienke, Sam Morrow. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
2. Jones, Mary Beth. "Robert Mills". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 2019-07-20. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
3. Brister, Louis E. "Count Victor August of Leiningen-Westerburg-Alt-Leiningen". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
4. King, Irene Marschall (1967). John O.Meusebach. University of Texas Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-292-73656-6.
5. Campbell, Randolph B (1991). An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865. Louisiana State University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-8071-1723-1.
6. "The Winedale Story". The Center for American History. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
7. King (1967), pp.90,96
8. Geue, Chester W. "Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, Sr". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
9. Hartmann, Clinton P. "Oscar von Claren". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
10. Dresel, Gustav (1954). Gustav Dresel's Houston Journal: Adventures in North America and Texas, 1837–1841. Freund, Max (trans.). University of Texas Press. p. xxiv. ISBN 978-0-292-72554-6.
11. Solms (2000) p.88
12. Reichstein, Andreas V (2001). German Pioneers on the American Frontier: The Wagners in Texas and Illinois. University of North Texas Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-57441-134-8.
13. von Rosenberg, Dale U. "Peter Carl Johann von Rosenberg". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
14. Garrett, Daphne Dalton. "Nassau Farm". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
15. "Nassau Plantation – Round Top, Fayette County, Texas". Texas Historical Markers. William Nienke, Sam Morrow. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.

References

• Kearney, James C. (2010). Nassau Plantation: The Evolution of a Texas German Slave Plantation. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-343-4 – via Project MUSE.
• Solms, Carl; Gish, Theodore G; Von-Maszweski, Wolfram M (2000). Voyage to North America, 1844–45: Prince Carl of Solms' Texas Diary of People, Places, and Events. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-124-9.
• King, Irene Marschall (1967). John O.Meusebach. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-73656-6.

30°05′57″N 96°37′08″W