“A true story of the courtship of Fritz Luckenbach and Anna Nauwald and their life in Menard as told by a grandson.” -Jake Landers
Part XII
Fritz and Anna-
On to Menardville.
Mama (Bertha) wanted them to have the wedding in the morning and take a lunch to eat on the way, which I suppose they did. You would think the first granddaughter of the owner of the best hotel in Central Texas would have had a party and dance before they left. Their first night was in Loyal Valley where they probably had friends among the Meuesebach family there. Then on to Mason and Menardville. A wagon and ambulance load had probably gone on before them.
One incident on the trip to Menardville that has been told many times was when the new bride playfully tossed the groom’s tobacco plug out of the buggy. It was all that he had and a search in the grass was unsuccessful. Supposedly he was grumpy the rest of the way.
Fifty years later telling his history at their Colden Wedding Celebration in the ballroom of the Bevans Hotel in Menard he gave some of the background that might have been reason enough for Anna’s parents to dismiss him as a suitable sonin- law. He had a poor record in school, leaving school and his large family at 13 to find work. Jobs included setting pins at a bowling alley, building fences, working livestock, and finally learning the blacksmithing skills.
Menardville, although tiny, was on the northern route from San Antonio to El Paso, and many horses passed through carrying the loads before railroads were extended. Soon Anna was cooking meals and running the City Hotel in their home, and Fritz, in addition to blacksmithing, began selling hardware, fencing materials and tools; autos and windmills came a little later. He sold his blacksmithing business to Adolf Beyer and bought the old county courthouse. In 1900 he constructed the rock building that stands next to it today on main street.
There was no bank in Menard, but Fritz had a safe in which he was willing to hold money for other people. He was loaning money from accounts in Brady and Ballinger before the Bevans Bank was built in 1903. He started expanding his hardware business selling Ford cars and windmills assembled on the second floor of the hardware building. A huge elevator on the east side of the building was used.
Tragedy struck the family in 1903 when Henry, their firstborn, was hit in the head at the school playground with a baseball and died. The anguish of the family is expressed on his tomb stone “How many hopes lie buried here.” At 13 he was recognized as a budding young businessman developing the skills of business in which his father was so successful.
Part XIII
A two-story house was built in 1905 just east of the hardware building which became their home and the City Hotel. Anna’s younger sister Sophie was helping with the chores of the hotel, and fell in love with Emil Toepperwein, a photographer and saddle maker who was rooming in the hotel. Emil and Sophie were married and lived a few blocks south on Bevans Street the rest of their lives.
Anna was active in starting the Presbyterian Church and soon gave up the hotel business to live in the newly constructed family house in 1910 on the corner of Bevans and Houston Street. Although she now lived in an impressive house at the edge of town, she remained active in cooking chicken soup for the ill and helping new mothers in childbirth.
Henry was followed by the birth of four daughters and another son. The family grew up in the big house. Sophie, we called Putty, married Weck Mears who soon died of typhoid. Infant Mamie was fatherless until Putty married Henry Reeve who fathered two daughters Margaretta, “Betto,” and Katherine, “Kappy.” Bertha “Badda” married Wilkes Kothmann, adopting Norman, Charles, and Anna. Norma married Hugh Spiller and had Dorothy, Hazel, and Hugh Bob. Emmie married Roger Landers and had Susanna, “Zanna,” Roger, Jr., “Jakie,” Fritz, and John Brooks. Fritzie married Frances Smith to whom Angela was born.
The fourteen cousins enjoyed many happy occasions, especially at Christmas in the big house, as did their parents growing up. Mamie, older than the rest, married John Winslow, and bore Johnny, Diane, and Robert Keith, who were close enough in age to be included as cousins with the other fourteen.
Fritz had been a generous supporter of the railroad coming to town in 1911 and many other civic projects. He funded the construction of the Mission Theatre. Shipments of autos, windmills, and other materials came into the community, and livestock, wool & mohair were shipped out. He established the Luckenbach Motor Company of which Emil Toepperwein, his brother-in-law, was dealer. Albert Nauwald, another brother- in-law also became a partner to expand the hardware business. Menardville was thriving and the name was changed to Menard.
The final installment of Fritz & Anna will be published next week.
See below for Dr. Landers’s birthday and pre-wake celebration information.