Adelsverein: The Gathering - Softcover

Hayes, Celia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0934955891 ISBN 13: 9780934955898

Publisher: Watercress Press, 2012

Synopsis

Adelsverein: The Gathering is Volume 1 of the Adelsverein Trilogy, a generational saga of family and community loyalties, and the challenge of building a new life on the hostile Texas frontier.

They came from Germany to Texas in 1847, immigrants under the auspices of the Mainzer Adelsverein - the so-called Society of Noblemen of Mainz, who seek to fill a settlement in Texas with German farmers and craftsmen.

Among those recruited for the transatlantic journey are an extended family who will survive and endure, making their mark in Texas, their new land. Christian "Vati" Steinmetz, the clockmaker of Ulm in Bavaria, has brought his daughters and sons: Magda - passionate and courageous, is courted in Texas by Texas Ranger Carl Becker, a young frontiersman with a dangerous past. Her sister Liesel wants nothing more than to be a good wife to her husband Hansi Richter, an otherwise stolid and practical farmer lured by the promise of adventure and the chance to better himself, for the Adelsverein tempts him with the promise of farming more land than could ever be possible for the youngest son of a poor farmer. Magda and Liesel's brothers - the bold scapegrace Friedrich and shy Johann are as close as twins can be - they think of the transatlantic journey by sailing ship as the most wonderful adventure ever. But at the end of it all, they are set ashore at a desolate camp on the Texas Gulf Coast, faced with a long trek to their new home in the Texas Hill Country - an unsettled and dangerous frontier, menaced by hostile Comanche war parties.

Will the Adelsverein representatives be able to make peace, as they build new homes and settlements? What will an immigrant German family make of their new home in Texas?

Adelsverein: The Gathering - It's about love and loss, joy and grief . . . and the sometimes wrenching process of becoming American.

About this title

About the Author

Celia Hayes is passionately interested in the history of the American frontier. She was brought up in an eccentric, baby-boom family which formed the basis of her memoir Our Grandpa Was an Alien. She earned a degree in English and served for 20 years in the US Air Force. In 2002 she became a regular contributor to the military oriented weblog "The Daily Brief".

Her first novel, To Truckee's Trail grew out of a fascination with the California emigrant trail. The Adelsverein Trilogy, and its' companion novels, Daughter of Texas and Deep in the Heart drew upon an interest in the German settlements in the Texas Hill Country and the dramatic sweep of history in the Lone Star State,
 

From the Back Cover

Adelsverein - a group of German noblemen founded a society to encourage immigration to 19th century Texas. They offered land, houses, new lives . . . and freedom. 7,000 settlers accepted the offer.

Among those hopeful settlers was the family of Christian "Vati" Steinmetz, the clockmaker of Ulm in Bavaria, who brought his sons and daughters to settle in a new land. There Vati's descendants would make their mark. They would survive and ultimately triumph.

...Thousands anxiously emigrated to a new land, only to experience a frightening and often deadly sea voyage followed by hardship when they reached their destination ... a good historical lesson about pre-Civil War Texas

Phyllis Morreale-De la Garza - True West

... A superb ability to describe the natural world that will have the reader sharing the wonder of discovery with the Steinmetz family. As well as the beauty of new found lands the reader will share the warmth of new love, the horror of a massacre, and the heartbreak of the death of loved ones - most of which are the result of disease.

Western Fiction Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Watercress Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0934955891
• ISBN 13: 9780934955898
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 314