Arbuckels' Ariosa Coffee - Starbucks of the 19th Century Cattle Drives

[I posted this entry by mistake to this blog.  I intended it for a local history blog I do for my home town.  I was going to delete it, but then I thought our ancestors may have drunk Arbuckles' Coffee, so I left it.] 

During this year's spring break, I went to the George Ranch Historical Park south of Richmond and videoed some of the special programs they presented to visitors.  (I posted several videos last week.)  

This week I made an 8-minute video about the fascinating story of Arbuckles' Ariosa Coffee.  As the interpreter explains it, Arbuckles could be considered the Starbucks of cattle drives.  They found a way to keep the coffee fresh, plus they offered coupons and treats to their buyers.  There's nothing new under the sun.

Link to video of Arbuckles' Coffee

Ox Blood Lilies

"Recently I read about this beautiful lily being one that the German ancestors brought when immigrating to Texas in the mid 1840’s and later. These were found at a little nursery in Seguin, Guadalupe Co. Texas, where I buy my nursery items for the yard. When these little bulbs were on display just having learned about their history, I just had to have some to put in my yard. The little lily naturalizes, and maybe next year I will be able to bring some to the reunion to share with those who would like one to plant. It just bloomed today, and wanted to share this history and picture with you. These lilies usually are late fall bloomers until frost. Also, the info from the book stated they brought “slips” [cuttings] of all kinds of fruit trees and seeds for their vegetables gardens. The early immigrants knew they would need these to have for food to feed their families. One of the first things that they did was plant a garden and their slips for trees, after building a shelter of some kind.

"Also, information that has been found is that some of the ancestors that landed in Indianola, made a short trip over to the Guadalupe River not far from Indianola, and rafted up the river to Seguin. Most of them went on to New Braunfels and on up to Fredericksburg to live. Other that landed in Galveston went overland to Washington, Lee, Fayette, Austin Colorado and Lavaca Counties.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to them for the hardships these new immigrants made to come to the new world and start a new life in America; some never returned home. If you have the opportunity to read about early Texas history please do, it is fascinating."

Mayme Hause

Kunkels

The Kunkel family is linked to the August Wilhelm Rachuig family through his son, Richard Henry Rachuig. His wife was Anna Marie Kunkel, whom he met while living in Olney, Texas.

The image (and text retrieved by the link below) shows Henri Kunkel's request for a US passport, so he could travel back to Posen (I presume) in 1913. Notice the Kunkels are another Posen family that followed the trail from coastal Texas to upper central Texas in the late 1800s.



Link to text version of image

Embarkation Requirements for Emigrants from Bremen, German

I found this document which listed the embarkation requirements for emigration from Bremen, Germany to the US in 1837. August Rachuig emigrated from Bremen in 1868, but I doubt the requirements were much different from those listed here. Unfortunately, most of Bremen's emigration documents were destroyed by bombing raids in WWII. Hamburg's records are still in tact, but my ancestors didn't emigrate from that port.


Link to Document