The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 11
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Prince Solms's Trip to Texas, 1844-1845
Charles Fordtran, appointed as inspector by Count Boos-Waldeck,
had taken care of the plantation for two hundred and fifty dollars
and was left in charge by Prince Solms until the arrival of a
physician whom the Society was to send to Nassau Farm. William
Etzel was retained as general manager. Prince Solms reported
that he had met many prominent men who had all expressed their
happiness over the colonization work to be carried on by the
Society. Many of the Germans then living in Texas visited him
and asked to be accepted as settlers. He told them that he was
not authorized to give them land but that they might buy land
very cheaply and have an equal share with the immigrants in the
churches, schools, and charitable institutions. During Prince
Solms's visit in Industry Friedrich Ernst offered the toast: "To
the health of the noble and generous German princes who think
of the welfare of their subjects even on this side of the ocean !"
Prince Solms stated that he had secured the services of Dr. Emil
Meyer, who would help him in making the preparations for the
first settlement and who, because he had lived in warm climates
and knew the methods of treating the diseases of those regions,
would be especially valuable to the settlers and to the physician
whom the Society was sending to the colony.23
In his second report, dated at San Antonio de Bexar on August
20, 1844, Prince Solms stated that he had made an inspection of
the Bourgeois-Ducos grant, had found land suitable for agricul-
ture along the rivers and creeks and in the Uvalde and Sabinal
canyons, but that all of this good land had been previously located.
Consequently the Society had no land on which to start its colony.
He considered it fortunate that the grant had been annulled.
It thus became necessary for the Society to secure land in some
other way. Prince Solms did not deem acquisition by purchase
advisable, since it would not be possible to buy a compact tract
large enough for the needs of the Society. He considered it
equally inadvisable to make agreements with owners of leagues
to settle half of the leagues, for the Society's lands would thus
always be split up and the colonization work would enhance the
value of the remaining half leagues without any benefit to the
Society. He argued, in addition, that a compact tract could never
1SB-B A., XL, 1-9, Kalender fiir 1916, pp. 15-19. A somewhat shorter and
different account of the reports is found in Biesele, The History of the
German Settlements in Texas, 1831-1861, pp. 103-124, passim.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937, periodical, 1937; Austin, Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101099/m1/19/: accessed August 21, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.