Area History

The Fisher-Miller Land Grant, made by the newly formed Republic of Texas on June 7, 1842, was formed from a petition on 3,800,000 acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers—made by Henry Francis Fisher, Burchard Miller, and Joseph Baker—permitted immigrant families of German, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry to settle in Texas.

Originally contracted under the auspices of the San Saba Colonization Company, the agreement allowed for the introduction of 600 families and single men within 3 years.

Count Carl descended from a long line of Franconian knights and nobles dating back to the 13th century. Under his management the German Emigration Company society was reorganized into a stock company, and eight months later the society’s first shipload of immigrants disembarked at Port Lavaca, Texas. He led the society through its formative years as well as during the financial difficulties in the mid-1840s of settling immigrants into the Fisher-Miller Land Grant.

Count Carl had an intense personal interest in the success of colonization and as a result the town of Castell was in named in his honor. Castell now has the distinction of being the oldest surviving settlement in Llano County. And although the town is now officially located on the south bank of the Llano River, it originally began on the north bank in 1847 with a USPS post office opening in 1872 which still exists today, right outside our gates!

Indianola, Texas was once the main port of entry for German Immigrants to the Texas Hill Country, but today remains a ghost town identified by Recorded Texas Historical Landmark #2642.

Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, representing the Adelsverein, selected “Indian Point” in December, 1844 as port of entry for the Verein colonists. Prince Solms renamed the port “Carlshafen” in honor of himself, Count Carl of Castell-Castell and Count Victor August of Leiningen-Westerburg-Alt-Leiningen whom Solms claimed had been christened Carl.

The Tonkawa Native American Tribe was living in the Llano area when the first Europeans arrived in the vicinity in 1535. Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca led an expedition to explore the vast, uncharted region—later supplanted by the Apache Indians and in turn, they were displaced by the Comanche Indians. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that European settlers found the area. Until that time, the land was known as the West Texas Frontier-Indian Territory, or Comancheria by the Comanche Indians—the dominant group in the Southwest at that time.

Eventually, the first European residents to the area were brought by the Adelsverein, a group of German noblemen organized to aid emigration to Texas starting in June of 1844 on the territory purchased known as the Fisher-Miller Land Grant. Two of the first settlers were Henry Durst and August Liefeste – ancestor to Randy Liefeste owner of the Castell General Store.

In 1847, the 3.88 million-acre Fisher-Miller grant purchased by the German Immigrant Society had to be surveyed by the fall, or it would be forfeited. What the immigrants did not know was that the Comanche, the most feared of tribes, claimed that area as their hunting grounds as part of Comancheria. Making peace with the Comanche became the responsibility of John O. Meusebach, the 33-year-old commissioner-general of the immigrant group.

Meeting with Chief Ketemoczy of the Penetaka Comanche, Meusebach explained his friendly intentions, saying he represented towns that would welcome them. In return, he expected hospitality from his Comanche neighbors.

The Chief dubbed the red-haired Meusebach “El Sol Colorado” (Red Sun) and promised to summon the chiefs of the western bands of Comanche (Buffalo Hump, Santa Anna, Old Owl) to a peace council on the San Saba River at the next full moon.

On May 9, 1847, the treaty between the German Immigration Society and the Comanche nation was signed in Fredericksburg by 6 Comanche chiefs, Meusebach and 7 others. The Meusebach-Comanche Treaty was unique: The US government had no part in it; Despite a few infringements, the agreement is one of the few pacts with Native Americans that was never broken.

The original treaty document was eventually returned to Texas from Germany in 1970 by Mrs. Irene Marschall King, the granddaughter of John Meusebach. The document was presented to the Texas State Library in 1972, where it remains on display. Previously, in 1936, a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, Marker number 991, was placed in San Saba County to commemorate the signing of the treaty and which was officially recognized by the United States government.