LEONARD HITZFELDER (November 6, 1821-August 20, 1878)
MARIE BARBARA DENZER HITZFELDER (May 10, 1821-May 18, 1877)
Source: Unknown- probably a Hitzfelder
Leonard Hitzfelder was born on November 6, 1821 in Wurtemburg in Germany. His wife, Barbara, was born on May 10, 1821 in Leibach in Germany. Sometime after their marriage the two came to Texas. One descendent remembers the year of their arrival in Texas as 1846.
The Leonard Hitzfelder family is listed on the 1850 Comal County Census along with a 10 month old son, Charles (Carl), who had been born in Texas. At this time the Hitzfelders were both 28 years of age. The Census also shows that a Rudolph Voght was living in their home with them.
The Hitzfelders first made their residence in Hortontown which was a community located in the area where the present Goodwin School is now located. This area was first settled by people who arrived during the epidemic in New Braunfels. Not wishing to go into New Braunfels where so many were dying with the illness the settlers made their homes on the east side of the Guadalupe. Although we can not find any records giving the exact date that Leonard Hitzfelder and his wife, Barbara, moved from Hortontown, we know that he was still there in 1853 for his name appears on a petition opposing the change of Hortontown from Guadalupe County to Comal County.
The 1860 Comal County Census lists the Hitzfelder family as follows: Carl 10, Marie 8, August 6, Anna 4, and Louis 1. On January 20, 1861 Otto Hitzfelder was added to the list. Other children not on the census list were Pauline and Minna.
When the Civil War broke out Leonard Hitzfelder became a member of Company F of the 31st Brigade of the Texas State Troops. It seems that this group of older men did not see much action during the war but had the job of guarding the home front. It might be noted that he served in a company with boys from the Smithson Valley, Schoenthal, Bulverde area. This seems to indicate that the Hitzfelders were living in this area in 1861.
Elmer Hitzfelder remembers that he was told by his father, Otto, that he was three years old when the family moved to the Hitzfelder ranch on the Cibolo Creek in Comal County. This would mean that the family moved from Hortontown in 1864.
It took two years to build a permanent home on the ranch. The house was completed in 1866. The date of the completion of the home is etched into the chimney of the house which still stands today and is now the residence of the Elmer Hitzfelders.
In 1871 Leonard Hitzfelder in partnership with Ludwig Vogel bought two leagues of land from Robert Leslie. A league of land was 4605 acres. These two leagues of land extended from the Cibolo Creek area into the Bulverde area.
Those two leagues of land were then sold in smaller portions to other settlers. Some of the sales listed in early records are as follows: 200 acres - Julian and Jacob Stahl, 200 acres - Adam Schlather, 200 acres - Lebrecht Weidner, 100 acres - Nicolaus Mayer, 1477 acres - Wm. Uecker, Voges, and Maria Kram, 100 acres - Valentin Heck, 200 acres Albert Kopplin, 351 ½ acres - - Wm. Kohls and Herman Uecker, 294 acres - Adolph Kappelmann.
On May 18, 1877 just eight days after her fifty-sixth birthday Barbara Hitzfelder passed away. On August 20, 1878, a little over one year later, Leonard Hitzfelder died at the age of 56 years and 9 months.
Both Barbara and Leonard Hitzfelder are buried in the New Braunfels Cemetary which is located near I.H. 35 on the west end of town.