John Fauth
Born 1833 in Bavaria, Germany
Died 1909 in Gonzales, Texas
USA
LINK TO JOHANNES FAUTH FAMILY REGISTRY IN GERMANY & AMERICA
(Provided by Herr Volker Fauth, Dörrenbach/Germany;
email to: volker.fauth@online.de)
Johannes Fauth, born April 7, 1833, was the son of barrel maker, Christopher Fauth and Lusanna Margaretha (Wuest) Fauth. He immigrated to the United States from his home town of Dörrenbach, Bavaria, Germany, when he was only nineteen years old. He traveled steerage and landed in New York in June of 1852. Shortly after arrival, he made his way to Buffalo, NY, where a large settlement of German immigrants were working on the Erie Canal just outside of Buffalo, NY. For two years he served as an apprentice to a wheelwright (a barrel, buggy & carriage maker).
During that time he met Margaret(h)a Kuhnle, born April 3, 1834, in Beihingen, (Baden-Württemberg, Germany). This area is known as the Swabian (Schwaben) historical region of Bavaria Germany. Swabia is in the SW corner of Germany in the region of the Black Forest. Margaret(h)a also came to the United States in 1852 through the port New York when she was only 18 years old and also settled in Buffalo. It is not known if they traveled together to the U.S., but it is know that they fell in love in Buffalo, N.Y.
Somehow, John Fauth heard of the new Texas frontier town of Gonzales which was being settled by many German, Czech, & Polish immigrants. Realizing Gonzales' probable need for his skills as a wagon/carriage/barrel/casket/furniture maker, Fauth headed for Texas in 1854 ahead of Margaret whom he had not yet married. He entered Texas at the port of Indianola and opened his wood-working shop in Gonzales. After he had established his business and a home that he built facing the Main Square in Gonzales, he returned to Buffalo to marry Margaret in 1858. They soon traveled back to Gonzales; together they had five children.
By 1869, they purchased two lots one block east of downtown Gonzales and built a framed one-room cabin with a high, steep roof. This original structure now forms the kitchen and small bedroom portion at the back of the Fauth Cottage.
Johannes (John) Fauth, Margaret(h)a (Kuhnle) Fauth, & Victoria
Bongard (later: Hampton) at the front gate of the cottage in 1901
He loved to grow fruit trees; none are left now. The fence
is gone. Replicas of the front gate posts were reconstructed in 2003 from this
picture.
Victoria Hampton is the granddaughter of John &
Margaretha Fauth; her mother was Victoria Barbetta Fauth (Bongard). Some viewers of this
picture see a dachshund standing on his hind legs in the foreground by the tree
on the curb.
THE SAME Victoria Bongard Hampton (on the left
circa 1978).
She is standing next to her daughter, Christine Hampton Koehl, in
front of John Fauth's home after it was converted to a duplex with the addition
of a porte cochere and circular driveway. "Vic," as she was
affectionately known, lived to be 92 years old. She died in 1985, and her
daughter, "Chris," died in 1990.
As Mr. Fauth's fortunes expanded, so did his home at 521 Saint Peter Street on the corner with Saint George Street. He worked mostly using the native walnut lumber in the area. The barrels that he made were used to ship cane syrup and Tabasco peppers from J. B. Wells' Willow Springs Ranch in Gonzales to the McIlhenney Plantation in Louisiana. He frequently would proudly display his latest hand-made casket in the large front window of his home for people to view before purchase. He also sold and repaired many carriages and buggies. But, he did not sell the furniture that he made. He used it for himself or he gave it to members of his family. Only a few pieces remain now in the possession of his descendants. One piece was appraised on the Antiques Roadshow TV program for a substantial sum.
By 1874. he built the "new" front half of his house which featured a large parlor with an intricate inlaid floor and an impressive entry hall with double front doors. He hand-carved a beautiful mantel around the fireplace in his master bedroom and built carved doorways from the entry hall into the main rooms. Later smaller additions were added in 1884. Both sections of the Fauth cottage were constructed with bricks from Gonzales Brick Co., cypress, and long-leaf pine hauled from the port of Indianola on the Texas Gulf coast because there was no sawmill in Gonzales at the time. The Fauth cottage sits upon hand-hewn pillars of stone from the Maurin quarry which is located between Gonzales and Shiner. None of these building materials is commercially available now.
Fauth was instrumental in organizing the German Methodist Church, and he served as an alderman in the city council. He also started a short-lived German language newspaper. During the 2003 restoration, a remnant of this newspaper was found pasted behind the wallpaper in the entry hall as insulation. A date on the newspaper was 1869.
His obituary states that he "was a man of exemplary character, and in his daily life was a consistent Christian." One of the pallbearers at his funeral was Julius Remschel, his across-the-street neighbor who built Remschel House at 524 Saint Peter Street in 1907. A black walnut tree once grew in the side yard of the Remschel House. When that tree died, it was cut into thick slabs of lumber, and a beautiful piece of that wood was made into a mantel for the kitchen fireplace in the restored cottage.
John Fauth died in the home on May 7, 1909 and Margaret (Kuhnle) Fauth died there on November 25, 1924. They are buried side-by-side in the Gonzales City Cemetery.
Back
Home
Letters
Newspaper Articles
Restaurants Nearby
