LATIUM, TEXAS. location is 30°4'49"N 96°33'37"W
Latium (pronounced "Latcham"), on Farm
Road 389 near Pond Creek, is twelve miles from Brenham in the southwest corner
of Washington County. It was one of five Latin colonies founded by German
political refugees in Texas after 1848. Early German settlers included artist
Rudolph Melchior, who decorated the Winedale Inn, and civil engineer Hermann R.
von Bieberstein,qv later a prominent Texas surveyor. Czechs arrived at Latium
in 1868. Reverend Josef Chromcik,qv the first missionary to
Texas Catholic Czech immigrants, began a mission there in 1873. A post office
was established in 1884 and discontinued in 1907. Latium's population was fifty
in 1892. A school operated at the community from 1885 to 1948. Czechs, who
eventually came to predominate in the community, built Sacred Heart Catholic
Church in 1918; services were still held there in the late 1980s. Latium has
served as a supply point for the surrounding agricultural area for most of the
twentieth century. The estimated population, predominantly Czech with a German
minority, was thirty in 1988. At that time Latium had a Catholic church, a
Czech Catholic cemetery, a service station, a volunteer fire department, and a
general store, which also served as a community center. In 2000 the population
was still thirty.
1849
Victor
Witte and
other German intellectuals establish Latium in Washington
County.
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Rudolph Melchior (d. 1868) was one of the many skilled craftsmen and artists who came to the Round Top-Winedale area in the 1850s. He later resided in the community of intellectuals at Latium in nearby Washington County. Melchior applied his decorative artistry to the many fine homes in the region, including the residence at Winedale now known as the Wagner House. In the upstairs parlor of the home, Melchior’s ceiling art depicts the four seasons, with a central wreath of morning glories framing a green parrot, a favorite German motif. The source for his decorative ideas can be seen in Melchior’s Tage Buch, or “Day Book,” of sketches made on his journey to Texas in 1853. |
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Wagner House
decorative art by Ruldolph Melchior, ca. 1850s, photograph by Rick Williams. |
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Portrait of Rudolph Melchior, ca. 1850s, in R.
Henderson Shuffler, Winedale Inn, at Early Texas' Cultural Crossroad
(1965). |
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Lewis- House
decorative art by Ruldolph Melchior, ca. 1850s, photograph by Rick Williams. |
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The Early Years-Latium
During this point in time (ca. 1866), Czech settlers began moving into the southwestern corner of Washington County, establishing the community of Latium. The first priest to minister to the Czech Catholics there was Fr. Krc who offered masses in the homes of farmers in the community. By 1872 Fr. Joseph Cromcik came to Latium on a quarterly basis from his parish a Fayetteville. In the later part of the century, Polish immigrants also attended church a Latium.
Joseph Pisklak, from Hovezi, Moravia, came to Galveston and settled in Latium, Texas. He paid for cousin Paul's passage, along with Paul's wife, Frantiska, who came in 1890 with four daughters, Louisa, Theresa, Mary, and Frances. Paul's sister also came and settled near Plum, Tx. Paul and Frantiska settled in Latium, and had two more children, Annie and Edward. They farmed for Joseph for two years. Joseph's son, Emil, came later with his wife Rosalie and they lived in Latium. I believe Martin Pisklak, of Hovezi, is Paul's father. Paul and Frantiska Pisklak moved to Oldenburg, Texas, and met Joe Holub. Joe Holub owned 300 acres in Wallis, TX, and convinced Paul to rent some land from him and farm cotton. So Paul and family moved to Wallis. Paul's son, Ed, married Sofie Holub, Joe Holub's daughter. Paul's daughter, Frances, also married a Holub boy. Frances and her husband ended up in Bay City, Texas. Annie, Paul's youngest daughter, married Emil Sliva, whom she met in Wallis. They too moved to Bay City (following Frances, whom Annie was very close to). Of Paul and Frantiska's other children: Ed ended up in Brazoria; Mary, near Needville; Theresa and Louisa, in La Grange or Plum. Paul's youngest daughter, Annie, was my grandmother, so I'll continue with her descendants. Her children were Marie, Sylvester, Benjamin, Gilbert, Emil Jr., Carmel, Gertrude, Anne, Frank, and Florence.
VON BIEBERSTEIN, HERMANN ROGALLA (1823–1906). Hermann Rogalla von Bieberstein was born on March 12, 1823, in Brieg, a town in the province of Silesia in Prussia (present-day Poland). He was the son of royal Prussian Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Rogalla von Bieberstein. He studied at the University of Wroclaw from 1843 to 1845 before immigrating to the United States in 1846. Hermann arrived in Galveston on October 20 and moved to Winedale, Texas, in Fayette County. Von Bieberstein met Rudolph Melchior and the two helped found "Latin Settlement"—Latium in Washington County.
Von Bieberstein received his American citizenship on November 14, 1850, and lived as a farmer near Brenham. On September 24, 1855, Hermann married another German immigrant, Adele Hagedorn. The two had eleven children.
In 1866 Hermann became the Washington County surveyor, a post he kept for several years. Von Bieberstein was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1873. He served in the fourteenth and fifteenth state legislatures. While in the House, von Bieberstein dealt with issues including immigration and land assignment, and he was opposed to the railroad bills passed during his time in the state legislature.
Hermann was named a representative on the electoral committee on May 13, 1876, but he quit on August 18 because of the corruption he saw. Von Bieberstein withdrew to his farm, and by 1884 his land value was around $4000. In 1878 Hermann was named to the Grand Jury, and in February 1880 he was again named land surveyor for Washington County, a position held until 1898. Von Bieberstein was also one of the first members of the Texas State Historical Associationqv that was founded on March 2, 1897.
Hermann von Bieberstein died in Brenham on March 18, 1906, and he was buried two days later at the Jaeger–Witte Cemetery in Greenvine, Texas.
Post office in Latium
LATIUM (Washington)
Cornitius, H. Otto, 8 Apr 1884
Seidel, E., 15 Sep 1884
Leonard, John N., 15 Dec 1884
Valenta?/Walenta?, Jos., 17 Jun 1886
Foehner, Longin, 17 Jun 1889
Discontinued 28 Feb 1907; mail to Burton