Menard County Texas

Olfert Striegler

"On July 8, 1855, Olfert Striegler, age 16, left Svendborg, Denmark, with his family, making the long journey to America in a sailing ship. After seven weeks, they landed at Indianola, traveling to Fredericksburg in covered wagons drawn by oxen and guarded by riders and marksmen. Olfert served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and came to Ft. McKavett as a Ranger in 1867. There he met Mrs. Lucy Ann Roberts and they were married on October 12, 1869, settling in Menard County. Mrs. Roberts' mother, Mrs. Lucy P. D. Robinson, had bought 16,620 acres at 26 cents an acre in 1858. Their settlement was on part of this land. The first Striegler home, a one-room picket house daubed with clay, was later replaced by a home build from the first hospital at Ft. McKavett, which was moved to their ranch. The house, which is now used as a store room, still stands on the land, along with one of the original barns. Olfert and his wife raised a large garden and had a dairy. Other products on the land included sorghum, corn, horses, cattle, fruits, and pecans. Part of Striegler's produce was taken each week to the soldiers at Ft. McKavett. Present owner of the land, Mrs. Walter S. Menzies, Sr., is the granddaughter of the founders. Mrs. Menzies raises sheep, goats, cattle and grasses for hay on a 945-acre spread." (source: Texas Family Land Heritage Registry (1974) pg 102)

1870 Menard County Texas Census pg 155a:

Striegler Olfert 31 M W Farmer 375 400 Denmark
Striegler Lucy A. 26 F W Keeping House Massachusetts

Ft. McKavett Breeze, August 3rd 1889:
Mr. O. Streigler has one of the prettiest little farms on the San Saba river. He has in cultivation, and which he irrigates, 12 acres of land. He also has one of the most beautiful young orchards in the county. In short, he has the most beautiful and beautifully located places in the county and we know him to be a man to enjoy all such.

The Menard Messenger
Vol. XV, No. 6
Thursday, January 19, 1922

Mr. Striegler Pays Us a Visit
Mr. O. Streigler, who lives eight miles west of town was in to see us Saturday and congratulated us on our efforts with The Messenger. Mr. Streigler is a printer himself having served the trade when a boy in Denmark. He was born in 1839 in Svendborg, Denmark, and came to the United States in 1856, when he was sixteen years of age. He settled in Gillispie county where he lived eleven years, coming to Menard county and settling near McKavett, where he lived five years, when he moved to and improved the farm and ranch where he now resides. He owns about 1,000 acres of land, and by thrift, hard work and frugality, has laid by in store enough of this world's goods to keep him in comfort. He is one of the old-timers in Menard county, who helped to reclaim it from a wild, sparsely-settled frontier and made it to bloom with sustenance for man and beast. Mr. Streigler served the "Lost Cause" during the struggle between the states, and did border service in keeping back Indians from this country---then a frontier. The ranks of these old pioneers are being thinned by time and it is but a matter of a few years at most, until all will have "crossed over the river and will be at rest under the shade of the trees."

It behooves us then to be considerate of these old veterans and show them our appreciation while they are yet with us.

(Excerpt from San Angelo Standard Times-January 16, 1998)

Water and natural beauty can be scare commodities in West Texas, but that makes us appreciate them all the more.(CUT)......

Anys Godfrey's dam in Menard County, ``when it is spring and green.''

NOTE: While I strive for accuracy in all transcriptions, please be advised that typing errors may be present. I would suggest you always verify my online information with a copy of the actual record.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008 11:00 AM