DR. CONRAD RETTIG
The following bio
was taken from page 358 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled
and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.
Transcribed by
Claudia Schuster
Submitted by Gloria
Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator
Conrad Rettig, son of Frederic Rettig, who traces
his ancestry back to Hans Rettig, 1490, in Switzerland, was born in Manheim,
Germany, June, 1809. He moved with
his family to Heidelberg, where he attended college, studying medicine.
In 1834, Dr. Conrad Rettig married Lucie Herose, daughter of a Constance
factory owner. Together they had
$3,000 and a desire to go to America.
Going directly from the church, Conrad and
Lucie boarded a merchant vessel bound for the United States.
With German friends, they made their way to St. Louis, where Conrad
bought a home and a horse and soon established a good medical practice.
Because of an epidemic of cholera, the Rettigs and many others fled
westward.
The Rettigs settled in the vicinity of
Fayettville, Arkansas, where a year-old-daughter, Ida, died, and four other
children – Jane, Paul, Julia, and Charles – were born.
Conrad practiced medicine, attempted to establish trade with the Cherokee
Indians, and gave private lessons in flute and yodeling.
Contrary to customs of the times, Lucie earned money by doing a mural and
other artwork for the Masonic Lodge. Although
they were busy, both Rettigs became homesick and decided to return to Germany.
Jane remembered well that she and Paul
enjoyed the sights of New York, the ocean voyage, a glimpse of Queen Victoria in
London, and the experiences in Germany with friends and relatives. The children quickly became bilingual and communicated well
with cousins who thought Americans had to be Indians. Conrad worked for three years as a procurer of fuel for his
father-in-law’s factory, but life was not what he had expected and
correspondence from a Mr. Vincent urged him to go to Texas to practice medicine.
In 1846, again pursuing a dream, the Rettigs
crossed the Atlantic, repeated their westward journey to St.Louis, and continued
to Shreveport by way of the Red River. Leaving Lucie and four children, Conrad
and seven-year-old Paul made a trip to Mt. Enterprise, Texas to arrange for the
family’s trip. As it was fall,
they were able to travel on cotton wagons.
Mt. Enterprise proved to be a mere half dozen houses.
Hospitable people shared their home with the newcomers until they bought
three hundred acres of land near Lawsonville and built
log house, which the family lived in while Conrad and the neighbors
cleared land and built a better house. Calls
for the doctor sometimes meant riding twenty miles, and he was well liked, but
not well paid.
About 1856, Lucie inherited $20,000, which
Conrad invested in slaves in order to farm on a larger scale.
By this time there were eight children to provide for – Jane, Paul,
Julia, and Charles, born in Arkansas; Eliza, born in Germany; William, Virginia
and Frank, born in Texas. All eight
of the children lived to be grown and married; seven left Rusk County. Paul and
Charles were Confederate soldiers and Charles died of wounds received in the
battle of Lexington, Kentucky.
After the Civil War, Conrad farmed on a
smaller scale and finally retired from the practice of medicine, sold the farm
and moved to Baird, Callahan County, with a daughter and son. As retirees, both Conrad and Lucie pursued lifetime
interests. He devoted himself to
growing flowers and vegetables; she continued her painting and enjoyed recording
well-remembered scenes from Germany.
Submitted by Ethel Rettig