ERNEST and THEODORE BEILHARZ    

   Brothers Who Immigrated to Early Dallas Texas from Germany  

 

 

  

Ernest Beilharz  1823 - 1908 

 

 

  

ERNEST (ERNST) GOTTLOB BEILHARZ  (pronounced Bile harz)  Born Dec. 28, 1853 Born in Baiersbronn, Freudenstadt, Kingdom of Württemberg, Prussia; (now Germany).

Died April 8, 1908 in Dallas Texas.

 

Ernest Beilharz was the eldest of eleven children born to Johann Jacob Friedrich and Amalia Wilhelmine Sigwart Beilharz. According to church records of Baiersbronn Germany, his father was a school teacher who also served as the town Burgermiester (mayor).

 

Ernest immigrated to New York in 1872 at the age of 19. The Franco Prussian war and a great deal of political unrest drove many from the region of Prussia during this period. Ernest moved to Dallas Texas six years later in 1878.  The Morrison & Fourmy's Directory of the City of Dallas 1886-1887 shows him to be working as a bookkeeper and cashier for The Schoellkopf & Company Manufacturer of Saddles, Harnesses and Collars. He quickly went into business for himself selling wholesale leather and leather goods. Early city directories show the business as Ernest Beilharz Wholesale Leather, shoe findings, manufacture of shoe and boot uppers. The business started out at 287 Commerce Street in about 1890 it moved to 459-461 Main Street.

 

 

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On April 9, 1881, Ernest Beilharz married HENRIETTA BOLL. She had been born November 1, 1850 in Canton Aargau Switzerland. Henrietta was the daughter of PROFESSOR JACOB BOLL and SUSANNA PEYER BOLL. 

 

Jacob Boll had immigrated to the LA REUNION Settlement of west Dallas County in about 1859.  This was in the period that the colony was being abandoned. The story of the La Reunion Settlement is a fascinating tale of grit and determination. The La Reunion settlers were not people you would normally think of as pioneer spirits. These were individuals who were educated and cultured Europeans looking for a utopian existence in hard scrabble Texas. They came from France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium to the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Their goods were loaded onto oxcarts at the port in Houston, but the people made their way north on foot. They forged a path with saws and axes. They built crude bridges when they came to rivers. After a grueling three month journey, they made it to Dallas County. As these hearty souls carved out a path, they carved out a life in this new land that was Texas.

 

Jacob Boll, father of Henrietta Boll Beilharz, was a noted naturalist and scientist. His work in Texas was important because prior to his discoveries many of the local insects, plants and wildlife were known only to the Native Americans. In those days when all medicines were homeopathic, these discoveries were useful to all the on American shores and abroad. Jacob Boll was the brother of Henry Boll, who was one of the earliest La Reunion settlers. Jacob brought with him to Texas one son and one daughter. His wife Susanna remained in Switzerland with their youngest daughter Henrietta. When Susanna died, Henrietta joined her father Jacob and older siblings in north Texas. 

 

 

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Ernest and Henrietta Beilharz lived at 316 Swiss Avenue at the corner of Swiss and William Tell. 

Over the years, five children were born in this home.

 

     

Mrs Henrrietta Beilharz, William, Edith, Erna & Bertha      William, Bertha and Edith Beilharz approximately 1894 

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In 1890 or 1891 the Ernest Beilharz family purchased a home at 861 Bryan Street from J.C. Woodside a local builder and Dallas Street Superintendent. It appears that the house number was later changed to 4515 Bryan Street.  Mr. Woodside is credited with having built the Thomas Building.

   

 

 

 

Ernest along with his brother Theodore were members of The Froshinn Singing Society.

This was a popular men's chorus who's Dallas chapter was begun in 1877 and is still in existence today. They performed around town and made an annual appearance at the

Texas State Fair Exposition.The Beilharz family were members of Dallas' ST. PAUL'S EVANGELICAL GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.  This church is still in existence although the name has been changed to St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ. It is today located at 6464 E. Lover's Lane, Dallas. The church still holds its annual Christmas service entirely in German. 

 

 Henrietta Beilharz, the mother of five, was devoted to her husband Ernest and to their children.

Upon her death on April 10, 1907 at the age of 58,  the Dallas Morning News wrote, " The funeral procession from their home to Oakland Cemetery stretched for more than a mile with mourners." She was a beloved member of the German and Swiss communities of Dallas." 

 

 

 

 

 

Ernest Beilharz retired from his wholesale leather business in about 1906 and went into the wholesale liquor business. His wholesale liquor operation was located at 400 Elm Street. He was in this business until his death on April 3, 1908.

 

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Ernest's obituary dated April 9, 1908 lists suicide as the cause of death.  He died of a single pistol shot.  His body was found at his place of business 400 Elm St. Dallas. He was 54 years old.

 

 

 

THE CORONERS REPORT:

"E. BEILHARZ, AGED 56 YEARS CAME TO HIS DEATH APRIL 8, 1908 AT 400 ELM STREET

AS THE RESULT OF A PISTOL SHOT WOUND OVER THE HEART,

THE PISTOL BEING IN THE HAND OF THE DECEASED AT THE TIME."

 

The obituary states that "Ernest had been in bereavement for months" following

the deaths of his wife Henrietta and his brother Theodore.

Ernest Beilharz and his wife Henrietta Boll Beilharz are buried together in the family plot

at Oakland Cemetery, Dallas, Texas.

 

After the deaths of both parents, the Beilharz unmarried daughters Bertha, Edith and Ernestine (Erna) lived out the rest of their lives at 1407 Holly Street. The eldest Beilharz son, William, became an architect and eventually moved to California. Their younger brother Alfred was only fifteen when the family lost both parents. Alfred was able to remain in the family home under the care and guidance of his older siblings until his enlistment into the service during the first World War.

 

 

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BERTHA A.  born January 2, 1882; died March 21, 1973  (never married) possibly named after her aunt Bertha Christine Frichot Peterman. Lived to be 91 years old.

She is buried in the Beilharz family plot at Oakland Cemetery Dallas

 

WILLIAM E.   b. December 26, 1883 d. February 7, 1946   In 1907 he with some other alumni organized the Dallas area Texas A&M  Alumni Association. William served as this organizations first Vice President.  He is listed in the Dallas City Directory of 1914 as an architect, office located at 623 in the Busch Building. He moved to Los Angeles, California; married twice to L.A. Weidemann in 1912; married Ruth C. Muse 1923.

 

ERNESTINE MARGUERETE (ERNA) born October 5, 1887;  d. April 7, 1936  (never married)  Dallas schoolteacher. died at the age of 48. She taught at Central High School and later at Woodrow Wilson High School. She taught history and drivers' education. She also worked at Southern Methodist University and Columbia University. Erna is buried in the family plot at Oakland Cemetery Dallas

 

EDITH LUCY born June 4, 1889; died August 2, 1929 (never married) violinist,  violin teacher and vocalist,  she performed  live on WFAA Radio. She is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Dallas

 

ALFRED J.  born April 21, 1893;  died December 17, 1938  married Frances Loring Walcott June 30, 1921. Alfred attended Dallas High School and delivered the newspaper for The Dallas News.

He served his country for fifteen months during the first World War. He later became a Dallas realtor. His home was in the Lakewood of Dallas at 2507 Auburn Drive. This was his place of residence when he died in 1938 at the age of 45.

He was found in his car on the shore of White Rock Lake as reported in the Dallas Morning News on December 16, 1938.  "His body was found in his car near the sailing club, dead from a bullet wound to the heart, cause of death was determined to be suicide".  His body is interred at Sparkman Hillcrest Cemetery, Dallas.  He was survived by his wife and two daughters Margaret and Virginia. Alfred's wife, Frances, lived the rest of her life in their Lakewood home. Frances died in 1988 at the age of 95. She is buried with her husband at Sparkman Hillcrest Cemetery, Dallas.

 

 

 

 

 

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THEODORE MATTHAEUS BEILHARZ 

 

 

 

              Theodore M. Beilharz 

 

THEODORE MATTHAEUS BEILHARZ (pronounced Bile harz) Born November 7, 1860 in Baiersbronn, Freudenstadt, Kingdom of Württemberg, Prussia; (later Germany) Died in Comfort, Texas July 30, 1907.  He was the second of 11 children of Johann Jacob Friedrich and Amalia Wilhelmine Sigway Beilharz. His father was a school teacher and the town Burgermiester.

 

 

 

Theodore came to Dallas in 1883 at the age of 23. He joined his brother Ernest who had settled in Dallas five years earlier. Theodore lived in his brother Ernest's home at 316 Swiss Avenue which was at the corner of Swiss and William Tell Street.

As a young man in Germany, Theodore had served for more than two years in the army. He also learned the art and craft of stone cutting in his homeland. He had risen to the level of foreman at the stone yard in Germany. This skill served him well in his new home in the New World.

The city of Dallas, on the cusp of an unparalleled building boom was destined to become the beneficiary of his magnificent sculptural art form.

 

 

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  Laura Frichot Beilharz

 

 

 

 

 

On March 5, 1888, Theodore married LAURA MARGUERITE FRICHOT.  Born in Dallas County in 1860, she was the daughter of early European pioneers to Dallas County.

Her father was a La Reunion Settlement French colonist CHRISTOPHRE DISIREE FRICHOT. Her mother was Swiss immigrant SUSANNA BOLL. Susanna Boll was the younger sister of La Reunion settlers HENRY and JACOB BOLL.

Laura Frichot Beilharz had two sisters, BERTHA who married prominent builder

MAURICE H. PETERMAN and HENRIETTA who married successful cattleman FREDERICK P. WILSON. 

When the La Reunion colony dissolved around 1857, the Frichot and the Boll family moved, along with approximately 100 other colonists, to the town of Dallas. These families formed a community of French, Swiss, Belgian and German immigrants on the eastern edge of town. Other Europeans soon joined them in the Dallas settlement eventually forming a community of about 300 people.

This was in the area near the intersection of San Jacinto and Leonard Streets, just east of the current Arts District. The European settlement of early Dallas stretched east to the area surrounding Swiss Avenue just east of Central Expressway. Many of the street names

of this area still carry the names of these early European settlers. Names such as Swiss Avenue, Cantregral (originally Cantegral Street) and Nussbaumer Streets.

 

In an interview in the Dallas Morning News May of 1906, Mrs. Nussbaumer sites her opinion of why the La Reunion Colony had failed... "Too many scholars..not enough tillers."

Mrs. Nussbaum's statement was painfully true. The settlers were intellectuals more suited to a life of refinement. But they must have been a hearty group full of shear determination to have survived as well as they did. Their days in Texas found them ill equipped for life in the wilderness. There were Indians to contend with and wild animals including wolves and bears. The weather was brutal to those unaccustomed to the Texas heat. To add to their hardship, they were hit was a terrible drought which left their livestock to suffer and prevented the crop growth needed for food.

 

The La Reunion settlers found ways to assimilate after the settlement failed. Monsieur Frichot went into business manufacturing bricks. He had the foresight to see the potential for growth in the little town of Dallas that John Neely Bryan had established overlooking the Trinity River. Monsieur Frichot's business served the town well. Christophre Frichot became a prominent and highly respected businessman and property owner in Dallas.

 

Laura Frichot's parents, Monsieur and Madame Frichot, are buried together in Greenwood Cemetery Dallas, Texas.

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According to the History of Dallas County 1837 to 1887 written by early Dallas historian John Henry Brown, "1886 Theodore Beilharz opened a stone cutting business called Theodore Beilharz Stone Contractor. It was located on Hawkins Street and Pacific Avenue. This successful business employed on average fifteen stone cutters, three setters and fifteen laborers. Theodore later expanded the business to be also a general building contractor."  

 

 

 

 

 

After 1907 life at home had to go on without Papa. There are many stories about the strength of the neighborhood surrounding the Beilharz house, the community of their church and the European settlement. Without doubt Laura had family, friends and community for support when needed.

But all reports come back to how independent these Frichot sisters were. They didn't often

ask for help and if offered, they usually graciously refused.

 

Laura's younger sister Mrs. Henrietta Frichot Wilson, whom the kids called Aunt Ettie, lived across the street. Laura's other sister Bertha (Aunt Bettie) Frichot Peterman lived at 3604 San Jacinto Street. She regularly hopped on the streetcar to visit her sisters on Swiss. All three of the Frichot sisters are remembered with such fondness by their descendants.

 

When Theodore II married, he brought his new wife to live in the family home with he and his mother Laura.  Leslie Beilharz, the son of Theodore Beilharz II and grandson of Theodore and Laura Beilharz grew up in the house on Swiss Avenue. Leslie has warm memories of his aunts. "Never did we visit that a box of candy wasn't passed around the room for the children." He remembers the closeness of the neighborhood too and the wonderful days spent in the park across Texas Street.  "In the summertime everyone slept out either on their porch or out in their yards to stay cool." There were band concerts in the park. He said, "There was never a tastier cup of water than that which came from the cistern under the porch at the Wilson's house. During World War II the children stayed outside to play, while all the parents met inside the Wilson house. They would gather around the radio to listen to the war reports by H.V. Kalterborn". Leslie remembers that his father was very cautious of strangers who asked questions. He explains,"There was a great deal of prejudice towards Germans during both World Wars and for years afterwards."

 

The family had a household helper named Mary Daggs. She and her husband lived in the carriage house behind the Beilharz home. Mary Daggs is mentioned in all the family remembrances and seen in family photos. Leslie Beilharz remembers her kindness..

"Mary Daggs was pretty old by the time I was born. I remember she would regularly walk  through the neighborhood with a basket on her arm filled with cookies or cornbread. Anyone she saw got a treat from Mary's basket."

 

He remembers too a man named George. George would walk through the neighborhood with his cart and do yard work. Leslie remembers his grandmother making him a lunch of pork chops and pork and beans every time he worked in their yard. "She always made him the same lunch..pork chops and pork and beans." When I asked if this was his payment for the yard work done, Leslie replied, "Oh no! He was paid... and fed a lunch of pork chops and pork and beans too!"

 

The neighborhood came together when babies were born, during times of hardship and joy and wept together when a family had a death. These were people who would leave their own families to stay in the home of an ill neighbor. It was not unheard of for a family to "take in" the children of a neighbor if the both parents died. 

 

 

 

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Ruth Carnes, grand daughter of of Bertha Frichot Peterman, remembers in a document she wrote in 1989. "The Beilharz family kept a parrot on the porch of their home. The parrot learned to talk and and would delight the neighborhood when he called Carl home from play!"

  

Dr. Kris Kallstrom, the granddaughter of Bertha Frichot Peterman wrote in 1991 of her Great Aunt Laura. "Aunt Laura I knew the least. We visited their home infrequently to deliver a Christmas fruitcake or bouquet of flowers. My sister and I never got beyond the swing on the front porch though we caught occasional glimpses of Aunt Laura's son Theodore, who appeared to be totally Victorian in dress and manner."

 

 

Laura and son Carl at the house on Swiss in 1926

 

In 1998, Carla Beilharz Parsons, daughter of Carl and granddaughter of Theodore and Laura wrote a document about her memories of the Beilharz family. She remembers a time when her family lived with Theodore and Laura for a few months when she was a little girl. She states in her paper, "My grandmother was a typical grandmother. She wore high topped shoes, long dresses with little lace collars. Her hair was white and she wore it pulled up and back, she worked crossword puzzles alot, and sat in a rocking chair."

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Theodore and Laura's sons:

 

THEODORE FRICHOT BEILHARZ   b. Aug 16, 1890 d. January 11, 1973 buried at Oakland Cemetery Dallas

CARL FRICHOT BEILHARZ   b. January 21, 1904  d. June 6, 1967 buried at Restland Cemetery Dallas

 

Richard Beilharz, another brother immigrated to Dallas and started out at the home of his brother Ernest on Swiss Avenue.  

The Dallas census of 1880 shows an August Beilharz.

There was also a brother named William, it is not known if he settled in Dallas.

A sister joined them in Dallas named Lucie. She married to Hugo Albert Busch.

Early directories show other sisters Mrs. MAX BUSCH  and Mrs. ADOLF GAISER both of Dallas. 

Another sister in Buffalo New York and three more sisters in Germany.

Sisters of LAURA FRICHOT BEILHARZ  (Mrs. Theodore Beilharz) and daughters of Christophre Frichot and Susanna Boll were:

 

HENRIETTA FRICHOT WILSON  d. April 27, 1953 lived at 2922 Swiss Avenue (nickname Aunt Ettie)

married to cattleman and real estate manager Frederick P. Wilson

 

BERTHA CHRISTINE FRICHOT PETERMAN  b. 1866 d. December 1942 (nickname Aunt Bettie or Betty) This is beloved Aunt Bettie.

In 1887 she married  Maurice H. Peterman. He was an early Dallas builder. He is credited for having built the AMBASSADOR HOTEL in Dallas.

They lived at 3604 San Jacinto Street in Dallas for 40 years. 

They had two daughters and four sons all raised in the house on San Jacinto. Their home was the warm center of neighborhood and community activity. They named one daughter Henrietta, possibly named after Bertha's and Laura's little sister Henrietta Frichot Wilson.

Bertha died at the age of 76, her husband lived only one year without her.

Maurice H. Peterman died in August of 1943 at the age of 82.

 

 

 

 

 

Compiled and Written by 

 

Deborah Massie Lacy

Dallas Texas 

2008

 

 

The Texas History Message Board

www.texashistorymessageboard.com

 

contact: Deborah Massie Lacy

texasdb@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sources and credits:  Dallas Morning News archives;

The Beilharz Family Collection , document and family pictures of the Theodore Beilharz family which were donated by Theodore Beilharz III to the Dallas Public Library and the Dallas Public Library 7th floor archives, 

Murphy and Bolanz Maps,

document by Carla Beilharz Parsons granddaughter of Theodore and Laura Frichot, On file at Preservation Dallas: documents by Dr. Kris Kallstrom, Ruth Carnes; and Patricia Evridge

The Ellis County Museum, Waxahachie, Texas

The Making of a Modern City Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996; The Texas Handbook Online;

The Meadows Foundation current owners of the Theodore and Laura Beilharz house;

The History of Dallas County 1837-1887 by John Henry Brown,

Dallas City Directories: Morrison Fourmy's Dallas city directiory 

Jim Wheat's Dallas County Archives;

Dallas County census records;

Google maps; Wikipedia 

Photographs of the Ernest Beilharz family in the collection of Archie Massie, Dallas Texas

Caryn Montague current owner of the Ernest and Henrietta Beilharz house

Family sources: Sharon Smith of Wylie Texas, Paul W. Wittmer of Manchester Missouri,

Theodore Frichot Beilharz, Dallas Texas

Leslie Earl Beilharz, Dallas Texas

 

 

 

     Any corrections or additions will be gratefully considered 

 While every effort was used for accuracy, it is not guaranteed

 Information herein not to be used for profit but freely shared for educational purposes only

Please contact author for permission to reproduce this document or any portions thereof

Thank You 

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