Captain Charles Welhausen

Charles Welhausen, a native of Hanover, Germany, immigrated to Texas with his parents in 1843, arriving at the Port of Galveston and living first at Cat Spring in Austin County and later at High Hill in Fayette County, where he became a saddle maker. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served at Fort Brown and Fort Manhassett in Texas before taking part in the Battle of Calcasieu Pass in Louisiana in 1884; cited for gallantry in action, he was promoted to Captain. After the war he returned to Fayette County, married Eliza Amsler in 1867, served as County Commissioner and Justice of the Peace, and was elected in 1888 to represent Fayette County in the Twenty-First Texas Legislature. In 1890, the Welhausens and their children moved to Shiner, where they purchased a ranch from H.B. Shiner; Charles Welhausen opened a bank, became a respected business and civic leader, and in 1911 purchased this site and donated it to the city for a park, while Eliza Welhausen was an active lay leader in the Methodist Church.

Shiner, Texas · United States