Part 4

Part 4, Note 26

Colorado County Deed Records, Book E, pp. 114-118, Book I, p. 129, Book J, pp. 652-654; Gilbert J. Jordan, trans. and ed., "W. Steinert's View of Texas in 1849," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 3, January 1977, p. 297, (or, in later published form, Wilhelm Steinert, North America, Particularly Texas in the Year 1849: A Travel Account, Gilbert J. Jordan, trans., Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov, ed., (Dallas: DeGolyer Library and William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, 1999), p. 79); Records of Trinity Lutheran Church, Baptismal Book, Archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus, Texas. Fibiger, incidently, usually signed his name "ffibiger." Sometimes, however, the name is signed "fr fibiger," suggesting that his first name might have been Friedrich (see for instance, Colorado County Marriage Records, Book C, pp. 1-3 for the shorter signature, pp. 9-11 for the other). Probably he was Charles Frederick Fibiger, who, in the course of applying for citizenship in the United States on August 2, 1851, declared that he had arrived in Texas on December 26, 1846 (see Colorado County District Court Records, Final Record Book B, p. 414).
The case might be made that the four acres the Thomases allotted to the Methodist church were never located, and that therefore no church was ever built on the Thomas tract. When, on March 25, 1852, the Thomases sold their holdings to Nathan Thomas, the deed specified that four acres had been "deeded to 'Methodist E Church'" and was "reserved for that purpose" (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book I, p. 129). On January 2, 1857, Thomas sold the property to John Samuel Hancock, and on June 11, 1868, Hancock sold it to Martha C. Tobin. Both deeds also state that four of the 108 acres had been "reserved" for the Methodists (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book J, pp. 652-654, Book M, p. 790). All three deeds reproduce the meticulous descriptions of the three adjoining tracts which Malinda Thomas pieced into her 108-acre farm. None specifies where within the three tracts the four acres that were to devolve to the Methodists were located. When Tobin sold the property to William Schoellmann on April 15, 1875, it was described as 108 acres, and there was no mention of any Methodist land (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 2, p. 214). However, federal census takers noted three churches---a Catholic church and two Methodist churches---in the county in 1850 (see Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Schedule 6, Colorado County, Texas). The Catholic church was in Frelsburg. As we will see, one of the two Methodist churches was in Columbus. The other Methodist church must have been that on the Thomas tract.