In 1849, a young German bride and her husband stepped off a ship
in Corpus Christi Bay to establish their home in the new frontier
settlement. For the next three decades Maria von Blücher wrote
letters home describing the hardships of droughts and Indian raids,
the chaos of the American Civil War, and the joys and heartbreaks
of family life.

    Her letters record the woman's side of pioneer life and stand as
an elegant testimony to the role played by Germans in the settlement
of South Texas, while also providing an intimate look at early Corpus
Christi.

    Bruce S. Cheeseman has edited and annotated more than two
hundred of the von Blücher family's papers on deposit at the Mary
and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

    In her life and in her letters, Maria von Blücher joined all of the
courageous pioneer women who helped to lay the foundations of
Texas communities. These letters unerringly draw a Texas
landscape that is gone forever.

_________________________________________________________

BRUCE S. CHEESEMAN is an independent consultant in history,
archives, and cultural resources management. He lives in Corpus
Christi, Texas.



Number Five: Canseco-Keck History Series


What people are saying about this book

"Maria is made of stern stuff. There are enough twists, turns and 
reversals of fortune to make an epic. It isn't too often that
nonfiction stories are made into films, but this one ought to be."
—The Dallas Morning News