As part of a series of articles for Blanco County’s birthday, the Blanco County News is publishing family histories from local families.

The Lindeman family can be traced for 7 generations. The known heritage begins in Prussia in the late 1700s. Johann Andreas Lindeman was born in 1797 and married Eva Affa in 1820. In 1846, Johann, Eva and their 10 children immigrated to the United States. During the ocean voyage on the Lost Schooner, Eva died while giving birth to their 11th child. She was buried at sea. Johann and his children landed at Indianola, Texas and traveled inland to Schumanville in Guadalupe County.

Johann never remarried and raised his 11 children alone. On January 1, 1854, Johann accompanied his oldest daughter and her husband, Col. Goar, to Blanco County, where they purchased land which they then farmed. Johann lived the remainder of his life in Blanco.

One of Johann’s sons, Henrich, (Henry) purchased land seven miles east of Blanco, making his life’s vocation that of farming and ranching. Henry’s children who remained in Blanco were: Alice, Pat, and Charles. Alice and her husband, Will, worked on a farm until their retirement, at which time they moved in to town. Pat and his wife, Jessie, spent their lives working on farms, until their retirement, at which time they also moved in to town. Pat’s son, Wayne, remained in Blanco and worked as a blacksmith and then spent 30 years working as an electrician. Wayne’s son, Jerry, also remained in Blanco and as a young man he worked as a mechanic. Jerry and his wife owned a grocery business for 30 years, specializing in freshly butchered meats.

Charles (Charlie) and wife, Antonie (Toni), lived out their lives on the 200 acre farm that Charlie bought in 1900. Upon purchasing the property, Charlie converted half of the timbered acreage into farm land, using hand tools and mule drawn wagons. He built rock fences to partition the fields from the pasture land. With his team of mules, Charlie used hand operated equipment to plant and harvest cotton, corn, maize, and hay crops. In addition to farming, he also raised sheep, goats, cattle, hogs, and chickens. When his three sons (Alton, Vorie & Otis) were not in school at nearby Flat Creek, they assisted their father in working the farm.

One of Charlie and Toni’s sons, Alton, remained in Blanco. In 1936, he bought 87 acres from his parents. He later leased the remainder of the property when Charlie could no longer manage the place. Upon Charlie and Toni’s deaths, Alton bought his brother’s share of the property, and purchased additional acreage, to work some 500 acres of land. This property has now been in the family for over a hundred years and in 2000, the state of Texas recognized it as one of the ranches of the Texas Family Heritage.

Alton and his wife Lorene and their five children, (Christine, Charlene, Laura, Carroll, & Harvie) gleaned a living off the land. In addition to farming, they operated a small dairy and sold milk and butter to customers in town, as well as the Blanco School. Along with hand milking some 10 to 12 cows every morning and evening and cultivating the farm land, they raised registered Delaine Moreno sheep, which were shown at the annual area fairs as well as the Texas State Fair, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and Houston Livestock exhibitions.

Along with the dairy cattle, Alton also raised a small herd of range cattle, Angora goats, hogs, and chickens. His farm crops were corn, hiagra, maize, oats, and wheat. To accommodate the family of seven, there was always a big garden of such vegetables as beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, onions, squash, lettuce, cabbage, and tomatoes. Next to the garden was an orchard of peach, plum, and pear trees. All fruits and vegetables were processed for the family’s meals or canned for consumption during the winter months. Beef, pork, and chicken were butchered and preserved to be eaten throughout the year.

The Lindeman family has a strong, determined, independent, and family-loyal trait in its people. The first four generations of Lindemans were farmers and ranchers who somehow prevailed to overcome overwhelming obstacles which confronted them as they reared their families and worked their land. With our nation becoming less and less agrarian, and more and more urban, the children from the fifth generation have been required to seek more varied and much more complex vocations. Henry Lindeman’s descendents are now spread throughout Texas and the US. Those who presently live in Blanco are Jerry, Sharon, Charlene, Laura, and Harvie.

The lineage of Johann and Eva Lindeman are as follows:

Children & Grandchildren of Johann & Eva Lindeman

Effie (married Col. Richard Briscoe Goar (deceased 1857) and had 5 children) Effie remarried George Palmer and they had 5 children. Adam (never lived in Blanco; settled in Seguin, Texas), John (joined the confederate Army during the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas), Julius (married Mattie Carmack), Annie (Herman Fischer), Edward (married Mary Harrell: he later married Laura Grier); Pauline (married James Campbell and had 8 children), Hermine (married Samuel Durham and had 4 children), Fredericka (married Benjamin Palmer and had 2 children), Henry (married Martha Stayton and had 6 children: Johnnie, Katie, David, Alice, Pat, and Charles - the latter 3 children remained to live in Blanco).

Children & Grandchildren of Henry & Martha Lindeman: Alice married Will Smart and had 1 child, Elva (married Lee West and had 3 children: Leona Mae, Norma Nell, and Pete). Pat married Jessie Saunders and had 3 children: Ricky V. (married Allen Barnes), Truman (married Addie Crochet and had 5 children: Lynette, Cheryl, Karen, Janet and Pattie) and Wayne (married Tucker Wagner and had 1 child: Jerry (married Marie Anna Kneupper and had 2 children): Michael (married Martha Daggett; Amber, Lauren, Travis and Tyler) and Sharon (married Andrew Cox and had 2 children: Jason and Kyle). Charles married Antonie Pantermuehl and had 3 children: Vorie (married Melanie Liesmann) Vorie died from a horse accident at age 33, he had no children. Otis (married Marie Cravatt and had 3 children: Lillian, Ellen, and Charles) Charles died in infancy. Otis later married Mary Gasper. Alton (married Lorene Blanton and had 5 children: Christine (died from cancer at age 19), Charlene, Laura, Carroll, and Harvie).

Children & Grandchildren of Alton & Lorene Lindeman; Charlene married Raymond Singleton and had 4 children: Carole (married Terry Bearden), Joel (married Julie Greene and had 2 children: Nicholas and William), Julie (married Jeff Young), Paul (married Stephanie Rossen). Laura married Lyndon Heimer and had 2 children: Teri (married Gernot Albrecht and had 1 child, Karsten) and Brad (married Shannon Greene and had 2 child, Sydney and Carissa). Laura later married Pat Caza. Carroll married Kristina Staats and had 2 children: Wade (married Micaela Walker and had 1 child: Walker) and Kristi (married Chris Beabout). Harvie married Sandra Sargen and had 2 children: David (married Rhonda Duckworth) and Kristin (married Leonard Tadvick and had 3 children: Jack, Gary, and Max). Harvie later married Janis Beaudoin.