TSHA Home Publications Education Events Southwestern Historical Quarterly The Handbook of Texas Online About Us News Site Search Contact Us Giving Opportunities Links FAQ Join the TSHA
skip to content
TSHA Online Home
Texas Day by Day

January 5, 1818


Pioneer Texas scientist born in Germany

On this day in 1818, scientist Ferdinand von Roemer was born in Hildesheim, Hanover. He studied law at Göttingen from 1836 to 1839 and received his Ph.D. in paleontology in Berlin in 1842. Roemer traveled to Texas in 1845. From November 1845 to May 1847 he explored from Galveston to Houston, as far west as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg and as far north as Waco, studying the fauna, flora, and geology of the country. He also wrote a detailed report of the expedition that led to the Meusebach-Comanche Treaty. His book Texas (1849), published in Bonn and translated in 1935 by Oswald Mueller, describes German immigration to Texas and the physical appearance of the state. Roemer was the author of the first monograph on Texas geology, The Cretaceous Formations of Texas and Their Organic Inclusions, published in Bonn in 1852. He died in Breslau in 1891, having published over 350 works.

Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
ROEMER, FERDINAND VON
EXPLORATION
MEUSEBACH-COMANCHE TREATY
EMIGRANTS' GUIDES TO TEXAS
GERMANS

Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
Cooke County hamlet springs back after Indian raid (1865)
First telegraph company in Texas chartered (1854)
Naval fleet commander relieved on eve of World War II (1941)


Copyright © Texas State Historical Association    Published by the Texas State Historical Association and distributed
in partnership with Holt, Rinehart and Winston, a Harcourt Education Company
Terms of Use   Comment/Contact   Policy Agreement   Updated: Jul 6, 08