GROTHAUS, FREDERICK EDWARD (1843–1899). Frederick Edward, or F. E., Grothaus was born in Barmen, Rhein, a province of Prussia, on May 4, 1842. He immigrated with his parents to Texas in the spring of 1852, arriving at Indianola. The family settled in DeWitt County. In 1861, Grothaus, along with a group of other colonists, traveled to Mexico and crossed the Sierra Madres to Mazatlán and before continuing on to San Francisco and later southern California. He returned to Texas by 1866 and was later elected county judge of DeWitt County. On March 13, 1871, he married Caroline Schorre. They had eight children. One of their daughters, Julia Ellen Grothaus,qv became an influential librarian in Texas. Grothaus served as representative of the Twenty-fourth District in the Twelfth Texas Legislature from 1870 to 1871. Following the passage of the organization bill, which established a new state college, on April 17, 1871, Governor Edmund J. Davisqv appointed a three-man commission to locate a site for the new school. The commission consisted of F.E. Grothaus, John G. Bell, and George B. Slaughter. Before choosing a location, they visited sites in Austin, Brazos, and Grimes Counties. Bryan/College Station eventually became the home of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, now Texas A&M University. Following his brief stint in the legislature, Grothaus moved to Bexar County and worked as chief bookkeeper of Hugo & Schmeltzer Company. During this time, he remained active in the Republican party. Grothaus died suddenly of an apparent heart attack on July 27, 1899, at his home near the San Juan Capistrano Missionqv in San Antonio.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chapman, David L., "Politics and Poker: The Location of Texas A&M "
(http://lib-edit.tamu.edu/cushing/collectn/univarch/texag/articles/01/july.html),accessed January 31, 2007. San Antonio Daily Express, July 28, 1899.
Britney Jeffrey
