HENNECKE, JOSEPH (1778-ca. 1855). Joseph Hennecke, Prussian immigrant, was born in Entrup, Westphalia, Prussia, in 1778. He and his wife, Anna Maria (Middike), immigrated between 1846 and 1849 with three sons, Henry, Conrad, and Joseph. The family settled in Colorado County and lived with the families of older married children who had settled in the area earlier. Early church records appear in the books of the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Frelsburg, Colorado County. Five older children were in Texas by 1834. John Henneke, Franz Henneke, and two sisters (probably Mary who married John von der Werth ca. 1837 and Elizabeth who married first Jacob Foerster in 1837 and later Bernard Moller) sailed on the ship Congress, probably from Bremem. The ship landed at Galveston at the end of December 1834. Another daughter, Mary Theresa, was also here by 1833 or 1834; she was the wife of Conrad Juergens (see JUERGENS, MARY THERESA). Joseph Hennecke died by December 1855. His wife died in 1858 and is buried in the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery, Frelsburg.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rosa Kleberg, "Some of My Early Experiences in Texas," trans. Rudolph Kleberg, Jr., Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 1, 2 (April, October 1898).
