Edward Degener, German settler and politician, was born in Brunswick, Germany, on October 20, 1809. He was twice a member of the legislative body in Anhalt-Dessay and was a member of the first German National Assembly at Frankfurt-am-Main in 1848. He immigrated to the United States in 1850 and settled at Sisterdale, Texas, where he farmed. During the Civil War Degener was court-martialed and imprisoned by the Confederate Army because of his devotion to the Union cause. After his release he engaged in the wholesale grocery business in San Antonio. He was a member of the Constitutional conventions of 1866 and 1868–69; upon the readmission of Texas to representation in Congress he was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1870, to March 3, 1871. Degener was a member of the city council of San Antonio from 1872 until 1878. He died in San Antonio on September 11, 1890, and was buried in the City Cemetery.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Anne W. Hooker,
“Degener, Edward,”
Handbook of Texas Online,
accessed August 10, 2022,
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/degener-edward.
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