SIEMERING, AUGUST (1828–1883). August Siemering, writer and political leader, was born in Brandenburg, Germany, on February 8, 1828. A liberal in politics, he emigrated from Germany during the reactionary period following the revolution of 1848. He arrived in Texas in 1851 and spent the greater part of his first decade there teaching school at Sisterdale and at Fredericksburg, where he opened the first public school in 1856. Siemering was an ardent Republican and an antislavery advocate; he took an active part, as secretary, in the antislavery convention and the Staats Saengerfest, held in San Antonio in 1854. Nevertheless, in 1861 he was impressed into the service of the Confederate Army, where he attained the rank of lieutenant. In 1865 Siemering established the San Antonio Freie Presse für Texas, which became one of the leading Republican newspapers of the South. His editorials and particularly his "Sonntagsbetrachtungen" were outstanding and have been described as classics of German-American literature. He was associated also with the San Antonio Express and contributed numerous articles to various other papers. He wrote a number of novels and articles describing Texas designed for distribution abroad. At the time of his death he was preparing a record of his life's study and observations in Texas. This work, however, remained unfinished. Siemering was a man of strong convictions. Active and competent, he remained a political leader and held various public offices until the time of his death. Because he was a Republican in the Democratic South and because most of his writings were in German rather than in English, his reputation was restricted to a degree that was disproportionate to his remarkable ability and his personal excellence of character. Siemering was married in 1859 to Clara Schütze, of the German immigrant family of Louis Schütze, a pioneer teacher of Gillespie County. They were the parents of two sons and six daughters. Siemering died in San Antonio on September 19, 1883; he was survived by his wife and seven of his children.
Freie Presse für Texas, September 20, 1883. San Antonio Daily Express, September 21, 1883.
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