The Adelsverein Trilogy

From the Old World to the New -  The frontier would challenge them. Brutal war would test them, in a crucible of fire. But they would endure and build. They would prosper and in the end …

They would become Americans

 The Adelsverein Trilogy is a saga of family and community loyalties, and the challenge of building a new life on the hostile frontier. They come from Germany to Texas in 1847, under the auspices of the "Mainzer Adelsverein" – the society of noblemen of Mainz, who seek to fill a settlement in Texas with German farmers and craftsmen.  Christian "Vati" Steinmetz, the clockmaker of Ulm in Bavaria, has brought his sons and daughters: Magda – passionate and courageous, courted by Carl Becker, a young frontiersman with a dangerous past. Her sister Liesel wants nothing more than to be a good wife to her husband Hansi, a stolid and practical farmer called by circumstances to be something greater, in the boom years of the great cattle ranches. Their brothers Friedrich and Johann, have always been close. In the Civil War, one will wear Union blue, the other Confederate grey homespun, but never forget they are brothers.  And finally, there is Vati's  adopted daughter Rosalie, whose life ends as it began – in tragedy. But Vati's family will will survive and ultimately triumph. They will make their mark in Texas, their new land.

 Adelsverein;  It's about love and loss, joy and grief . . . and the sometimes wrenching process of becoming American.