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Adam Phillip Acker ¹

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation. Farmer

• Alt. Immigration: On the S.S. Magnet from Bremen, 25 Oct 1852, Galveston, Galveston County, Texas. ¹⁴⁰ The ship left Bremen on 8/22/1852. The only thing that connects this entry to Adam is the name. But it's the only Adam Acker in the appropriate time period, so it's a pretty good guess.

• Immigration, 1854, Texas. ¹⁴¹

• Military Service: Confederate Army, Summer 1863, Texas. ¹⁴² Claims to have been forcibly drafted under threat of hanging in Seguin, Texas during the summer of 1863 after several attempts by Confederate soldiers to pick him up. He thought the unit was headed up by a Captain "McCullogh." He said they marched to Port Lavaca and then down to Powder Horn where they merged with another unit under the command of former Texas Governer John Ireland. He said he was not issued a gun, but "stood guard with a stick." He wasn't sure that the purpose of the unit was, but believes Ireland's unit was to smuggle cotton and such via steamers.

He says after six or seven weeks, he encountered his "first fair opportunity" to desert while in Port Lavaca and headed across the border into Mexico and then into Brownsville, Texas, where he says he joined the Union Army. According to William Ashe's statement, Adam first came home for about a month (after being gone for 4 weeks) and then left again to join the Union Army.

[In my opinion, the part about going into Mexico is awfully hard to believe given the distance that Port Lavaca and Powder Horn are from the Mexican border. Also, when applying for his pension, the war department found no record of Adam Acker in any organized Confederate unit in Texas]

• Military Service: U.S. Army, 1st Texas Calvary, Company E "Hamilton's Body Guard," 1 Mar 1864-26 Mar 1865, Texas. ^137,143,144 Discharged in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Says he contracted rheumatism while on patrol in Baton Rouge.

• Census: 1870 United States Federal, 19 Aug 1870, New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. ¹⁴⁵ Line 17

• Census: 1880 United States Federal, 19 Jun 1880, Precinct 2, Comal County, Texas. ¹⁴⁶ Line 21

• Illness: Severe attack of rheumatism, 1887, New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. ¹⁴⁷ Attack lasted 3 months and left him unable to work for 6 months. According to the doctor, "In 1888 he complained constantly of rheumatic pains and was at the same time in a state of melancholia to such an extent that he did not take any interest in his affairs." In another document, Adam says he first suffered the disease while on patrol in Baton Rouge in the fall of 1894. That attack supposedly lasted about 4 weeks.

• Illness: Apoplectic Attach, Abt 3 Mar 1889, New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. ¹⁴⁷ The attack caused him to fall on a stone, which resulted in an extensive wound on his scalp. This attach is also cited as the cause of his deafness.

• Physical Description: 5'7" Tall, 135 Pounds, 1 Jul 1891. ¹⁴⁸ Surgeon's certificate also describes a slight stiffness in his joints and slight deafness in his right ear to where he cannot hear normal conversation beyond 5 feet.

• Physical Description: 5'6", 133 Pounds, 31 Oct 1894. ¹⁴⁹ Surgeon's Report finds no evidence of rheumatism. Slight deafness in left ear and severe deafness in right ear.

• Residence, 1896-1897, Guadalupe County, Texas. ¹⁵⁰

• Physical Description: 5'7", 130 pounds, 9 Sep 1896. Surgeon's certificate notes his overall appearance is unhealthy, muscles poorly developed, heart diseased,

• Pension: Civil War Invalid Pension, 14 Dec 1896. ¹⁵¹ Cert #921813. First applied for it on September 17, 1890. Rejected twice previously (1892 and earlier in 1896) as the pension office determined his was not disabled enough to collect the money. Granted $12 a month from June 13, 1896.

• Census: 1900 United States Federal, 22 Jun 1900, New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. ¹⁴¹ Line 42

• Cemetery: Comal Cemetery, 17 Apr 1907, New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. ¹³⁹ West of Avenue A.

Adam married Mary Marie Monken, daughter of Friedrich Francis Monken and Christine Sauer, on 11 Jul 1858 in Comal County, Texas ¹³⁴.^,135 The marriage ended in separation in Mar 1895. (Mary Marie Monken was born on 1 Jan 1840 in Oestrich, Rheingau, Prussia,¹⁵² died on 11 Aug 1921 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas ^153,154 and was buried in 1921 in New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas ¹⁵⁵.)

  Marriage Notes:

In the 1900 Census, Adam is shown to have been married for 42 years...that would put the marriage date around 1858.