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der Poet LbNA #69017

Owner:Boots Tex
Plant date:Aug 17, 2015
Location: Black Jack Springs Cemetery
City:O'Quinn
County:Fayette
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: NLW
Last found:Feb 29, 2020
Status:FFFFF
Last edited:Dec 5, 2015
First, my apologies to Baby Bear. He placed a box in this cemetery called “Johannas Romberg” in March of this year and now I am placing this box in the same cemetery and with the same subject. When I planned “der Poet”, I overlooked his box and only found it after carving my stamp. I was going to scrap it, but I received encouragement from others to go ahead and place it, so here it is. Look at it as sort of a bonus, two stamps for the price of one. This Poet deserves all the attention he can get.

You can read the life story of Johannes Romberg by referring to Baby Bear’s box. I’ll give you a little more personal information about the man as told in “Footprints of Fayette”

During the last third of the 19th century, Johannes Romberg’s interest in philosophy and literature continued unabated. All but one of his children married and left home, though all stayed in central Texas. It is likely that he wrote many poems in this period. The names of a few mention a year. He died in 1891 at the age of 82. A few years later, one of his grandsons showed a friend visiting from Germany a number of poems that Johannes had written over the years. The visitor persuaded the grandson to let him arrange for the poems to be published in Germany, and the printed volume was issued in 1899. It includes about 50 poems, running to 294 printed pages. Only a few of them contain references that allow them to be dated. However, judging from the volume and the variety of subjects, Romberg must have written poetry throughout most of his adult life. References to other unpublished works suggest that the published volume represents only a part of his actual output. The titles of his poems indicate the wide variety of matters that attracted his comments: some examples: “The Devil and the Poet”, “To a Pessimist”, “Winter in Texas, Victory of Spring”, “Thoughts of Homeland”, “At the Grave of a Friend”, “Choosing a House-Place”, and “Genius and Talent”. Some of them are narrative, but more are philosophical. Descriptions of the world around him are used as vehicles for observations about nature, people and life. The introduction to the volume of poems, the subjects and phrasing of the writing, and the family reminiscences all clearly indicate that Romberg was happy, optimistic, skilled in his relations with family and friends, peace-loving and conscientious. After the death of his wife in 1883, he was somewhat lonely and sober, but always cheerful. There is practically nothing of depression or dissatisfaction in any of his poems. Even when his verse reports a sad event, he ends his narrative on a cheerful note. He accepted life as it was. During the Civil War, he and his family and others in the community, went to Mexico, South America and California, simply because they didn’t share “Southern sentiments”. After the war, he moved back to the farm at Black Jack Springs and lived out his life there. Some of his poetry must have circulated informally during his lifetime, and he became known as the German poet laureate of Texas. He wrote in the German language, but in 1990, his great-grandson, Frederick Ernst Romberg, made a complete English translation of all of Johannes’ published poems. He described the translations as “into verse, but not poetry” so as to adhere closely to the original meaning.

Directions: This letterbox is located in Black Jack Springs Cemetery, near O’Quinn, in Fayette County, Texas. O’Quinn is about 7 miles Southwest of La Grange on Highway 609. From there, continue Southwest a short distance on 609 to Black Jack Road on the right and turn right. Drive to the cemetery on the left. Park on the near side next to the gate and historical marker.

To the Box: Go through the gate and follow the fence to the left to the large marker for C. Luck. Turn right and walk about 30 steps to the Romberg plot. The concrete marker for Johannes Romberg is the first one on your left. A yaupon bush is growing close behind the stone. The box is there as well, covered with a brick. Be careful of the branches and vines. Be sure to find Baby Bear’s box while you are here.