Wrede, Friedrich Wilhelm Von, Jr. (1820–unknown)

Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, Jr., pioneer German settler and legislator, was born in Germany on December 31, 1820, the son of Demoiselle Margarete Henriette Charlotte (Greven) and Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, Sr. He came to the United States with his parents on the sailing vessel Manko, arriving at New Orleans on January 5, 1836. After extensive travels with his father to East Texas, St. Louis, and New York, he returned to Germany in 1843. In 1844 he returned to Texas as secretary to Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, who was sent to Texas by the Adelsverein to make arrangements for the settling of German immigrants. Wrede was one of the group who accompanied John O. Meusebach, Solms's successor, to the San Saba River in West Texas to make a peace treaty with the Indians (see MEUSEBACH-COMANCHE TREATY). He later entered private business in Fredericksburg, and from 1850 to 1851 he was county clerk of Gillespie County. He represented that area in the Eighth Texas Legislature, from 1859 to 1861. With the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 he enlisted in the Gillespie Rifles, Thirty-first Brigade, under Capt. Charles H. Nimitz. Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, Jr., was married to Sophie Bonzano (sister of Mary Bonzano, who was married first to Henry Kessler and then to Henry Francis Fisher); they had four children who were born in Fredericksburg. Sometime after February 2, 1865, the family returned to Germany, where another child was born about 1866. They lived in Wiesbaden, Germany, from 1866 to 1871.