At first glance, Blasterz thought a professional artist made this stone, with carvings of the Blessed Virgin and the Sacred Heart of Jesus in bas-relief, and the signature of Joseph Rudinger and the date on the base. But the more we looked at it, the more we felt the mystery around this gorgeous tombstone - the most artistically impressive one we saw here.
We were familiar with the Rudinger family from other waymarks we wrote about them. The Rudingers were early D'Hanis settlers touched by tragedy.
Blasterz have puzzled a lot over this stone -- who carved it, was it commissioned from an artist in another city before Mrs. Gartheiser's death and then hand-etched locally by her neighbor Joseph Rudinger? And if so, WHICH Rudinger did the carving -- Joseph Sr. (1797-1866) or Joseph Jr (1815-1870) -- BOTH were alive in 1861.
If Joseph Rudinger was not the artist who carved the stone, why would he sign it LIKE an artist? Where did this stone come from, since it is clearly local limestone. It could have come from as far away as San Antonio, especially if it was specially-commissioned...
So many questions! So we did a little digging. We discovered on Find-A-Grave that Catharina Gartheiser is Catharina Zuercher Gartheiser, the second wife of Andreas Brieden (married 17 Jan 1855 in Medina County TX).
Then we found a family genealogy here: Source: (
visit link)
Andreas Brieden was another one of the original settlers of D'Hanis from Alsace-Lorriane France. He was also a stone mason, who did the masonry work for buildings in D'Hanis and nearby Castroville.
"Andreas Brieden (Andrei Briden) was born 25 Sep 1808 in Near Colmar, Haute Rhine, France, and died 05 Sep 1881 in Castroville, Medina Co., Texas.
He married (1) Elizabeth Zuercher 09 Jan 1837 in Oberentzen, Haut Rhin, France, daughter of Michael Zuercher and Catherine Romann.She was born 28 Oct 1808 in Oberentzen, Haut Rhin, France, and died 28 Sep 1854 in D'Hanis, Medina Co., Texas.
He married (2) Catherine Zuercher 17 Jan 1855 in Medina Co., Texas, daughter of Michael Zuercher and Catherine Romann.She was born Abt. 1806, and died 1861 in D'Hanis, Medina Co., Texas. . .
"He was a stone mason and built the first rock buildings in D'Hanis and Castroville."
They lived near the old church in "Old" D'Hanis, somewhat behind it. ...
He is variously called "Andre", "Andres", "Andreas", and "Andrew", depending on whether one is looking at French, German, or American records.He immigrated with his family in 1846, as part of Henri Castro's colony which was forming in the wilderness west of San Antonio, Texas.This area later became Medina County....
In later years Andreas Brieden married his first wife's sister, who had married a Gartieser but this was after she was widowed (Jones)...
[In] Dec. 1854, Andreas obtained a wedding licenses to marry Elizabeth's sister, Catherina, who was also a widow. . . .
Notes for Catherine Zuercher:
She was a widow also when Andreas Brieden married her.Her husband, Jean Baptiste Gartieser, of whom she came over on the ship with, died at Mission Concepcion . . .Catherine and their three children remained at the mission for slightly over a year before they ventured into the unknown land of D'Hanis.
Marriage Notes for Andreas Brieden and Catherine Zuercher:
Joseph & Leopold Zurcher, both witnessed the ceremony.
Married by: Dominicus Mesens, R.C. Priest. . ."
So now we are thinking that Brieden carved the stone, and Rudinger (a family member) engraved it when she died.
The tombstone (in German, like many of these early graves) reads as follows:
"HIER RUHT
CATHARINA GARTIESER"
[EN] "Here rests Catherine Garteiser"
below, on the bottom of the base of the tombstone we see "Joseph Rudinger 1861" carved in the same hand.