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Citation:  [Identification of Item], August Forcke Papers, MC052, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.

Creator Sketch:

A practicing pharmacist in New Braunfels, Texas, for 50 years,  Johann August Forcke was born in Hildsheim, Germany, on April 20, 1814, and studied pharmacy in Jena, Germany, before immigrating to Texas in 1845.  He landed at Indianola and arrived in New Braunfels in 1846.  An early settler of the city, Forcke served as one of the first city aldermen from June 7, 1847 to March 3, 1849.  Forcke bought property in 1851 on South Seguin Street where he located his drug store.  His business closed in 1898.

August Forke married Johanne Sophia Fricke (1816 – 1898) in 1847.  The couple had five children.  He died January 2, 1903, and is buried in the Comal Cemetery in New Braunfels, Texas.

Scope and Content Note:

Financial documents, correspondence, and printed materials record the professional life of August Forcke, Druggist, in New Braunfels, Texas, from 1852 – 1896.  Financial documents (1860 – 1896), both bound and loose, include bills of lading (1867 – 1891), invoices and statements of account (1863 – 1896), and receipts (1866 – 1893) that record the materials and their prices, and the methods of obtaining those materials needed to maintain a drug store on the edge of the Texas frontier.  Of particular interest is an invoice from S. Ramos y Hermano of Monteray, Mexico, dated August 19, 1863, that documents the necessity for Texans to turn to Mexico to import drugs during the Civil War.  A single daybook (1860 – 1873) records Forcke’s daily financial transactions.  Arranged according to the location where they were found in the records boxes, 2957 loose prescriptions (1860 – 1896) written primarily in German and on scraps of paper may or may not contain names of patients, drug formulations, the names of doctors, or the date.  The correspondence seems to be related primarily to business.  Eleven circulars advertise products related to drugstores.   The preponderance of the documents are written in German with English used as a secondary language.

Archivist’s Note:

This collection is a part of an accession donated by Mrs. Henry V. Schumann shortly after the death of her husband in 1942.  Included in the collection were three other finite collections.  Of these, the Alex Reszczynski Papers also contain financial documents and prescriptions of August Forcke. 

Further information about August Forcke can be obtained from the Sophienburg Museum and Archives, 200 Seguin, New Braunfels, Texas  78130.

AUGUST FORCKE PAPERS, 1852 - 1896 (Bulk: 1870 - 1890 )

Manuscript Collection:  MC052

Size: .6 linear feet plus 2 volumes

Boxes:  1

Inventory

     Series:  Correspondence:  Received

     Series:  Financial:  Bills of Lading

Series:   Financial:  Daybook

Series:  Financial:  Invoices and Statesments of Account

Series:  Financial:  Receipts:

Series:  Financial:  Prescriptions

Series:  Printed Materials

Series:  Lists