Postmaster and stamp collector, Edgar Albert Rummel (d. 1972) was a deaf mute, born to German immigrants Louis C. and Ottilie (Bauer) Rummel, who married in Round Top, Texas, in 1874. In Ledbetter, Edgar managed a post office in his house, which his father had previously maintained. Additionally, he helped establish the Ledbetter Volunteer Fire Department in 1947. Edgar had several siblings, including Helen, wife of Dan Hoffman; Leonie; Herbert; Jim C.; Arthur E.; L. J.; Reinhard, and Jerry H. Around 1907, Leonie married Henry Weyand and moved to Carmina. Henry died in 1918 during the flu epidemic, and afterwards she became interested in the history of Texas and earned an M.A. in History from the University of Texas at Austin in 1932.
Ottilie was the daughter of Karl Seagusmund Bauer. Her siblings include Annie, John, Albert J., Karl Traugott and Karl Ergott Bauer. Traugott and Ergott fought in the Civil War, and during the Siege at Vicksburg, Ergott was shot in the ear. Traugott and his wife Lena had a son, a grandson, and two granddaughters, Lena and Lona.
Sources:
Edgar A. Rummel Family Papers, 1855-1955, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
Matthijez, Roger, Kermit Blume, H. Margaret Eaves, and Jane Matthijetz.
Correspondence, postcards and birthday cards, photographs and negatives, legal and financial records, newspaper clippings, booklets, creative works, an 1877 diary, and printed material compose the Edgar A. Rummel Family Papers, 1855-1955. The correspondence contains primarily letters and postcards, written between Rummel family members or their friends. The collection relates to the Rummel and Bauer families, particularly Louis and Ottilie (Bauer) Rummel and their children. The papers also illuminate life in German-American communities in Round Rock, Ledbetter, and Spring Branch, Texas, and the social and business activities of their residents, including the management of a post office in Ledbetter and life during World Wars I and II.
This collection is open for research use.
Edgar A. Rummel Family Papers, 1855-1955, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by Deborah Bloys, April 1992. Subsequent revisions were made by archives staff, 1996.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s