Except for 1836-1837 when Wilhelm Benitz served in the Army of the Republic of Texas, we have no other verifiable facts about his first years in the Americas, from 1832 when he left Germany to 1843 when he appears in California. Per his handwriten summary of his vital facts and list of family members, he states "...came to America 1832 to California 1842...".

    The problem is that as a young man Wilhelm most likely worked for daily wages, leaving little in the way of a written record of his passing (e.g. land titles, business dealings, legal records).  Per his letters to his brother Thadaeus in Germany (June, 1853, and March, 1855) he did not have it easy but his adventures were many and their "description would not fit into six volumes". 

Arrival:

    What we have is mostly family lore, prone to inaccuracies and often embellished.  The fourth paragraph of his son Alfred's biography reads, in part:

In 1832, at the age of 17, he [Wilhelm] left home to join the thousands of other Germans who were at that time turning their eyes to the land of opportunity, the United States.  William shipped as an ordinary seaman on a merchant vessel bound for America, but he was not to reach his goal until almost 11 years later.  The ship was wrecked off the coast of Mexico and young Benitz was one of the few survivors.  He managed to reach the coast and settled down, to remain in Mexico until 1843...

    Marjory Peard [de] Benitz, wife of grandson John Benitz, wrote down her recollections of the family lore surrounding Wilhelm.  Her embellished version of his arrival contains some captivating details.  However, we believe it is quite unlikely he attended university (given his social station, he was most likely in Freiburg learning a trade as an apprentice), or that he was the sole survivor of the shipwreck in 1832 (not 1834).

In the year 1834 a young man aged 18 years having finished his education at “Freiburg University” decided to leave Germany, not liking the political situation.

He set sail on an old vessel for Mexico.  The journey was long and dreary, when getting to the Gulf of Mexico and land in sight a dreadful storm arose, and after pitching & tossing the ship broke up.

He watched many passengers drown, but as he studdied the waves and saw bits of timber washed ashore on the 7^th wave, he decided to jump on the next 7^th wave, which landed him on the beach. (He was the only survivor)

He was exhausted and slept on the sand for many hours.

On waking he saw he was surrounded by hostile looking Indians, however they realized he was harmless and took him off where he lived with them and worked for many months.

   It is almost certain that Wilhelm Benitz left home at an early age and boarded a merchant brig travelling to the Americas arriving in 1832, either as a passenger or ordinary sailor; and that his ship was wrecked in a storm upon the coast of Mexico, very likely the coast of present day Texas.   It is also likely he lived with the Indians for several months.   Marjory Peard's account is not the only one we've heard that  mentions his stay with them.

Wrecks upon the coast of Texas, 1830-1835:

    Amy Anne Borgens lists (in appendix IV of her MS thesis "Analysis of the Pass Cavallo Shipwreck Assemblage, Matagorda Bay, Texas", Texas A&M Univ., May 2004) the known shipwrecks that occurred upon the Texas coast during the early nineteenth century.  The following occurred between 1830 and 1835:

Texas Rangers:

    Contrary to family lore, Wilhelm was never a Texas Ranger, even though the definition of a Texas Ranger is fairly broad.  According to Dan Agler (Curatorial Technician, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas), in a letter dated December 12, 2000:

I searched the records and indexes to records groups for ranger service between 1830 and 1847 and found no information on WILLIAM BENNETT (BENITZ).  I also searched using the many spelling variations of that last name and found nothing.

    Dan Agler (Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum) described the First Regiment of Volunteers as follows:

    The First Regiment of Volunteers was a designation given to a unit in the Republic of Texas Army. It was made up of men that came to fight in the Texas Revolution but arrived after the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Men continued to arrive in Texas after this last battle of the revolution. They were organized into military companies and kept in service in the event that Mexico should attempt to retaliate after San Jacinto. General Sam Houston began furloughing men from the Army in the winter of 1836 and had finished discharging men by the fall of 1837.

    Battle of San Jacinto:  If in October 1836 Wilhelm enlisted in the army of the Republic of Texas under the name William Bennett, then it is possible he served earlier that same year under the same name in the Texas militias.  Listed as a participant at the battle of San Jacinto (21 April, 1836) is Bennett, Wm., member of a company commanded by Captain Thomas H. McIntire of the 2nd Regiment Texas Volunteers, in turn commanded by Colonel Sidney Sherman.   [A few words of caution: (1) Bennett is a common English surname, (2) we have no definitive proof in the form of a signature or handwriting, (3) the original documents were lost to a fire in the archives of the Adjutant General in 1855, i.e. we may never know for sure, and (4) errors could have been made when the lists of names were transcribed from the original documents.]

    After Wilhelm sold his voucher for his service in the army of the Republic of Texas, he disappears from the known records.  He does not reappear on record until 1843 when he is travelling to Sacramento to meet Johan Sutter about employment.  We can only speculate what he did during those six years.  He had money from his service in the army, probably not much, but probably enough to give him some freedom of movement.   He had many options, here are some:

    The first to investigate Wilhelm's Texas history was his son Alfred A. Benitz when visiting the US in 1904.  Alfred's diary entry for October 18, 1904:

    Why Alfred thought his father had been in Texas is not apparent from his diary.  Nor do we know if Mr. Morrow found anything.

    Census data provides snapshots of the population.  However, no full census was taken in Texas or California during that period; Texas was a struggling newly independent republic (see below), California was part of Mexico.  The first US census to include them was taken in 1850 by which time Wilhelm was well established in California.

    More recently (2000), we queried the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.  Dan Agler (Curatorial Technician) replied to say Wilhelm had not been a Texas Ranger, quoted above.

    However, René Anderson Benitz (our intrepid web-slave) discovered amongst the records of early Texas history at the Texas State Library, available to the public on microfilm, the following entry for William Benitz.  It identifies a document signed by Wilhelm, a claim for land owed upon a voucher issued by the government of the Republic of Texas.  This is the first recorded proof we have that he was ever in Texas.

    Summary: the claim shows Wilhelm served as a private in Company II, first Regiment Permanent Volunteers of the army of the Republic of Texas, 1 October, 1836, through 29 August, 1837, and was honorably discharged by the Surgeon General.  For military services rendered, he was paid partly in cash and the rest in the form of a "bounty", a voucher for land (1,708 acres/687 hectares) - the Republic of Texas had little hard cash, but plenty of empty land.  Many servicemen sold their vouchers; this record shows Wilhelm sold his to a J.J. Clayton.

    The land claim (#3245) consists of a transfer of title and supporting documents proving a William Bennett served in the army of the Republic of Texas.  The claim was probably presented by the buyer (J.J. Clayton).   It was filed  in the name of William Bennett because all the supporting military records (pay-chits, discharge papers, etc.)  have his name down as William Bennett or William Bennetts.  However he signed his name as William Benitz, clearly legible on the transfer of title to J.J. Clayton (see here and below, frame #601).  The handwriting of the signature matches exactly that of a list of Wilhelm's children (written by Wilhelm thirty years later).  The samples here are taken from a photo of that list (see Photo Archive - 1870).

    At the foot of this page we provide:

    In about 1817 the U.S.A. abandoned claims for Texas in exchange for  Spanish concessions in Florida.   However, Anglos continued to settle in Texas.  In 1821 it became a state in the new Mexican Empire.  By 1822 the settlers were clashing with the new government.   By 1835 the Anglo population in Texas was 35,000, ten times the number of Mexicans.  They formed their own local legislature and agitated for representation in the Mexican government.  Instead its president, General Santa Ana, dissolved his own legislature (and that of the state of Tejas y Coahuila) and declared himself dictator.

    In June, 1835, Santa Ana sent troops north which were driven out by the Texians, beginning the Texas War of Independence.  In October, 1835, the Texians captured Goliad and San Antonio.  Santa Ana took the Alamo in  a bloody massacre in March, 1836, which led to his (also bloody) defeat by General Sam Houston at San Jacinto in April, 1836.   Texas declared independence from Mexico on 2 March, 1836, and was a republic for ten years until February, 1846, when it joined the U.S. as a state.  Sam Houston was inaugurated as its first president 22 October, 1836, and its congress organized national and local governments along U.S. lines.   The new republic, ravaged by war, its treasury empty, paid many of its debts with land, of which it had plenty.

Texas State Library and Archives Commission

  The following excerpts were taken from the Texas State Library web site:

www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/repclaims/repintro.html

About the Republic Claims

    The Republic Claims series of Comptroller's records includes claims for payment, reimbursement, or restitution submitted by citizens to the Republic of Texas government from 1835 through 1846. It also includes records relating to Republic pensions and claims against the Republic submitted as public debt claims after 1846. The files include supporting documents such as vouchers, financial accounts, military records, receipts, notes, or letters. ....

    The records comprise four groups of payments made for services rendered during the period 1835- 1846: Audited Claims, Republic Pensions, Public Debt Claims, and Unpaid Claims.

What are Republic Claims?

    The Republic Claims are made up of papers submitted to the Texas Comptroller or Treasurer to document or to verify goods or services provided to the government of the Republic of Texas in order to receive payment. Records in the claims include the following: ...

c. Documentation for military service or association with any military engagement during the period October 1835 through 1845.

Who could receive payment for a Republic Claim?

    Once a person's right to receive a payment for goods or services provided the government during the Republic period (1835-1846) was established by the Comptroller or the Treasurer, a voucher would be issued. The payment could be made to

a. The person who performed the service or provided the goods

b. That person's assignee-someone designated by the original claimant to receive the payment instead of himself. (Because the Republic government was usually broke, claimants would frequently sell their vouchers at a lower rate to a buyer who could supply immediate cash.)

What types of claims were filed?

    The Republic Claims are divided into four series: Audited Claims, Public Debt Claims, Republic Pensions, and Unpaid and Miscellaneous Claims.

Audited Claims (1835-1846)

    Claims that were submitted to the Comptroller or Treasurer of the Republic, that were audited and approved (or allowed) and paid by that government during the Republic Period are considered Audited Claims. The series includes both civil and military claims. The services and the payments for these services date between 1835 and 1846.