Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels (27 July 1812-13 November 1875) was a German prince and an officer in the Austrian and Hessian militaries during the 18th century; he was also the founder of New Braunfels, Texas.
Biography[]
Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Ludwig Georg Alfred Alexander von Solms-Braunfels was born in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 1812, the younger son of a younger son of a minor German prince. His mother Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz later remarried to King Ernest Augustus of Hanover, improving Carl's social standing. He served in the Austrian army's cavalry during the 1840s before joining the Adelsverein emigration society, formed in 1842 to encourage German settlement in Texas. He became its commissioner general in 1844 and purchased 1,300 acres on the Guadalupe River, founding the colony of New Braunfels, Texas. He returned to his wife in 1845, never to return to Texas, and he became a cavalry colonel in the Hessian and Austrian militaries and served as a lieutenant-general in the Austro-Prussian War. He died in 1875.