How do you spell that?... the peculiar story of Heinrich Thürwächter
by Louis F. Aulbach and Linda C. Gorski
As one of the first Germans to immigrate to Texas, having arrived in the Austin Colony in 1827 from Germany via Ohio to apply for land, Heinrich Thürwächter should earn a modest, but respectable place in the history of Texas.
Further to his credit is the fact that Thürwächter, a carpenter by trade, lived and worked in the prospering commercial port of Harrisburg on Buffalo Bayou prior to 1836. He enlisted the Army of the Republic of Texas and fought with distinction at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Andrew Forest Muir, the noted historian of the City of Houston, has estimated that Thürwächter's name has been recorded in some fourteen different variants of its spelling. From the earliest entry on Stephen F. Austin's applications for land, to the muster rolls of the Texas Army, to deed records to land in the City of Houston, and to depositions for a veteran's pension later in his life, Thürwächter's name took various forms, including Durwechter, Tarwester, Tearwechter, Tierwester, Terwechter, Terwester, Terwichter, Tewister, Therwachter, Thurwester, Tierwhester, Tushmaker, Tuwester and Thurwachter.
Why was it that they could not get his name right?
Muir suggests that it may be due, in large part, to Thürwächter's personality and to the fact that he spoke English with a thick German accent. The recording agent often did his best to spell his name phonetically, but the results were mixed.
Known to be somewhat of an eccentric, Thürwächter insisted on signing his name in the old gothic-style German script that he learned as a young man in Germany, even late in his life. The two vowels with umlauts were especially puzzling. Needless to say, his signature was indecipherable to nearly every official in Texas.
Thürwächter's original grant of land, issued in 1832, was a tract on Brays Bayou extending north toward Buffalo Bayou. Today his tract stretches from Brays Bayou to I-45 and encompasses Texas Southern University.
Heinrich Thürwächter is known in most historical accounts today as Henry Tierwester. His name is perpetuated in its Anglicized form in Tierwester Street on Houston's southeast side.