Robert Nussbaumer

Occupation

farmer

Origin

Solothurn, Switzerland

Sources

Lexington #242, p. 0634, Cordillot

Notes

Jacob's father; Fourierist militant, on the supervisory committee of La Democratie pacifique; d. of yellow fever at the colony 26 Sep 1855 after working the Houston farm (Cordillot). Probably Wolski's 'Ruppert' among the August 1855 dead

Ship

• Lexington, Le Havre → New Orleans, sworn about 24 February 1855, master Edward Stone — #242, p. 0634, as Rupert Nusbaumer, 42

Land

• 1859 tax roll: Jacob Nussbaumer — 34 ac

Biography

Robert Nussbaumer


Name
  Canonical: Robert Nussbaumer
  Also: "Rupert Nusbaumer" (Lexington manifest); possibly the "Ruppert"
    among the dead Wolski names in the August 1855 sickness

Birth: about 1807, Solothurn, Switzerland (Cordillot). The Lexington
  manifest gives "Rupert Nusbaumer, 42" in February 1855, which would put
  the birth about 1813 -- conflict.
Death: September 26, 1855, at Reunion, of yellow fever contracted at the
  Houston farm
Burial: unknown; among the first colony deaths

Origin: Solothurn. A Fourierist militant of long standing -- a member of
  the supervisory committee of La Democratie pacifique.

Family
  Son: Jacob Nussbaumer

Occupation at colony: clearing and breaking the Houston relay farm bought
  by the company. To the recruitment questionnaire on trades practised
  and work wished for, he answered: farming, animal care, driving teams,
  cheese-making, pig-keeping.

Ship / arrival: embarked at Le Havre in January 1855 (Cordillot);
  Lexington, Le Havre to New Orleans, arriving February 24, 1855, #242,
  with his son at #245. Father and son were the first Swiss at Reunion.

Post-colony: none -- he fell ill at the Houston farm in the hot season,
  came back dying to Reunion, and died there "surrounded by the affection
  due a militant of long standing."

Sources
  Cordillot, "Nussbaumer Robert," Au Texas (2003)
  Lexington passenger list, #242 (doc/colonists/ships/lexington/roster.md)
  Wolski, Do Ameryki i w Ameryce (1876), the August 1855 deaths (TIMELINE
    1855.08.??)

Notes
  Not on any Dallas-side list; Cordillot's appendix and the manifest put
  him in the registry (Aug 2026). Wolski names "Vezian" and "Ruppert" among the dead
  of the August 1855 sickness -- if Ruppert is Rupert Nussbaumer, the
  Polish diarist recorded this death a month before Cordillot's date, and
  the two sources can be reconciled on the name.

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