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Theodor Rudolph Hertzberg (June 6, 1817 – March 18, 1903) was a businessman, editor, publisher and state legislator in Texas. He served in the state senate during the contentious Twelfth Texas Legislature. He became an immigration commissioner and then a diplomat later in his career.

Life and career

Hertzberg was born in Halberstadt, Prussia. He studied at the University of Jena before emigrating. He arrived at Galveston, Texas on December 2, 1849. He moved to San Antonio, was a partner in a tobacconist shop, and became a naturalized citizen on April 11, 1856. He was a member of the Casino Club and helped organize a German-English School.

An anti-slavery Unionist, He lived in Mexico during the American Civil War. He took over a German language newspaper. He was elected a state senator in 1870 representing Menard County. He was then appointed to public office. He later became a U.S. diplomat in Europe. He eventually returned to San Antonio. His home there at 155 Crofton Avenue where he lived with his wife and family until he died March 18, 1903, was designated a Texas historical landmark in 1963. Sidney J. Brooks Jr., a pilot who died training for World War I, for whom Brooks Air Force Base is named, also lived in the house.

References

1. ^ "TSHA | Hertzberg, Theodor Rudolph". www.tshaonline.org.
2. Clarke, Mary Bayard (December 28, 2003). Live Your Own Life: The Family Papers of Mary Bayard Clarke, 1854-1886. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781570034732 – via Google Books.
3. "Legislative Reference Library | Legislators and Leaders | Member profile". lrl.texas.gov.
4. Antonio, AIA San (January 20, 2013). San Antonio Architecture: Traditions and Visions. Trinity University Press. ISBN 9781595341792 – via Google Books.

• 1817 births
• 1903 deaths
• People from Halberstadt
• Texas state senators
• University of Jena alumni
• American people of German descent
• Radical Republicans
• American abolitionists
• 19th-century members of the Texas Legislature