A Heavy Price

(Paperback)

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This story is the true story of journey of my family from Germany to Texas in 1849. It is told from the perspective of my great grandfather who was 15 years old at the time of the passage across the Atlantic.

I did not set out to write this book. I just wanted to see if I could find out who murdered my great-great grandfather and why. After 7 years of research stretching from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to the Texas State Archives in Austin,Texas to dozens of monographs written by historians far more knowledgeable than myself. Out of those dozens of monographs, one stood out the most. It was entitled "The Feud that Wasn't" by Professor James M. Smallwood. Even though it only focused on the "Sutton-Taylor feud", it described in great detail a part of Texas History in which my family found itself embroiled. There is no doubt, that Northern and Southern sympathies will cloud some readers position on where the truth lies.

I drew information from family members and locals. Some of the locals versions of the story were still tinted by their sympathies related to the Civili War. I am especially thankful to the Noster family (descendants of Edward Carl Riedel) for allowing me access to the first hand documents they possessed. The more information I uncovered about pivotal points in my family's history, the more compelling the story became.

While I cannot prove without doubt of the interactions between the historical figures herein with my family members, the geography and its limited roadways at the time made it more than plausible. Yorktown was on the major thoroughfare from the port of Indianola to San Antonio and Austin. My family owned a good stretch of the main road that went through Yorktown.

My writing process for this fictional account of my family's history was to document "known" facts, place them on a timeline and then stitch them together with a plausible storyline.

There are only two fictional characters in the entire book. All accounts of the Hamburg-Knollen after the journey carrying my family in 1849 were not to be found. I had the ship's manifest when it brought my family over; itemizing all of the passengers names, ages, place of origin and whether or not they survived the passage. It did not list the Captain's name or any of the crew. The Hamburg Shipping Line is still in operation, but all documentation is in German.

The only other fictional character was Marguerite. I had no real information on which to base her existence; other than a gut feeling about why Frank took that last trip to Matamoros after the Civil War ended.

Author Bio

Gregory Riedel is a fifth-generation Texan with extensive experience as a Biomedical Researcher and Director of Operations for a Medical Equipment company. Prior to his retirement, his writing endeavors were confined to the technical realm. However, upon retiring early, he embarked on a decade-long research journey into the unsolved murder of his great-great grandfather. Despite his initial intention to pursue personal pursuits, the compelling nature of the case compelled him to write a novel.