Most German immigrants to Texas were called "solid peasant stock," and most were exactly that. The first generation largely farmed, but very quickly some of the first and second arrivals were entering all professions.

A few German settlers, however—dealists rather than farmers—established the so-called "Latin Settlements" in Texas. Five in number, the settlements were founded by highly educated Germans, almost all younger men, who departed a troubled mid-19th century Europe. The 1848 revolution in Germany, an example of failure in its object to shift political and economic power, did add to the reasons for emigration and not necessarily for farmers. Some who would not otherwise see opportunity in frontier farming became exiles.

Latin, until three generations ago, was an academically common language necessary for higher learning and a sign of a proper and worthwhile education. But where major human goals are to bring in a crop or earn a profit, Latin is no necessity.

A small number, therefore, of university students and young professionals who found Europe politically hostile tried their hand on the Texas frontier. Millheim in Austin County, Latium in Washington County, Bettina in Llano County, and Sisterdale and Tusculum in Kendall County were founded. Bettina is one of the most interesting examples of the effort. Nearly 40 young men, calling themselves Die Vierziger (both in reference to their number and to the troubled 1840s in Europe), subcontracted settlement rights from the German immigration society that managed much land beyond New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. Nearly all of these men were—or had just been—students at Giessen and Heidelberg. Experience they had in architecture, languages, medicine, education, mathematics, and law; they had no experience in farming. Yet their ideal was to establish a communistic agricultural community on the Llano River which would soon attract 200 German families.

The settlement was named Bettina after Bettina von Arnim, a German writer and an "ideal woman" to the young men.

Arriving in 1847, the group built two notable structures: a thatched storage shed and an shingled adobe house. In the next year they managed a corn crop of nearly 200 bushels. By late summer—and with a Texas winter on the imagined horizon—the colonial effort failed.

Some of the young men reportedly worked hard; some of them apparently sat in the shade of oak trees philosophizing and thinking of pleasant student days. The latter were accused of trying to live according to the perilous maxim Ede, bibe, post mortem nulla voluptas, as it was later quoted ("Eat and drink, for after death there is no pleasure"). As readers of Horace's Odes, they probably remembered Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero ("Enjoy today; have little trust in tomorrow").

Whatever was on their minds, a knowledge of Latin was neither sufficient nor necessary for frontier agricultural success. Preparing for tomorrow was necessary.

Almost all of the men drifted away, some to other areas of German settlement, some to a more urban setting. The name Bettina only remains on a few older maps.

And what was true of Bettina was almost true of the other Latin Settlements. The little communities provided newcomers—who were often successful in their academic fields—to places like Houston and San Antonio. Sister-dale, Latium, and Millheim still exist with populations of about 100; Tusculum provided an impetus for present-day Boerne. All the areas are rich with memories.

In one of the old locations—which cannot be revealed—people have seen and heard a ghost who, beyond doubt, dates back to settlement days. Ghosts are not unusual in Texas, but this one speaks a fluent, academic Latin.