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 GENESIS - Beginning Again was conceived out of a need to reply to a certain audience generated by the Son of Defiance book, and so it became a sequel and perhaps the second book of a planned trilogy. The Son of Defiance characters therefore were carried over into Genesis and “that word” was again applied to the novel: It is faction -- fiction based on fact.
The basic plot is about how the first seeds of religion were planted in unfriendly soil in the Comfort community, which at the time of the Civil War had mostly a Freethinker population. There were several prickly questions that rose out of Son of Defiance -- and so in Genesis, a Freethinker is defined more clearly -- hopefully thereby to foster friendship and respect between both beliefs: The Church and the need to be free.
Since Genesis is a story about early Christianity in Comfort, all proceeds from the first 500 books were designated as contributions to St. Boniface Episcopal Church. Funds were desperately needed to enable the church to move out of the floodway of the Guadalupe River and to build new on donated ten acres out on Highway 87 North. All proceeds continue to go to the “Moving to higher ground” project.
The book’s Foreword is by the Rev. Phillip Stevenson, Vicar of St.Boniface, pictured below with, from l-r: Bill and Mae Nelson, photographer and Author, Nancy Jackson, customer, and Sally Mitchell, Episcopal Women of the Church, Treasurer.
Excerpt:
The Civil War is over and inside their fachwerk house the Schellhase family sleeps. In the Hill Country of Texas there still remain deep scars and unsettled divisions between families and cruel memories linger… but tomorrow will begin a brighter future for all of them. The spirit that brought these sturdy pioneers to the little hamlet of Comfort would not allow precious time be wasted groveling in self-pity. Their ambitions for a better tomorrow must now be fulfilled. The sun would come up, and the new day would bring new beginnings…
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In Genesis-Beginning Again-1866, an older Emil Schellhase has taken on the task of virtually rebuilding, for his bride-to-be, her home, the Boerner house--severely damaged during the Civil War by a band of renegade citizen-solders known as the Hangerbande. Shown here is the similar skeletal framework of an 1854 fachwerk house in Comfort, known locally as the Lindner House. It was restored by Architect Bill Nelson of Comfort.
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But, before there can be peace, they must bring closure to a distressing unfinished situation… [In this novel appears the actual dedication address made at the True to the Union Monument in Comfort, August 1866.]
It was Friday and the Reverend Charles Wyndt, sitting astride his mount, rode along most casually. He’d left New Braunfels yesterday…spent the night with friends midway to this small community of German settlers .... Many of his New Braunfels church members had warned him that Comfort was different… He wondered what could be so difficult? Germans are pretty much all the same, he thought -- I’m a German myself… I am most anxious to get there…”
“…while walking back to the Altgelt’s house. Wyndt said to his companion, “Thank you so very much, Herr Golbeck. This was a wonderful experience walking around town and meeting such friendly folk.
He had no sooner spoken when they heard footsteps running up behind them. Herr Goldbeck shouted that trouble was coming. But, it was too late. Rotten eggs began to fly -- all directed at the pastor. Several hit him in the middle of his back, and while they stung painfully, it was the smell of them that made him vomit.
The boys cheered and laughed and left as quickly as they had come. Herr Goldbeck shouted after them, “I’ll make sure that your father hears about this!”
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