Biography :

Two sons of Petrus Van Der Stucken,  Frank, born in Antwerp in 1830, and his brother, Felix born in Antwerp in 1843, immigrated to Texas from Antwerp with Henri Castro in 1846, They left Castro's colony, however, and moved to Fredericksburg, where Frank assisted in the construction of Fort Martin Scott. In the early 1850's in Fredericksburg he opened a store and soon became a prominent citizen. In December 23, 1852, he married Sophie Schoenewolf born 1841, died 1871, a native of Mainingen, Germany. He was twice elected county commissioner of Gillespie County, and in 1856 he delivered the town's first church bell. He and a partner, a mister Starks, also secured government freighting contracts to supply west and north Texas military posts. In 1862 Frank Van Der Stucken opened the Reliance Flour Mill in partnership with his brother, but the operations were soon disturbed by the Civil War.

His third son Frank V. will become later a renowned musician, a composer-conductor who gained fame both in Europe and America. Other children in the family beside Frank, were another boy, Hugo Emile, and three girls, Louise (van Rossum), Cornelia (Krawehl) and Bertha (Reinemund).

Most Gillespie County residents held Unionist sympathies, the vote held in February 1861 being 17 for seceding and 400 against secession. Opposition to the Confederate cause was so great there that many who wanted to enlist in the army did so in neighboring counties. There was no objection or opposition however, to local defense companies which mean no active military service against the Union and six such companies were raised in Gillespie County in 1862 with a combined membership of over 300.

Frank Van Der Stucken was authorized to recruit 75 men for a cavalry company. He was given the rank of Captain, and the unit was supposed to serve as a home guard unit for Indian defense. These rangers were under state, rather than Confederate, jurisdiction, the objective being to free regular Confederate troops for war service.

Shortly after their organization they were detailed to guard federal prisoners at nearby Fort Mason. Many members of the company objected to guarding prisoners whose political beliefs were similar to their own and there was talk of a mutiny. When word of an plan to help the prisoners escape and go with them either to Mexico or join the Federal Army north reached Captain Van Der Stucken, he quickly ended it. As long as Texas was part of the Confederacy and he was in its service, he would follow orders.

In July 1862 the company was ordered to transport the prisoners from Fort Mason to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to be exchanged for Confederate prisoners. While in Vicksburg, General E. P. Bee thought the location was too critical  to be garrisoned by a Unit with Federal sympathy and sent them back to the Mexican frontier.

In January 1863 the outfit escorted another group of prisoners to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, then served briefly on the Rio Grande and elsewhere in Texas. In December of the same year, Captain Van Der Stucken's unit was taken into Richard Taylor Confederate army as Company E, First Texas Cavalry, and given the responsibility of rounding up Union sympathizers and bringing them to trial. Naturally the company was ineffective in this role as many of the suspected men were from around Gillespie County and were friends and neighbors, and in February 1864 the Company was disbanded. On one occasion the Captain and a few troopers rode up to the home of a Unionist intending to take him by surprise. As the men advanced toward the house, the would-be victim eluded his captors, leaped upon Van Der Stucken's horse, and with a cry of "Hurrah for the United States", dashed away. Pursuit proved fruitless, and Van Der Stucken had to return to San Antonio empty-handed.

While he was in service Frank Van Der Stucken's business had been conducted for him by his partners, and he had become wealthy. In summer of 1864 he was elected chief  justice of Gillespie County, but a year later he resigned and returned to Belgium. He deeded his house, store and stables to his father-in-law, Valentin Hopf, and assigned his share of the ownership of the mill to his brother. He then dug up his money from its hiding place beneath the floor of his house and returned with his family to Antwerp, where he established another mill. His son, Frank jr., born in Fredericksburg in 1858, became a noted symphony conductor in both Europe and the United States.

His brother Felix remained in Texas, was appointed County Commissioner by the military government between 1868 and 1870 and in 1904 organized the Citizen Bank of Fredericksburg and was his president till his death in 1913, some time after the flour mill was closed.