William Sachse (1820-1899) was born in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia, Prussia (Germany) on December 16. 1820 to Henry Sachse and Mary Kemps Sachse. When he was twenty years old he emigrated from Germany to America, arriving in New York in August, 1840. Sachse is known to have lived for a while in Missouri. In late 1844 he left on a wagon train, arriving in Lamar County, Texas on January 15, 1845. In the spring of 1845 he married Elizabeth McCullough Straly (1817-1852) and the couple moved further west to Peters Colony on May 23 1845. Their property was acquired by means of a land grant of 640 from the Peters Colony and was located in what would later be near the border of Collin and Dallas counties. William and Elizabeth had 4 children together, only one of whom, a son named James Alfred Sachse, lived to adulthood. Elizabeth died in 1853 not long after the death of their last daughter Susan Adaline.
William Sachse married Martha Ann Frost (1833-1916) on March 23, 1854. Martha was born on September 14, 1833 in Shelby, Alabama. She and William had a ten children together and raised them in a rock house. At some point, William added some 5,000 acres of land to his holdings.
In 1886, the railroads were expanding beyond the Dallas area, and William granted a route through his property to a railroad company, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad. In exchange, the railroad company agreed to lay out a town site, build a depot and name the town Sachse for him. One account says that the name on the depot was first erroneously spelled “Saxie” for a while, also giving rise to errors in some old legal documents, but eventually the name was corrected and the current name prevailed.
William Sachse served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Despite some financial setbacks over the years, he prospered as his family grew, operating one of the first cotton mills in Dallas County. The mill was initially powered by ox and horse power until it was destroyed by a fire in 1869. The town of Sachse continued to grow and develop as more settlers and businesses came to the area.
William Sachse died on December 22, 1899 and was buried in the Sachse Cemetery. His wife Martha survived him another seventeen years. Like him, she was also buried in the Sachse Cemetery.
By Mike Magers
