[From J. Marvin Hunter’s Frontier Times Magazine, November, 1927]

CAPTAIN CHARLES SCHREINER, who died at his home in Kerrville, Texas, February 9, 1927, was one of the outstanding frontier characters of the Southwest, and contributed more than any one man to the development of the region in which he lived for so many years. Captain Schreiner was born in Alsace Lorraine, France, February 22, 1838, and came to the San Antonio region in 1852. At that time San Antonio was little more than a village. and the surrounding country a wilderness infested with wild beasts and wild men. Captain Schreiner, with keen vision, foresaw wonderful opportunities for the man with grit and determination, and although he was then but a lad in his teens he started out with the determination to carve out a career for himself that would place him in the ranks of the prominent financiers and businessmen of the state. In 1859 he entered the stock business on Turtle Creek, Kerr county, in a small way, gradually building his herds, acquiring land holdings, and thus expanding his interests as the years passed by. Ten years later, in 1869, he engaged in the banking and general mercantile business at Kerrville, which business has continued to this good time.

In the establishment of a bank and store at Kerrville at that early date, Captain Schreiner placed himself in a position to assist the pioneers of that section and thus help in the development of that favored region. He was heartily in accord with any project that was for the good of the community he had chosen for his field of operations, and with the keenest of business ability he permitted no opportunity to slip that would aid in its development. The result was that in the course of time he became identified with several industrial projects, chiefly cattle and sheep raising, and was also engaged in the mercantile and banking business at Junction and Rocksprings, as well as having connections with banking and mercantile concerns in San Antonio, and holding stock in several railroad companies, gradually building a fortune that made him several times a millionaire. Despite the burden of years Captain Schreiner gave active attention to his banking, mercantile and live stock interests until 1913. when he transferred the bulk of his property to his children.

At the age of sixteen years Captain Schreiner entered the Ranger service, serving in Captain Henry's, Captain Sansom's and Captain McFadden's companies, during 1854 to 1859. When the Civil War came on he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served for four years.

For many yeas he was in partnership with John F. Lytle in the cattle business and the firm drove more than 150,000 cattle up the trail to northern markets. Today the name of Charles Schreiner is linked with the making of West Texas, for he was the moving, building spirit that made things possible for that region. The town of Kerrville stands as a monument to his genius. and the substantial business and public buildings, schools, colleges, and pretty homes that thriving metropolis lend evidence to the fact that "he builded better than he knew." For seventy-five years he was a citizen of Texas. and when he passed away at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, he left thousands of friends throughout the state to mourn his departure.

The drawing of Captain Schreiner, which appears on the front cover of Frontier Times this month was made by Warren Hunter, of Harper, Texas.