Tynan, Texas

Mengers Family History

The Mengers family can trace our farming roots all the way back to West Germany in the 1600s. Our branch of the family left Germany in the 1800s when Karl Mengers – who was born and raised on a German farm – immigrated to the United States. Karl soon found his way to Tynan, Texas where our family still lives and works today, continually growing and improving our business.

First Generation Farmer

At the age of fourteen, Karl came to America on a passenger ship with his brother, landing in Boston. Karl changed his name to Charles before moving to Shiner, Texas where he worked in a livery stable and – in 1891 – married Alvina Jaehne. They had two children – Charlie Jr. and Adela – before Alvina and their third child died in childbirth.

 Several years later Charles Sr. married Minna Hildebrandt. In 1901, they moved to a farm at Nordheim and, in 1911, they moved to a farm in the Tynan community where the Mengers’ farm is today. Charles and Minna had six children: Elsie, Emil, Ella, Edwin, Pauline, and Gus.

Second Generation Farmer

The family that farms Mengers & Sons land today descended from Edwin. Edwin married Eleanora Schroeder and had three children: Wayne, Wilbur and Joyce. Joyce passed away from appendicitis when she was nine.

Third Generation Farmer

Wayne attended college at Schreiner in Kerrville for a year and then another three years at A&I in Kingsville. When he graduated, he went into active duty in November of 1956 as a second lieutenant. Two years later, Wayne returned to Tynan and farmed 100 acres of his father’s land in exchange for work. In December 1958, Wayne began to date Twila House and on November 26, 1959 they married.

 In 1960, Wayne’s second year to farm, the crop did so well that the cotton-picking crews were too busy harvesting for older customers to help Wayne harvest his cotton. To get his cotton in, Wayne bought a two-row cotton stripper, a new method the older farmers were unwilling to try. This began a farm legacy of staying on the cutting-edge of technology, always looking for ways to increase efficiency and profitability while also taking care of the land and the people who work it.

 Wayne and Twila were farming about 600 acres of land when they had their three children: Tryne, Thomas and Tammy. Over the next two decades, the family farm expanded until they were farming 1,400 acres when Wayne’s first son graduated from college.

 Tryne graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Agricultural Agronomy in 1983 and came home to farm. In 1984, they rented 400 more acres to allow Thomas to join the farm after he graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Agricultural Economics.

In 1984, Tryne married Senecia Ankrom and in 1985, Thomas married Mary Keeton. In order to support three families, the Mengers boys started a greenhouse producing bedding plants, which they sold to nurseries in the Corpus Christi area. After about 10 years they were able to rent enough land (3,000-plus acres) to close down the nursery and started farming full time.

 In 1996, Wayne retired from farming and sold all of his equipment to Thomas and Tryne and rented the farm to them.

Fourth Generation Farmers

Since Wayne’s retirement, Tryne and Thomas have grown the farm to over 7,000 acres. They continue to add acreage and use all of the newest farming technologies.

 Tryne and Senecia have four children: Sarah, Emily, Rachel and Zachary. Thomas and Mary have three children: Katlynn, Ben and Coleman. Tammy married Bill McCarn and lives close to the Mengers farm. They have two children: Connor and Declan. Each of the eight Mengers kids have worked on the farm at some point during their childhood and college years.

Katlynn, Sarah, Ben, Emily, Coleman, Rachel and Zachary all graduated from Texas A&M University with various degrees. Whoop!

Ben, Coleman and Zachary are working to become the fifth generation of farmers farming the Mengers land. Ben graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Agricultural Business and manages the nearby grain elevator while stopping by to help the farm when he can. Coleman graduated from Texas A&M University with degrees in Entomology and Agronomy. He uses these degrees to split his time between working on the farm and working as a crop consultant for farmers across South Texas. Zachary graduated with a Soil and Crop Sciences degree from Texas A&M University and works on the farm full-time.

To again accommodate their growing family, Tryne and Thomas are not only always on the look-out for more land to farm, but have also introduced into their business a ranching operation specializing in American Wagyu beef.

And now Wayne Mengers has over a dozen great grandchildren all happy to stop by the farm to visit with their great-grandfather, ride a tractor with their grandfathers and uncles, or run around with their cousins. The sixth generation of farmers are well into their training.

CHARLES AND MINNA MENGERS