This book documents the story of Carl and Mariana Klapper who lived in Prussia and later moved to London, England in the middle of the 1800's. We want this book to be more than a listing of generations of Klappers but one that shows the times in which they lived and the hardships and successes that they dealt with during their lives. We see how families aligned themselves with each other and intermarried to maintain their social position (even when that position was not high). We see the bravery of Klapper men and women setting forth to Texas to find better lives for themselves when Texas was a wild country that needed to be tamed. These stories tie together this family history.