Wilhelm Victor Keidel (March 2, 1825 – January 9, 1870) was the first medical doctor, as well as first Chief Justice, in Gillespie County, Texas.
On September 1, 1845, at the age of twenty, Keidel boarded the Brig Margaretha, captained by a man named Libben, in Bremen, Germany and disembarked in Galveston, Texas, on December 1, 1845.
[2] In the Mexican–American War, fellow German colonist and veteran of the French Foreign Legion Augustus Buchel formed the First Regiment of Texas Foot Rifles, serving as its captain.
Keidel founded the political and cultural club Society for Good Fellowship and Promotion of General Information.
During the American Civil War, Keidel refused align himself with either side, and gave medical care where needed, without regard to the allegiance of the patient.
The meeting adopted a political, social and religious platform, including: 1) Equal pay for equal work; 2) Direct election of the President of the United States; 3) Abolition of capital punishment; 4) "Slavery is an evil, the abolition of which is a requirement of democratic principles.."; 5) Free schools – including universities – supported by the state, without religious influence; and 6) Total separation of church and state.
[1] Victor Keidel died of typhus pneumonia[9] on January 9, 1870, and is buried with his second wife and her sister in the Kott Family Cemetery in Gillespie County.