Ottmar von Behr Historical Marker

Ottmar von Behr toured America in 1846 and published an emigrant's guide recommending the life of a Texas farmer, then brought his own family out in 1848. A son of German nobility, he came to farm and raise sheep, and arrived with a library — the books and the appetite for argument that turned this valley into a Latin colony.

He was the second pioneer to settle the Guadalupe valley along the Old Pinta Trail, which gave him second-settler standing in what became Blanco County in 1858 and Kendall County in 1862. He named Sisterdale, had the Sisty's creeks renamed Sisters, petitioned for the post office, and was elected justice of the peace in 1851.

He was known for keeping a house open to travellers. In 1855 he returned to Germany — his wife Louise signed the county petition in his place — and died on the voyage back. He had lived in Sisterdale seven years.

The two markers conflict on one point. This one dates the post office petition and his appointment to 1851; the Sisterdale marker puts his appointment at 23 October 1847, before the 1848 arrival this marker records.