Ottmar von Behr

Von Behr was a friend of Alexander von Humboldt and of Bettina von Arnim, namesake of the Bettina commune. His guidebook for German emigrants to the United States, with special attention to Texas, was published in Leipzig in 1847. At Sisterdale he crossed the sheep he had brought from Germany with a Mexican breed, kept perhaps the first lending library in Texas, sang at the first Sangerfest in New Braunfels in 1853 and kept weather records as a meteorologist. Prince Paul of Wurttemberg, John Russell Bartlett and Frederick Law Olmsted remarked on his books, pictures and harpsichord.

What the plaque says

Ottmar Von Behr had an influence on German immigration before bringing his family to Texas in 1848. Having toured America in 1846, he published an imigrant's guide, suggesting the life of a Texas farmer. Although Ottmar was a son of nobility in Germany, he left to farm and raise sheep in Texas. German immigrants were moving to Texas with professional credentials and degrees to seek new freedoms. Ottmar and his neighbors brought with them a distinguished collection of books and a passion for intellectual freedom, attributes that led to the creation of a Latin Colony. The Sisterdale Region was not a platted community, but a series of large farms populated by German immigrants who left behind prestigious recognition in Germany to take up farming. Ottmar was the second regional pioneer to settle in Guadalupe Valley by the Old Pinta Trail. Thus, his entry in 1848 gave him second settler status in future Blanco County (1858) and Kendall County (1862). Ottmar was also responsible for the naming of Sisterdale. He suggested changing the Sisty's Creeks to Sister Creeks and put Sisterdale on the map when he petitioned for a post office in 1851 and was appointed first postmaster. He was elected justice of the peace in 1851. Ottmar was known for his social skills, hosting visitors, guests and travelers. Ottmar had returned to Germany in 1855 when the Sisterdale Petition was signed to create a new county so his wife, Louise Behr, signed for him. Ottmar never returned to Texas; he died on his return trip back to America. Ottmar only lived in Sisterdale for seven years, but he left a lasting legacy. (2015)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Treue der Union Monument — 12 mi
  An 1866 German-language monument in Comfort over the graves of Hill Country Unionists killed at the Nueces in 1862, its flag of thirty-six stars kept at half-staff.
• Old Tunnel State Park — 12 mi
  A railroad tunnel abandoned in 1942 that now shelters up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats, who fly out each evening from May through October.
• Luckenbach — 16 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.
• Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site — 20 mi
  A state park on the Pedernales opposite the LBJ Ranch, with a working Texas-German farm kept as it was around the First World War and the permit desk for the ranch tour.

More markers nearby

• Pinta Trail Crossing of the Guadalupe River — 0.7 mi
• Sisterdale — 1.6 mi
• Beseler Family — 5.1 mi
• Nicolaus Zink — 6.0 mi