Ottomar von Behr, born in Anhalt-Cothen, Germany, moved to Sisterdale in 1847. Near Sisterdale, some thirteen miles north of Boerne, Behr raised a mixed breed of sheep of German and Mexican strains. Among his neighbors were Ernst Kapp, Adolph Douai, August Siemering, Julius Dresel, and others.
When Frederick Law Olmsted toured Texas prior to the Civil War he visited with Behr.
Von Behr's "castle" is described as a new log house without a roof. The family occupied a lean-to in the rear. The house was "...the very picture of good-nature, science, and back-woods. Romances and philosophies were piled in heaps in a corner of the logs. A dozen guns and rifles, and a Madonna, in oil, after Murillo, filled a blank on the wall. Deer-skins covered the bed, clothes hung about upon antlers, snake-skins were streched to dry upon the bedstead, barometer, whisky, powder-horns, and specimens of Saxony wool occupied the table."
Baron von Behr was described thusly, "He was partly bald, but seemed to have an imperturbable and happy good-nature that gave him eternal youth. A genial cultivation beamed from his face."
They ate a Texas supper of corn-bread, frijoles, with coffee, as they discussed sheep raising.
About a year after the visit with Ottomar von Behr, the Baron returned to Germany to collect rent on property he still owned there. He died on the return trip.
(Source: A Journey Through Texas...by Frederick Law Olmsted, New York: Dix, Edwards & Co., 1857, pages 191-193)
Bettina chimney rock
Bettina chimney rock by Scott Baird
