Martin Mahr (bef. 1820 - abt. 1847)

Born before 1820 in Germany

Descendants

Died about 1847 after about age 27 in Fredericksburg, Texas, USA

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Biography

The Mahr family was likely among the first 120 settlers who came to Fredericksburg on May 6, 1846. Katherina Mahr Schneider is listed in Penniger's Festausgabe book as one of the original 120 recognized at Fredericksburg's 50th anniversary in 1896. Katherina was the sole survivor of the family, with the mother dying at Indianola and the father and three brothers dying of an epidemic in 1846 or 1847. All their graves are unmarked. Two Mahrs signed a petition in Fredericksburg supporting Meusebach in 1847. The Mahr log cabin is still standing, across Main Street from the Pioneer Museum.

Excerpt from the Wednesday, August 6, 1975 edition of the Fredericksburg Standard newspaper:

Old Homes and Buildings of Fredericksburg Pioneer Log Cabin Being Restored On West Main

Until recent weeks when renovation was begun, you would never have thought that one of Fredericksburg’s oldest log houses was almost hidden behind a giant chinaberry tree and grapevines on Main Street almost in the middle of the city. Now that William Faulk (Guich) Koock has started restoring the old house that is part of the property he acquired earlier this year from Krauskopf Bros, on the north side of the 300 block of East Main Street, the antiquity of the old building is evident. Unless you knew it was there, the house would have escaped your attention altogether, and if you had looked behind the greenery that almost obscured it from view, you might have thought it was just another mediocre old house because its real age was covered up with a frame room in front and a porch. Now that the old log house and the adjoining stone addition are exposed you see what a “jewel” this old place really is. Koock is restoring the old building and Larry Francher will operate an antique shop in it. He has had a similar business in Paris (Texas) and is in the process of closing it out and moving his family here. It will be the perfect setting for such a shop, as he plans to feature primitives, also early Texas, and especially German, furniture, and related articles.

That the old home has remained in the midst of this block on Main Street and was not torn down is fortunate, for interwoven into its history is one of the most fascinating stories concerning a pioneer settler, Karl Itz Sr. Fortunate, too, is the fact that the Fredericksburg Wochenblatt, a German newspaper published here, carried such complete and interesting

ALMOST HIDDEN behind a giant Chinaberry tree and grapevine is this little log cabin and rock building at 322 W Main St., which Guich Koock is restoring and is to become an antique store run by Larry Fancher. This view shows the entrance to the cellar at the lower left and next to it the entrance into the one-room log cabin, the oldest part of the house. The limb in the foreground of the picture is just one of many long ones growing out the tree that may have to be removed because it is ruining the foundation of the two-story building adjacent to the cabin was given to Martin Mahr, 158 to Johan Phil. Mahr; 159, to Andreas Mahr; and 160 to Johan Mahr.

The typewritten transcribed records show the name to be “Mahr” but it is possible that the hard-to-read handwritten original records caused the typist to intepret it as “Mahr” when it was actually "Mohr,” a name familiar in the settlement of this area.* AII of them died in the early years of the colony, probably during the cholera epidemics, because when on June 2, 1856, George Schneider and his wife, Katharina (some places spelled Catharina), sold the four Townlots to F. Wrede, then County Clerk of Gillespie stories about a couple who owned this house, Karl Itz and his wife, Henriette, both on the occasion of their golden wedding celebration in 1906 and when he died in 1908. In the latter the writer referred to his life story as being so interesting it would make a good “novel.”

The story of the house and the land on which it is built goes back earlier, however, than the Itz ownership. In the original list of allotments of Townlots to settlers by the German Emigration Company, Townlot No. 159 on which this house is located and three others that adjoined it were given to a father and his three sons. The corner lot, 157, the deed stated that she was the daughter of Martin and that Johannes, Andreas and Johan Philipp were her deceased brothers from whom she acquired the title

On April 12, 1858, Wrede sold No. 160 to E. Krauskopf for $100, and on March 29, 1865, hs sold Nos. 157,158 and 159 to Peter Itz for $800 This purchase price indicates that there must have been a house on them, and that was probably the small log cabin, the oldest part of the house.

• The author of this article, Elise Kowert, was mistaken. Because all the male members of the Mahr family died in the early years of Fredericksburg's existence, there are no descendants named Mahr, and Mrs. Kowert was familiar with the Mohr family of Fredericksburg.

Kowert, Elise, Old Homes and Buildings of Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg Publishing Company, 1977, p. 21. King, Irene Marschall, John O. Meusebach: German Colonizer in Texas. University of Texas Press, 1967, p. 106.