SUELTENFUSS, CASPER.

Casper H. Sueltenfuss, the eldest son of John A. Sueltenfuss, was born April 15, 1844, in the Rhine District of Prussia. Casper enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 and served in the First Texas Cavalry under General Banks. He missed by three days in joining the group from Comfort and Sisterdale who eventually met their end in the Nueces Massacre. The Confederates were on his trail and had tried several times to capture him by burning hay stacks and brush fences. Upon reaching the Rio Grande, he paid a Mexican 10 cents to row him across the river. There he worked as a checking clerk for an English merchant. He finally reached Matagorda where he met Captain Ad Zoeller and joined Company C under him. He served in Company C. First Regiment of Texas Rangers, commanded by Colonel Jack Hayes, for two years, when he was honorably discharged at San Antonio at the close of the war. In 1867 he worked for Eugene Voelcker. After Voelcker's death, he bought the place from his widow. In 1868 he married Anna Voelcker, the oldest daughter of Eugene Voelcker. They bought the adjoining properties until acquired several thousand acres. He was one of the first to raise sheep in the community. He was presiding judge in the first election held in Kendall County, for which the "Iron Clad Oath" was required. He was a member of the Republican Party and at one time he was Captain of the Militia. Casper and Anna Sueltenfuss had nine children: Paul, Charles, Bruno, Clara, Emil, Mary, Louise, Alfred and Frank. When Schiller was established as a Post Office in 1883, he was appointed the first postmaster, an office which he held for twenty five years until 1904. The Schiller Postoffice served the settlers of that community with mail once a week, later three times a week. It was a meeting place for the "old timers" in those days. Schiller fifteen miles east of Boerne, South of the Guadalupe River and on Voelcker's Creek. When he retired from active work, the family moved to Boerne, where he died in 1916. -original article by Dolores Sueltenfuss Holman

Source: Kendall County Historical Commission, "Rivers, Ranches, Railroads, and Recreation; A History of Kendall County, Texas", Dallas, TX., Taylor Publishing Co., 1984; and Boerne Public Library files.- July 24, 2001