OSTENDORF FAMILY CEMETERY

Harris Co. Cemeteries of TX

Submitted by George E. Wolf, Jr

A lost family cemetery was located at the corner of Redbluff and Spencer in Pasadena,Texas.
Several Ostendorf brothers are said to have been buried here in a small family cemetery.
Sons of William Henry Ostendorf.
The site is now paved over. Graves destroyed or moved.
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On the list of Harris County Land Owners 1902-1903;
H. Ostendorf, 100 acres located in the Genoa P.O.
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THE OSTENDORF SETTLEMENT
By George E. Wolf Jr./1996

The large German Ostendorf family saved up enough money to send Henry Ostendorf and his two sons, William Henry born 1877 and Charley born on Nov. 13,1880, to America near the turn of the century.
Looking for farming and grazing land and hearing of the cheap lands in Texas, they arrived here in 1903, considered land in both the Goosecreek and Deer Park areas and believing the Deer Park location more valuable. (The location is in now what is Pasadena.)
Henry bought 100 acres near Redbluff and Spencer. Will Henry bought 19 acres as did his brother Charley.
After the three built homes on the land located fairly near each other, it became known locally as the OSTENDORF SETTLEMENT.
At this time Spencer Highway was only a muddy cow trail and there was not a fence in sight.
William Henry's son, Earl attended the little Deer Park school and rode a donkey each day to get there.
The Ostendorf's made and sold homemade butter to their neighbors.
Earl and his brothers would catch crabs at the Deer Park landing, which belonged to the Brown family. At this time there were alot of alligators and gars near the landing.
The area was covered with Strawberry farms. Earl Ostendorf picked berries on the Dow farm.
Sam Allen, who had one of the biggest ranches in the area, watered his stock at a big artesian well not far from the Ostendorf Settlement where the Ostendorf's also got water for their use as well as water for their livestock. The well was located at a place called Windy Point which is located in a group of trees at the Pasadena Rodeo Grounds.
The Ostendorf family traded at Henke's on Preston Ave. in Houston. They took a wagon to buy groceries and it was an all day trip.
Willam Henry Ostendorf died in 1918 and is buried at CROWN HILL CEMETERY in Pasadena, row B, lot 005, 41 years of age. His son Earl left the area in 1919 and moved north but returned a few years later.
(Earl said several of his brothers are buried on the property at the southwest corner of Redbluff and Spencer Highway.)
William Henry's brother Charles F. died on June 17,1934 and is buried in the LA PORTE CEMETERY in La Porte,Texas with his wife Laura B., born May 1,1887 and died Dec. 26,1979.
Most of the area is now covered with parking lots, shops and roads.
All that is left of the Ostendorf Settlement is twenty large oak trees lined up along Red Bluff Road, south of Spencer.
(Deer Park, A History of a Texas Town by Barbara Weidig/1976)