Bernard Scherrer left his native Switzerland at age 22 for extended travels before reaching Texas in 1833. After serving in Burleson's Regiment during the Texas Revolution, he received a land grant in Colorado County but settled in Biegel Settlement in Fayette County about 1838. There he served as Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner, and in 1845 he married Gesine Eliza Margarete Koch. He left his civic, farming, and freighting duties to serve in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.