The Ott Family
[From the ‘Rockenbach Family – with minor sketches on the Ott and Catlow Families, by Royal R. Spear] [*Drawn in part from The Ott Book, by Elzora Ott*]
The Johann Jacob Ott family came to the United States in 1832, having sailed for 40 days to reach their new home. In the writings of Quinten Nolte, he says that young Jacob and Christian were stowaways to avoid military service and had come a year or two earlier [ed. Not so. Jacob and Christian came on the same ship in 1832]. He also had a Gotleib Ott as father of these men, but we could not trace this.
The descendants of Lorenz Ott at Deerfield had a story that we thought worth recording. Three Spanish girls had escaped from a convent and lived for a time in the Ott home (that of Johann’s grandparents). Two of them later returned to the convent, and the third married an Ott son; she later died leaving him with several small children, one of them being Johann Jacob born in 1784. Such quotes as “That’s what you inherit from your Spanish grandmother” were often repeated. Sarah Ott Rockenbach was one source of this story, referring to her great-grandmother as being the Spanish girl. We have not been able to trace back to that generation, but thought it well worth recording for the interest of the reader.
On arrival in this new land, the Otts went to Warren, Pennsylvania along with friends. There were most likely earlier immigrants of acquaintance living there as the name is common in Pennsylvania much earlier than the 1830’s. It was in 1836-37 that some of the young men went to Fort Dearborn, Cook County, II. and further north into Lake County to seek out a new home. They returned to Warren County to make plans for the move, and in the old history it was John Jacob Ott the “Pioneer” who led his parents and brothers to this new venture in early 1837, coming by prairie schooner. They built their cabins in a row on what became known as Luther Road. The settlement was called “Au Plain” later referred to as Deerfield, a vote was taken in 1849 to settle on the name of the town. The suggestion of Erin and North Branch were also on the ballot, as they were located on the north branch of the Chicago River. Lorenz Ott had the first Kerosene lamp and first crude washing machine in the colony. One story of the arrival said that Jacob Ott had come with the Luther family and met them in Hickory Grove to then lead them up to Deerfield. Mary Salome Ott Brand told to the author of the Deerfield History in her elderly years of living first in the cabin of an Irishman and that it was large enough to hold twenty-one people.
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[editor’s note] Lorenz Ott married Maria Ursula Rieg on February 1, 1831 in Baldenheim, Alsace. Lorenz, Maria and their 9 month old son Jacob were on the same ship as the rest of the Otts who arrived in America in 1832. Lorenz and Maria had six additional children, all born in Deerfield. One of those children, Sarah Ott, married George Rockenbach III. George and Sarah had 8 children including Almon.
Ott History
[as reported by Samuel Ott in 1927]
The Ott families came from Baldenheim Alsace in 1832 and settled in Warren Penn. Their sailing vessel took 40 days in crossing, and their hay wagon and rack, which, was ballast on the boat, was used as a moving wagon when they moved to the bank of the Alleghany River. After four years’ residence in Warren, Jacob Ott, the oldest son, came west with the Luther family, and married Magdalena Luther and settled on Saunders Road.
In the following year the entire Ott family came to Deerfield, where they founded a strong family clan of loyal, dependable Illinois citizens. Lorenz Ott had the first stove, first kerosene oil lamp, and first crude wooden washing machine (made in Libertyville), in the colony. Previous to stoves, cooking was done in the fire place. A big iron kettle about six inches deep and eight inches across was placed on coals made of hickory wood, and bread was baked in the kettle. A black iron “spider” was placed on an iron sawbuck in the fireplace and cornbread, and meat, were also cooked in that manner.
In 1836 and 1837 ten log houses stood in a row on the edge of the natural timber on a road two miles west of Deerfield Corners. This road was then unnamed, but later was called Saunders Road, for a man in Cook Co. In the group of houses were the homes of the families of the Duffy, Dose, Stewart, Martin Luther, Jacob Luther, Lorenz Ott, John Jacob Ott, John Jacob Ott Jr., and Casper Ott, and that of a bachelor named Jennings.
Samuel Ott attended the Wilmot School the first day that it was opened in the summer of 1847. The ringing of the school bell frightened the cattle that ran wild over the prairies, and when they rushed toward the school, the children were alarmed. Rosilla Cadwell was the first teacher, and the only book that was used was her testament. School was opened with prayer, and the twenty-five pupils of all ages learned the alphabet, and to read from the testament. The teacher for the winter term was a Mr. Chapman, from Michigan, and he had men pupils older than he.
Samuel Ott went to Naperville College in 1861. His father was one of the first organizers of this Evangelical Association church school. Samuel possesses a perpetual scholarship in the college, and can name any young person he wishes to attend it.
In the Wilmot School, at twenty-one years of age Samuel Ott cast his first vote and his father vouched for his age. At twenty-one he was made a director of the Wilmot School and was secretary for two years.
Early marriages were common in this vicinity. Often the girls were wives at sixteen, and the majority of them old women at forty. If a man could raise five dollars, and had a dollar and a half for a license, he married and prospered. If a man with $50 came from a different locality, at least a dozen girls were ready to marry him.
The women knitted day and night to provide stockings and mittens for their families. The wool came from the sheep raised on the farms. The wool was taken to Elgin to a carding machine, and after being carded was spun by the women in their homes. Sarah Ott could spin a pound of wool in a day. She was an expert spinner. She would spin and walk and sing.
Elgin was the grinding place for Illinois. Farmers from this vicinity also went to Naperville to have their grain ground.
Mr. Ott remembers the log house of his father and of his grandfather, as a two room structure, the upper room a sleeping room for the older boys. In one corner of the downstairs room a portion was boarded off in which the spare bed was made. A one-legged bed with the two walls supporting the sides. This was for the visiting minister, or school teacher. In another corner the bed for the parents was curtained off in a section reserved for sleeping purposes, and under that bed were shoved the trundle beds of the children, in the day time. Ropes were used instead of springs.
Johann Jacob Ott, ancestor of half a thousand descendants in a century, was born November 6, 1784, and died May 16, 1865. He married Maria Magdalena [Urban], born November 6, 1782, in Baldenheim, Alsace, and died December 8, 1867, in Deerfield. They had two daughters and five sons, Magdalena, Salome, Lorenz, Jacob, Casper, Christian and Philip. Magdalena married George Escher. Salome married Philip Brand and had eight children.
Jacob Ott married Magdalena Luther and had twelve children. This Jacob was the pioneer who led his parents and relatives to Deerfield. Casper Ott married Catherine Trier and had seven children.
Christian Ott married Christina Miller and had five children. Christian died of smallpox in the Civil War.
Philip Ott married Elizabeth Hertzel in Pennsylvania and had twelve children. His youngest son, Benjamin lives in Wilmette. Eli died there in October.
Born in Baldenheim Alsace, on October 24, 1808 [Oct. 23, 1807], Lorenz Ott married Maria Ursula Rieg, born May 18, 1811, whose mother’s maiden name was Peters. Lorenz Ott died February 8, 1863, and his wife died September 18, 1887 [Sep. 13, 1887]. The Lorenz Otts had seven children, Jacob., Mary, Magdalena, Sarah, Clara, Samuel and Eli. Clara died at thirteen. Jacob was born in Baldenheim in 1831. The others were all born in the United States.
In 1849, Jacob Ott with his uncles, Philip and Jacob, went to California in the gold rush. On the trip by water, Jacob, son of Lorenz, contracted Panama, or yellow fever, and was buried at sea.
Mary Ott married Lawrence Offerle in Warren, Pa. When they moved to Illinois, they had a store, near the Northfield Church, then moved to Geneseo, Illinois, and then finally to Kansas, where the town Offerle was named for them. The Offerles had six children, Abner, Minerva, Oscar, Edwin, Russell and Amanda, who are scattered over the Pacific slope.
Eli Ott went to Ashland, Wis., after marrying Carrie of Chicago, and had one daughter, who married John Beck. Eli Ott died two years ago, in May, 1925.
Magdalena Ott was born in Deerfield Township in August, 1837, probably the first white child born in the vicinity. Magdalena married Rev. Christian Ott and had six children, three of whom, Elma, Ida and Hedwig, are now living [1927].
Sarah Ott married George Rockenbach and had eight children, Ella, Adelaide, Ormon, Almon, Samuel, Viola, Preston and Irene. Ella married William Plagge, Ormon married Mary Whitney, Almon married Elizabeth Catlow. Adelaide died in 1895. Samuel married Emma Rosenow. Preston married Lida Landau. Viola and Irene are not married.
Samuel Ott, the fifth child of Lorenz and Ursula Rieg Ott, was born May 19, 1841, on the Ott farm that was later sold to George Rockenbach, who married Sarah Ott, after Samuel had lived there for twenty-five years. In 1865 Samuel moved to Geneseo, Illinois, and a year later he built and furnished a home and married Mary Kiest, the daughter of Henry and Mary Kiest of Northfield. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Ott had five children, Alice, Flora, Olive, Arthur and Elmer.
The beautiful serenity of old age, from a life of right living is seen in the face of Samuel Ott. His grandfather, Jacob Ott, has 500 descendants and Samuel Ott is the oldest of those living, 250 are dead, and as many are living and scattered over the United States.”