Biographical Sketch of William H. Otto, Jr., Franklin County, Missouri

>From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and 
Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing 
Company, 1888.

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William H. Otto, Jr., furniture dealer and undertaker, at New Haven, is
a native of Washington, Mo., born in 1859 and is the third of eight
children born to William H., Sr., and Catherine (Baumann) Otto, natives
of Germany, born December 3, 1830 and November 1, 1833, respectively.
When the father was seven and the mother thirteen, they came to the
United States with their parents, and were married in Franklin County,
Mo., March 30, 1855.  The father farmed for three years and then re-
moved to Washington where he engaged in the carpenter business until
1867.  He then established the furniture and under taking business,
which he has continued ever since.  His father, John Henry Otto, was
born April 16, 1803 in Hanover, Germany and came to the United States
and Franklin County, Mo., in November, 1835 being one of the earliest
settlers of the county, and has made his home here for nearly fifty-
three years.  He is a manufacturer of fanning mills and feed cutters.
He was a ship carpenter in early life.  He is still living and resides
with his youngest daughter, at Casco postoffice.  His father also came 
to Missouri, and settled in Franklin County when there were no rail-
roads in the State, and when everything was in a wild and unsettled 
condition and the nearest trading post was St. Louis.  Our subject re-
ceived his education in the schools of Washington, and at the age of
twenty he left home and went to St. Louis, where he worked for several
months as an employee.  He then determined to go into business upon his
own responsibility.  He soon found a suitable location at New Haven,
where, in 1881 he opened up a business which has since steadily in-
creased.  December 25, 1882, he married Miss Fannie, daughter of Nich-
olas and Martha Shookman.  To this union was born one child: Edmund
William.  The great grandfather Shookman lived to be one hundred and 
four years old.  Mr. Otto is a Republican in politics and cast his 
first presidential vote for James A. Garfield, in 1880.  He is a member
of the Saxon Lutheran Church, and his wife is a member of the Christian
Church.

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