Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Otto, Charles C. 1878 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com November 12, 2009, 1:43 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 214 - 215
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     Wisely utilizing the talents with which nature endowed him, Charles C. 
Otto has become a power in banking circles of Vancouver and one of the best 
known financiers in the Pacific northwest. He was born in Moberly, Missouri, 
in 1878 and when a child of six went to Iowa with his parents, Fred M. and 
Martha (Schearbarth) Otto. A year later the family located in Sacramento, 
California, and in 1891 came to Oregon, settling in Portland. The father was a 
Union soldier and became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Through 
his skill as a carpenter he contributed toward the upbuilding of the various 
localities in which he resided and in 1925 was called to his final rest. Mrs. 
Martha (Schearbarth) Otto was born in Germany and when a young girl of sixteen 
came to the United States with her parents. They established their home in St. 
Louis, Missouri, in which state their daughter Martha was married, and she is 
now living in Portland

     Charles C. Otto received his early instruction in Sacramento and 
completed his studies in the public schools of Portland. His first money was 
earned in a planing mill, in which he worked for two years, afterward spending 
four years in the iron foundry of Wolf & Zwickers. Mr. Otto aided in 
constructing torpedo boats, destroyers, light ships and other boats and for a 
few months was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Later he worked 
in the machine shop of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company and 
then took a course in a business college. During the Lewis and Clark 
Exposition he was private secretary to Mr. Marvin, who had charge of the 
government exhibition from Alaska. Mr. Otto next acted as private secretary to 
S. G. Reed, one of the officials of the Portland General Electric Company, 
which was later consolidated with the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company. 
When Mr. Reed was elected president of the German-American Bank he retained 
the services of Mr. Otto, who was subsequently chief clerk in the office of 
the head engineer of the Pacific Power & Light Company, acting in that 
capacity for a year. From 1911 until 1914 he was assistant national bank 
examiner and was then made examiner for the district of which San Francisco, 
California, is the center. For three years he was stationed in that city and 
on the expiration of that period was transferred to the Spokane (Wash.) 
district, in which he spent five years. While serving as a bank examiner Mr. 
Otto visited nearly every national bank in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada 
and California, as well as some in Utah and Nevada, and thus gained a clear 
insight into general conditions throughout the Pacific coast states. In 1920 
he tendered his resignation and for two years thereafter was vice president of 
the Fidelity National Bank of Spokane, in which he owned considerable stock. 
In 1922 he was again commissioned national bank examiner, with headquarters in 
Portland, Oregon, and filled the position until October, 1926, discharging his 
duties with marked efficiency. He then purchased the controlling interest in 
the United States National Bank of Vancouver, of which he has since been a 
director and the cashier. Mr. Otto gives to the institution the services of an 
expert and has aided materially in maintaining its prestige. Since its 
inception in 1910 the bank has enjoyed a steady and healthful growth, becoming 
a vital force in the development of this locality, and among its possessions 
is the original drawing of Fort Vancouver, made in 1855.

     In 1917 Mr. Otto married Mrs. Bessie (Young) Kinder, a native of 
Wisconsin and a daughter of James E. and Emma Young, of whom the latter passed 
away in December, 1927. By her first union Mrs. Otto had a daughter, Imogene 
May, whose husband, Lloyd Boettcher, is employed in the United States National 
Bank of Vancouver, and they are the parents of a son, Robert Boettcher. Mr. 
Otto acts as treasurer of the local Kiwanis Club and performs a similar 
service for the Chamber of Commerce, of which he is also a director. 
Industrious, intelligent and trustworthy, he has passed far beyond the ranks 
of the many, taking his place among the successful few, and is a man of high 
ideals and marked strength of character, esteemed and respected by all with 
whom he has been associated.

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