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.
__________________________________________
[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.
