Biography of John F. Otto, pages 918 / 919.  History of De Kalb County, 
Indiana.  Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885.

John F. Otto, dealer in boots and shoes and groceries, Auburn, Ind., is a 
native of Prussia, born in Erfurt, Dec. 10, 1826. When  fourteen years of 
age he was apprenticed by his parents to learn the trade of a glove maker, 
serving till he was eighteen.  He then worked as a journeyman till nearly 
twenty-one, when he enlisted in Prussian artillery service, and assisted in 
crushing the rebellion in the South German States, and participated in two 
battles and in siege of the fortified city of Rastadt in 1848 and 1849.  
In 1851 he was honorably discharged as a non-commissioned office, and 
immediately after emigrated to the United Stares, landing in New York in 
May. He found employment as a farm hand near Albany, but was defrauded out 
of his wages, and the following winter was the hardest he ever saw, being 
in a strange land, without money or friends.  His parents came to America 
in the summer of 1851 and settled in Buffalo, N.Y., but he did not find 
them till the spring of 1852. He remained with them till the fall of 1853, 
when they all came to Indiana and located in Fort Wayne, and he was 
employed in the shops of the Pittsburg & Ft. Wayne Railroad till October, 
1861, when he enlisted in the Eleventh Indiana Battery; was mustered into 
service Dec. 17 and served till Jan.7, 1865.  At the organization of the 
battery he was commissioned Junior First Lieutenant, and Aug. 12, 1863, at 
Bridgeport, Tenn., was promoted to First Lieutenant. Nov. 17, 1863, he was 
placed in command of the Twentieth Ohio Battery, but was relieved Dec. 1 
by an order from headquarters to return to Indiana on recruiting service, 
joining his battery again in the spring of 1864.  He participated in the 
battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville, Murfreesboro, Manchester, 
Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Buzzard’s Roost, Dalton, Resaca, 
Kingston, New Hope Church, Burnt Hickory, Kenesaw Mountain (where he was 
wounded), Chattahoochee River and Atlanta.  After his return from the war 
he located in Auburn, and, in company with Ernest Myers, engaged in the 
boot and shoe business under the firm name of Myers & Otto.  In 1867 Mr. 
Myers retired from the firm, and Mr. Otto has since carried on the 
business alone.   In 1870 he added a stock of groceries, and a now has a 
large and increasing trade. He was married Jan. 26, 1865, to Mariah C. 
Reehling, of Fort Wayne.  They have six children---Kate, Francis, Lucy, 
Clara, Lizzie and Alpha Blaine.  Mr. and Mrs. Otto are members of the 
Presbyterian church.  He is a member of DeLong Post, No. 67, G.A.R.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com