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Mrs. Otto, 103, City's Oldest Resident, Dies

Mrs. Otto, 103, City's Oldest Resident, Dies image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, March 14, 1949
Day
14
Month
March
Year
1949
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
Related
Mrs. Henry Otto, 103 Years Old, July 1948
Obituary
OCR Text

Mrs. Otto, 103, City’s Oldest Resident, Dies

Widow of Noted Band Leader Had Lived In Ann Arbor Since 1872

Mrs. Henry Otto, sr., 103, believed to be Ann Arbor’s oldest resident, died Sunday afternoon in her home at 558 S. Fifth Ave.

Mrs. Otto, the former Margaret Schneider, was born July 7, 1845, in Gundershausen, Hesse, Germany. She was one of the 12 children of Johanas and Katherine Werner Schneider.

In 1862, when she was 17, Mrs. Otto made the seven-week sailboat trip to Canada to join two of her brothers who had settled there in New Hamburg. Four years later she was married to Henry Otto, who also lived in Canada at that time.

Came Here In 1872

Mr. and Mrs. Otto and their family moved to Ann Arbor in 1872. Mr. Otto, a blacksmith, set up a shot here. His great interest was music and he founded Otto’s Band, a famous family musical organization at the turn of the century. Mr. Otto died in 1917.

Mrs. Otto was a member of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church.

She is survived by three of her six children a daughter, Mrs. Mary K. Weinberg of Mary St.; and two sons, George Otto, with whom she made her home, and Henry Otto, jr., of Brown St.

Also surviving are 14 grandchildren: Walter Kurtz, Arthur Kurtz, Jonas Kurtz, Julius Weinberg, Nathaniel Weinberg, Mrs. Russell Bucholz, Jonas Otto, Nelson Otto, Mrs. George McCallum, jr., Mrs. Charles Fisher, Roland Otto, Ferdinand Otto, all of Ann Arbor; Mrs. Celia Faust of Lander, Wyo.; and Mrs. Helen Tousey of Battle Creek.

19 Great-Great Grandchildren

In addition she is survived by 29 great-grandchildren and 19 great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon in the Muehlig Chapel. Rev. E. C. Stellhorn, pastor-emeritus of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, will officiate. Interment will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. Friends may call at the chapel.