otts
Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing
Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",
published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
SEBASTIAN OTT is the proprietor
of the Hotel Ritzville, Ritzville, Washington. He came to this county
in 1895, direct from Germany, where he was born on February 24, 1856.
He was reared in Bavaria and for forty years of his life he was a citizen
of that country, where he lived on a farm and in younger life was educated
in the common schools. He was a non-commissioned officer in the German
cavalry at one time, the Fifth Chevauxlyer Regiment, and was a soldier
in that branch of the service for three years.
The parents of Mr. Ott were Geoerge V. and
Barbara (Reis) Ott, both native Bavarians. The father died in 1881
and the mother in 1859.
In 1895, Mr. Ott came to the United States
and to Ritzville, bringing with him one son, and later he was followed
by a brother who brought the remainder of the family. The brothers
brought with them capital to the extent of twenty-seven thousand dollars.
They at once invested ten thousand, five hundred dollars of this in the
grist mill formerly owed by George Benninghoff. They conducted this
mill, and made a success of it until January 29, 1901, when they sold it
to the Centennial Mill Company. Mr. Ott upon arriving at Ritzville,
built his present hostelry, and conducted it as a lodging house for two
years, then leased it for three years, and again in November, 1901, he
commenced running the house himself. His building includes forty-four
bed rooms, a private dining room for commercial travelers and other apartments.
Besides his hotel, Sebastian Ott owns a residence in town, and with his
brother, Andrew, his only brother outside of Germany, he owns two sections
of wheat land near Irby, Washington.
Another brother of Mr. Ott's is Jacob, a German
farmer. He has one sister, Margaretha, wife of Jacob Schmitt, a Bavarian
farmer.
On November 10, 1883, occurred the marriage
of Sebastian Ott to Christina Hege, born in Eppstein, Germany, August 4,
1860. Her parents were both native Germans, named Johannes and Maria
(Yotter) Hege, and both are now dead, the father dying in 1893. Mrs.
Ott has one brother, Heinrich Hege, a German farmer.
To this union have been born six children,
whose names and ages are as follows: Elise, eighteen; Jacob, seventeen;
Johannes, fifteen; Amanda, thirteen; Maria, twelve; and Richard, six years.
Mr. Ott was so unfortunate as to lose his
wife by death, August 21, 1897.
Sebastian Ott is a member of the Brotherhood
of America. He is a genial character, and a man of many friends.
Politically, he is a stanch Republican. He and his family attend
the Congregational church.
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