Meyer-Ottens

Dietrick (Diedrich) born in 1800, and Dorothea Ottens, born in 1805 in Visselhoevede, Hanover, Germany were married in Germany.

Dorothea Ottens' parents were farmers all their lives in Hanover, Germany. Diedrich Meyer was a butcher by trade, and he died in Germany.

Three sons, Henry, William, Diedrich and daughter, Sophia, came to America earlier than the rest of the family in 1859. In 1865, the widowed mother, Dorothea, brought Fred, Catherine, Anna, Dora, Christ and George to Henry County, Ohio, where the first four had already located.

The mother and children sailed from Bremerhaven and were on the ocean for seven weeks, arriving in New York City, after encountering a severe storm on the ocean.

Sophia Meyer married Herman Schwake. Catharine Meyer married Henry Mahnke. Anna married Henry Oelfke and Dora married William Gottschalk.

Catherine Meyer Mahnke was a teen-ager when the family made the long ocean trip. She recalled that they were often hungry and louse bitten. She said, "Hunger and lice bite equally hard."

Submitted by: Mrs. Don Moehrman