Formal Ott family portrait — Schenectady, NY, abt. 1887.

Scanned from the original, large, impressive cabinet card, about 6.5” x 4.25” in my personal family photo archive.

This photo was a complete mystery for years in my possession, but I'm very sure now of the identification of this 19th c. New York family. Bartholomew Ott and his wife, Lucela "Lucy" Nick Ott, as Lucy is positively identified here and in two other photos with my great-grandmother Anna Mary Henkelmann Bird; her mother Mary Ott (Henkelmann) and Mary's mother Lucy. (Lucy is surprisingly little changed in photos taken the year before her death in 1912, and was easy to identify, but it took close examination with a loupe to be sure.)

The entire family lived in Rotterdam and Schenectady. The children were born in NY after their parents arrived from Prussia; Bartholomew in 1849 and Lucy in 1852. Bartholomew was eventually a machinist with General Electric and at least one of his sons, Joseph, worked for GE as well. I'm working on the possibility that Bartholomew is related to the Buffalo, NY Otts; any information from those researchers would be welcome.

The approximate 1887 date is derived from the cabinet card style, photographer, and the clothing and hair styles. This date also fits with the known ages of all the living Ott children at the time. Some of them in the photo were married at this point; this photo appears to be a formal family portrait taken at a time when it might be the last when they could all be together.

— H. Bird