Subject: Re: [ALL] Your Help Is Requested Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 19:47:05 EST From: AROCMAE@aol.com
Name: Albert (Al) John OTT Birth: 10 Jul 1886 Sharpsburg, Allegheny Co., Pittsburgh, PA. Death: 29 Mar 1950 Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA. Age: 63 Burial: 1 Apr 1950 St. Mary Cemetery, Sharpshill Rd., Sharpsburg, Allegheny Co., PA. Occupation: Plumber Religion: Roman Catholic Father: Christian 'Christ' OTT (1850-1928) Mother: Elizabeth 'Lizzie' WEBER (1850-1915) Residence: (Al) lived with his parents at 1909 Main St. in Sharpsburg up to the time of his marriage at age 24. Then he and Antoinette lived in Lawrenceville [Pgh., PA.] on 4412 Calvin St. just down the street from St. Francis Hospital and around the corner from the Allegheny Cemetery and very near where his Aunt Mary and her husband, Joseph PLATT, lived on 265 - 45th Street. Life Style: Al liked the "new" inventions of the radio and the automobile. He was one of the first to have the 'wireless' in his house and had a garage built for his car. He disliked the Prohibition as most beer drinking Germans did. So the cellar of 4412 Calvin Street in Lawrenceville served a good purpose with its private distillery from whence came some original wines and whiskeys. Al loved to tease his first grandchild. On one occasion, while Al was eating one of his favorite cheeses ---a Limbourger!, Dorothy --- who was only 2 or 3 years old at the time --- said, "There is something smelly stuck on my nose1" Al and his wife, ‘Nettie’. roared with laughter and frequently thereafter Al would bring out the Limbourger and hide it so Dorothy could not see it and then ask her if she had ‘something’ on her nose? Dorothy was almost born on her grandfather's birthday (July 10th) and when she was a pre-schooler, she would often stay at her grandparent's house that week and they would celebrate birthdays together. Once year when Dorothy was about 5 years old, the 9th of July came and went without any signs of birthday cake or ice cream. When the 10th came and still no evidence of a celebration, Dorothy got nervous and watched her grandparents anxiously. They obviously noticed this and decided to playfully prolong the agony. As dinner time approached they began to speak in German to each other. This had rarely occurred when Dorothy was there, but as children will, she had figured out long ago that it was a 'secret' adult language used when they didn't want her to know what they were talking about. Now Dorothy didn't know German, but by facial and bodily language and some past experiences with German, she managed to interpret the message and blurted out, "I'll go up to the bakery and pick up the cake". The astonished adults laughed and knew the 'cat was out of the bag'. Residence: Al and Nettie spent most of their married life at 4412 Calvin Street in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. The house was a brick Victorian two story, three bedroom building with an attic and an unfinished cellar. It had lovely carved wooden "build-in's", such as: a coat rack with a pull-up seat and a lovely carved, winding banister [upon which the grandchildren loved to slide down!]. The cabinets and storage drawers in the pantry were also built-in [one of these lower drawers had the toys in it for the grandchildren]. The house was probably constructed at the turn of the century (1900) in the typical Victorian style. The ceilings were quite high and while it had some type of central (coal-fired) heating, this was supplemented by a Ben Franklin (potbelly) stove in the kitchen, where the family usually congregated, especially during the colder months. There was a player piano in the formal living room (the drawing room or parlour, as it was called in those days) which probably none of the inhabitants could play by hand, so there were many rolls of music that must have been abandoned once the radio was invented and brought into the Ott household. Later the grandchildren enjoyed this ‘player piano’ as they got down on the floor and pushed the pedals with their hands. This house was sold when the children were all grown and married (at about 1946 or so). It was demolished in the 1970's to make way for the expansion of St. Francis Hospital. A large parking garage now stands where Al and Nettie bore and raised her children. She and Al moved to another house on Liberty Ave. in the Bloomfield area of Pittsburgh and then to a residence on the second floor of Nettie's sister Katie's house at 5 Forrest St.; Millvale, Allegheny Co., PA. It was there that Al suffered his first stroke. Death: Albert died a year or more after having suffered a second stroke. His wife, Antoinette, cared for him at home almost to the very end. He was in the hospital (St. Francis Hospital in Lawrenceville) for only 8 days before his death. He was diagnosed as having heart disease and cerebral Arteriosclerosis. Burial: Albert is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Sharpsburg with his wife and his daughter, Loretta Ott Faas and Loretta's husband, Paul Faas. They share a single tombstone.
Please send all additions/corrections to: Cora Ott 38 Broadway - Pmb 323 Everett, MA. 02149 E-mail: ArocMae@aol.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------