Schuster, Otto E.

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• Reference Number: 2426
• Biography: 1911; History of Outagamie County, Wisconsin Page 0983

Notes:

Biography:
OTTO E. SCHUSTER, owner and proprietor of Elder Lawn Farm, one of the finest farming properties in Seymour township, located on section 26, was born February 5, 1858, in Washington county, Wisconsin, a son of Ernest and Margaret (Lutz) Schuster, and a grandson of Gottlieb Schuster, one of the first settlers of Washington county. Ernest Schuster was born in Germany and was twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents to the United States, and he was reared in Washington county, Wisconsin, where he was married to Margaret Lutz, who was ten years of age when brought to this country. Her father died on the ocean while coming to America, and her mother was married a second time to Gottlieb Miller, also an early settler of Washington county. Ernest and Margaret Schuster had the following children: Otto E., Hattie and Anna, deceased; Sarah, Esther, Amelia, Charles, William; Albert, deceased; and Mary. Otto E. Schuster was about nine years of age when the family located in Osborn township, Outagamie county, on an eighty-acre tract which was situated near the northwest corner on the town line separating Osborn from Seymour township. Here Ernest Schuster built a log cabin and log stable, and on this property the family made their home for about fifteen years, most of the remainder of Mr. Schuster's years being spent in the city of Seymour, where he died in 1907, at the age of seventy-two years. The mother passed away in 1883, when forty-three years of age. Otto E. Schuster secured his education in the schools of Washington and Outagamie counties, and from the age of thirteen years until he was twenty worked in the stave factory at Seymour. Later he was engaged at farm work until 1899, when he located on his present property, which at that time was an uncultivated tract, covered with wild brush. He built a log cabin and stable, the former of which has been remodeled into a handsome frame dwelling, while the latter is still standing, although a fine new barn has been built. Mr. Schuster's property produces large crops, and he has also given a great deal of attention to raising graded cattle, horses and hogs. His political principles are those of the Republican party, but he has never aspired to public office, although he has served as treasurer of school district No. 17, and as road commissioner for ten years. Mr. Schuster joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows nineteen years ago and is still an active worker and has been through all the chairs and has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge.
On November 17, 1882, Mr. Schuster was married to Louisa Geidel, who was born June 21, 1861, in Washington county, Wisconsin, daughter of John and Ernestina (Geidel) Geidel, natives of Germany. John Geidel came to this country with his father, Andrew, when he was four years old, and his wife, Ernestina, was twenty-four years of age when she came to this country. The Geidel family located in Milwaukee at the time when that city was not much more than a vast swamp, and later moved on to Fillmore, Washington county, where they located on a farm. In 1882 they removed to Dakota, where Mr. Geidel is now residing at the age of eighty-one years, Mrs. Geidel having passed away many years ago at the age of fifty-one. Their children were: Marie, Oswald and Henry, deceased; Louisa, who married Mr. Schuster; Emma and John; and Selma, who is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Schuster have been the parents of four children: Margaret, born. June 11, 1884, who married Leonard McMonagle, is the mother of two children, Gertrude, born in 1908, and Florence, born in 1911, and resides in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where both her children were born; Marie, born August 28, 1886; Selma, born in October, 1888, died at the age of six months; and Ernest, born September 8, 1900.