Charles and Jesse Otte
Charles
Otte born April 2, 1867 and his brother, Henry born May 8, 1851, left Hannover,
Germany about 1885 and arrived in Wisconsin where they worked on farms. Later
they came to Blaine and homesteaded on Section 28 in the area known as about
95th Avenue and Radisson Road. They farmed and Henry helped overseer the
building of sand roads in Blaine. Henry died on June 18, 1892.
Jessie Pauline Wall was born on October 24, 1869 in Wisconsin and came with her parents, George and Sarah (Cronk) Wall to Blaine in 1870. She was married to Charles Otte on September 26, 1894. Their five children were: George Henry born in 1896; Carl Dewey, 1899; Ralph Sidney, 1903 and died in 1922; Jessie Pauline, 1905; and Arthur Edward.
Charles served as trustee in Blaine Township in 1896, as treasurer in the early 1900's, and was for many years on the school board of District 60. Charles and his sons harvested potatoes, one half acre of onions, and assorted gardening. They delivered their produce with horses and a wagon for about twelve miles on sand roads to the homes in Northeast Minneapolis. Trees were cut by hand for fuel for the wood cook stove and the pot belly heater. In the winter time 18 inch by 24 inch cubes of ice were cut at Golden Lake and stored in a building with a covering of sawdust that was purchased from the lumber mills. The ice was used in ice cabinets for preserving food.
In 1920 Arthur joined a dairy calf club with one purebred Holstein calf named "Flora Ormsby Netherland" that was the beginning of a large herd of registered Holstein cattle for the Otte Brothers. In 1938 their herd's production was rated as the highest in Anoka County and their one cow had the highest individual butterfat record.
Charles Otte passed away on February 10, 1930. In 1936 his sons purchased a milk transport business. Then milk was picked up in milk cans every day and transported by truck to Superior Dairies in Minneapolis.
"Anoka County Minnesota" published 1982
by: Anoka County Historical Society