| Notes |
- Louis Leslie Otto; the second child of Louis Alfred and Belle DeGraff Otto, was born in the "Greene Cottage" in 1910, but moved ~ with his family within a year to their new home at 79 Greeley Ave. Here he grew to young manhood, attending the Sayville Schools about a quarter mile north of his home. Very early he acquired a two wheeled bicycle, and by Using this increased mobility he expanded his explorations over Bayport, Sayville, West Sayville, and 6akdale, and later to the sound on the north side of the island. Well before the age of ten he became delivery boy for Pat Mullen's milk route, carrying pails of milk from the wagon into the customers houses for two hours before school each morning.He was always interested in boats, the water, and the beach, and actively wangled boat rides from all of his relatives. He built his own rowboat as a young boy, and used it to explore Brown's River, Greene's River, and the bay shore from Blue Point to Great River. During summer vacations from high school he acted as captain's boy for Sylvenus Titus James on the party-sailing 35' catboat, the Sylvia. This involved day and night sailing over the whole of the Great South Bay. Later he accompanied his father and partners on their clamming and oystering trips on the bay, even to clamming himself after his father went ashore. Early college summers were spent shoveling sand and delivering cement blocks for his father's plant. Education activities occupied most of Ham'slife (this nickname was acquired in high school for some unknown reason). After high school graduation in 1928 as valedictorian he returned for one year as a post-graduate student, then went upstate to Cornell University with a tuition scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering. In 1933 he graduated with the degree of M.E., and election to Tau Beta Pi, national engineering scholastic honorary, to Atmos, local mechanical engineering scholastic honorary, to Quill and Dagger, local campus activities honorary, and as a "Wearer of the C", having earned an athletic letter. During his four years of undergraduate residence he played in the freshman ROTC band, played on championship basketball teams in the Interco liege and Inter fraternity leagues, and put in one year on the freshman eight-oared crew, two years on the junior varsity crew, and one year on the Varsity crew, with a final race at Los Angeles in California. In 1933. Jobs for college graduates were very hard to get in 1933, so Ham returned to Sayville, working at whatever jobs were available, until moving to Oakfield, N.Y. in January 1935 to work in the Sheetrock plant of U.S. Gypsum Co. In 1937 he moved to Perry, N.Y. to design tanks and machinery for the Kaustine Co., and after marrying in July 1938 he returned to Ithaca, N.Y. in September of that year to become a graduate student at Cornell. In the fall of 39 he started a teaching career as an instructor in the Experimental Engineering Department of Cornell. In 41, with two other instructors he started for the US Navy a 16 week course for Diesel Engineering Officers, which was greatly expanded after Pearl Harbor. There were also classes for Steam Engineering Officers and for Curtiss-Wright Engineering Aides, Navy V 12s, and to upgrade civilian war-plant employees. In 1943 his major professor died, so Lou picked up ~11 of this professors classes in automotive engineering, dropping the other extras. He completed an MME degree in 1943, received a promotion to Assistant Professor, and to Associate Professor in 1946. The next step required a PhD, so in the summer of 49 he moved with his wife and three children to East Lansing, Michigan, to begin a doctorate program in Engineering while on Sabbatical Leave from Cornell. Two stamen, plus an intervening school year as a graduate assistant, and many, man~ hours of study completed the course work, and the family returned to Cornell in the fall of 50 to rebuild the exchequer and to complete the necessary thesis. By August of 51 the thesis and the necessary final exams were completed and the degree of PhD Cum Laude was awarded. Next came promotion to Full Professor at Cornell, election to Phi Kappa Phi (national scholastic honorary), Sigma Xi, (national research honorary, Pi Tau Sigma, (national mechanical engineering scholastic honorary) and a new position as Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University, to teach primarily courses in Automotive Engineering. After a quick move to Michigan the now Dr. Otto became 'immersed in University activities, one year as Acting Department Head of Mechanical Engineering, three years as Head of Engineering Drawing, and one year as Department Head in Mechanical Engineering, plus service on many University committees. In 1960 there came an opportunity to obtain an industrial design position in Muskegon, Mich. at the Clarke Floor Machine Co., so the family moved to North Muskegon to live in a home on the shore of Muskegon Lake. Lou Otto led the design and development activities of Clarke in the fields of floor sanders, floor polishers, floor and rug scrubbers, vacuum cleaners, and large area sweepers. These activities involved many trips around the United States and one trip to Europe. In 1970 the retirement of the long-time president of Clarke led to a wholesale replacement of top Clarke personnel by the parent Studebaker-Worthington Corp.Lou and others accepted early retirement. Lou shifted his activities to teaching at Muskegon Community College in the fields of Physical Metallurgy, Engineering Materials, and Hydraulics. Between Jan.73 and July 76 he served as Dean of ~vocational Education, and as Assoc-Associate Dean of Math, Science, and Technology. After official retirement from the Dean positions he was called back to teach again in 76 and 77. Lou was a tall man (6'-5") in his early years, with blonde hair~ and hazel eyes. He enjoyed maintaining his own automobiles as an adjunct to his teaching. He used a small trailer able aluminum boat and an outboard motor to explore many of the rivers and lakes in Michigan. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and active in their Oil and Gas Power Division. He was a member of the American Society for Metals, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Association of University Professors, and the Society of Automotive Engineers, plus many other more specialized technical groups. He was very active in the SAE, being Chairman successively of the Syracuse Section, the Mid-Michigan Section, and the Western Michigan Section, plus membership on many section and national committees. In the fall of 1980 Lou and Dorothy Otto moved to Florida to escape the cold and snowy winters of Michigan. Dorothy Hiller was born in Smithtown, N.Y. on July 3, 1915 to Albert and Edith Feather Hiller. She attended the Smith town Schools, graduating from Smithtown High School in 1933. That summer she became the Secretary to the Superintendent of Schools in Smithtown, and retained this position until her marriage in the summer of 1938. Upon moving to Ithaca, N.Y. with her husband in the fall of 38 she became a secretary in the administrative offices of the Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University, and continued this position until the birth of their first child in 1941. The next eight years were spent as a housewife, with the birth of two more children. In 1949 she moved her family temporarily to East Lansing, Mich., after one year returned to Ithaca, and moved permanently to East Lansing in 1951. As her family grew and required less attention she worked as a part-time secretary on the campus of Michigan State Univ. and acted in her home as booking secretary for a professional travel lecturer. When she and her family moved to North Muskegon, Mich. she became the secretary to the Principal of the Elementary School in North Muskegon in December 1962, retaining this position until she retired in December 1975. After retirement she worked, again as a secretary, in part-time or volunteer positions, in North Muskegan and then in the Hernando County Schools in Florida. During her high school and post high school years Dorothy was interested and active in amateur dramatics. ~.~ interest in music has been lifelong, and she has acted as accompanist to many singing groups. She has been very active in Friends of the Library groups. Knitting and crossword puzzles have served as time fillers when there was spare time. Dorothy was 5'-8" tall, with dark wavy hair and dark eyes.
To Descendants of the OTTO and DEGRAFF Families.
The accompanying family trees probably give you far more information about your ancestors than you cared to know.. Many of the strangers you see on the streets may be your shirt tail relatives. As with most family trees there must be some gap, and some black misshapen twigs. Fortunately this presentation gives them anonymity. Best leave them that way.
The records contain many gaps in information. Belle Otto worked on these gaps for several years,and Louis L. Otto has worked on them some. What is presented is the best information presently available. I hope it expands your knowledge of your "roots".
Using Belle's recorded information and my limited memory I have tried to give some personsilty (color, as it is called on TV) to key figures among our direct ancestors. For the present generation -your many cousins -- I will let you gather your own information, you probably know it better than I.
For my generation, I know of only five cousins left: 1 ) Louis L. Otto, a retired professor living in Brooksville, Fla.; 2) Dr. Bertram B. Otto, a retired dentist from Bayshore, Long Island, living in Daytona, Fla.; 3) Julia Otto Wallace, a retired realtor from Bellport, Long Island, living in Brookhaven, Long Island; 4) Betty DeGraff DeRoo, an housewife living in Moorestown, New Jersey; and 5) David DeGraff, a stock brokers agent living in Bayport, Long Island. There may be a few others living in the Yonkers area of whom I am not aware. Your generation is spread from California to Vermont, and possibly farther.
The Otto ahd DeGraff families are long-lived. Check the records shown. Prepare yourselves for an extended retirement. As a caution, there are two hereditary defects which John Otto Sr. has passed along to his descendants. He was deaf, and was afflicted with familial palsy. His son John and his daughter Anna were very deaf very early in life. His sons Thomas and Louis were partially deaf. In my generation Bertram Otto and Herbert Parkhill are partially deaf. Hopefully this trait will die out, but at present it is treatable by hearing aids.
Severe incidence of familial palsy seems to have missed John Ottos children, but showed up in Belle and Louis L. Otto and Herbert Parkhill. Presently the condition is not cureable, and only Inderal (propranolol) and ethyl alcohol are effective drugs against it. Indernalis also a heart and blood pressure medicine, and should only be taken under medical supervision. Ethyl alcohol is very effective, tho very temporary, but it is addictive, so beware. Hopefully this trait is recessive, and will also disappear.
Unfortunately for the impact of this geneological record my generation is the last one to have lived in the Sayville area, and to have more than an inkling of the mono-ethnic character of West Sayville from the 1850's to the 1950's. One more generation of separation from our roots in Holland makes the connection with the "old country" very tenuous also. For your information, West Sayville had only dutchmen (hollanders) in residence, northern East Islip had only Czechs, Waverly Ave. in Patchogue had only italians, Bohemia had only Czechs, Hagerman had only italians. There were also many other small mono-ethnic pockets on Long Island. World war II and its influx of city dwellers ended all this isolation.
There are several typing errors in this (per line that is).
Anyone wishing to type themselves a perfect copy has my permission.
Family Background in Holland
Dinah DeGraff gave to Betty DeGraff DeRoo loose pages cut from two Dutch Bibles, carrying written records in Dutch. Since the paper was thin, the ink from one side bled through to the other side, and much of the ink has faded. Some of the script is difficult to read in itself, since the letters are in the forms used at that time and not used now.
The older Bible was printed in 1802, its pages are larger than the second Bible. It has not been translated, but with the help of a Dutch dictionary I have gleaned what I could. The smaller Bible pages were translated for me by a friend from Holland.
All the people involved (with the few exceptions noted) lived and died in Bruinisse (apparently an older spelling) or Brunisse (modern spelling), a community on the island of Duiveland in the delta ofthe Scheldt-Maas river system below Rotterdam.
The older Bible
There are three different handwritings, and I would judge that they were written by (1)my great-great grandmother Ariejaantje Arijse Borsje *, who kept the records from her marriage in 1816 until her death in 1831, then (2) her husband Pieter de Koning, and finally (3) a third person, possibly
Pieter's second wife.
Page 1 AnthS~
Ariejaantje Arijse Borsje, aged 23, and Pieter^de Koning, aged 21, were
married by the law and by the church on December 8, 1815 in Brunisse.
[The child~Pieternella de Koning wrote "Brunisse. Pieternella
deKoning" on page 1 and scribbled on page 2.]
page 2 [In a different handwriting]
Johanna ..n.eerhat (?)was born on August 13, 1805 and baptized on August 18~ She married Z ..... (?~ on August 15, 1832.
[My question: Was she the second wife?]
Page 3 [In the handwriting of page 1]
Lena de Koning was born on Tuesday morning, February 3, 1818 at Wijk AS. [Apparently Wijk A5 was the home address.]
Anthonij de Koning was born on Wednesday morning, May 26, 1819.
Arij de Koning was born on Friday morning June 16, 1820.
Cornelia de Koning was born on Sunday morning October 21, 1821.
Dina de Koning was born on Friday morning June 13, 1823 at our home.
* There seem to be several spellings of this first name. Ultimately my great aunt, Hannah Verspoor Hiddink, who was named Ariaantje, converted it to Hannah.
Family background in Holland
The older Dutch Bible, continued
page 4 [In the handwriting of page 1]
Pieternella de Koning was born on January 7, 1825 at 10 o'clock on Friday morning.
Anthonija de Koning was born on Thursday morning, July 26, 1827.
Anthonij de Koning was born on December 1, 1828, on Monday afternoon at 6 o'clock.
Willemiena de Koning was born on March 3, 1830, Wednesday, and baptized on July 6, 1830.
[At this point the handwriting changes, and I cannot read it. Apparently some one, perhaps named Leendert, died on June 7, 1884, aged 65 years,
7 months and 28 days. ]
page 5 [This page is in the handwriting I presume to be that of Pieterde Koning. ]
My child Anthonij de Koning died Monday, August 21, 1820, and was buried
on Thursday, August 26, 1820.
The child Anthonij de Koning died February 3, 1828
The child Anthonij de Koning died June 7, 1830, aged ....
My wife, Arijaantje Borsje died Monday, August 8, 1831, aged 38 5/12 years
and was buried August 10. Wijk A5.
paKe 6 [This page begins in the same handwriting as page 5, Pieter de Koning's]
'My child Cornelia de Koning died Sunday, FeOruary 11, 1838, aged 16 years
o months, and was buried on February 15. Wijk A5
My child Anthonij de Koning died at 5 o'clock on Monday, May 21, 1838
at three years, buried May 26. Wijk A5
[At this point the third handwriting appears, for the rest ofhe page.]
My mother Zena van den Busse died Thursday, ~arch 16, 18d& and was
buried March 18, 18AA.
Sat da
My child Jan de Koning died on Aug 23, 18A5, aged 8 months, 19 days,
and was buried August 25.
The child Jan de Koning died on November 25, 18A6, aged 7 months, 12 days.
END
Note: After the death of his first wife in 1831, Pieter de Koning married
again. There were apparently at least three children from this second marriage: Anthonij de Koning (1835-1838)
Jan de Koning (Dec. 1844-Aug. 1845) Jan de Koning (April 1846-Nov. 1846) Was this second wife the Jobanna mentioned earlier on page 2 of this Bible? Was her mother Lena van den Busse (see above for page 6)?
Apparently, if a child died, the first child born after this death was given the same name. There were 5 Anthony's and 2 Jan's.
Family background in Holland
The smaller Dutch Bible
The smaller of these Dutch Bibles belonged to my great-grandmother,
Dina de Koning (Vetspoor), who kept all the records. This material was translated for me by a Dutch woman who did what she could with a poor copy.
page 1
This book belongs to Dina de Koning, born in Brunisse at Thuiswijk A5 on June 13, 1823 on Friday morning at 10 o'clock.
My mother Arieaanje Borsje died Monday, August 8, 1831 at the age of 38~ years and was buried August 10.
Pieter de Koning was born on August 24, 1795. He died February 20, 1854 at the age of 58 years, 6 months.
In the year 1820 on January & Arij de Koning was born. He died June 7, 1859 at the age of 39.
page 2
In the year 1860, on November 27, died Pieternella LaRooi, widow of
Arij de Koning, at the age of 37.
In the year 1830 on March 3, is born Willemina de Koning at home.
Willemina de Koning died March 11, 1868 at age 38 and was buried March l4.
In the year 1871 on June 13 Lena de Koning died at the age of 53 years months, in district A5
page 3
~!n the year 1843 am I, Leendert Vetspoor, aged 28 years, and Dina De Koning,
aged 19, married before the law on Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock.
[This must have been in the spring.]
In the year 18l4 on October 11, is born Leendert Vetspoor.
In the year 1793 on the 5th of May [?] is born Arieaantje B° rsje on Sunday evening.
In the year 1821 on October 21 is born Cornelia de Koning, on Sunday morning at 7 o'clock in Brunisse at home,
Cornelia died on Sunday morning at 6 o'clock on February 11, 1838 in her home at Thuis #5, and was buried on February 15, at age 16 years, A months.
page
My child Marinus Verspoor was born January 8, 1844, Monday morning at
7 o'clock, at Wijk B86.
In the year 1845 on February 13 is born Ariaantje Verspoor on Thursday morning at 3 o'clock at Wijk B86.
In the year 1849 on the 17th of March, Isabella Verspoor is born on Saturday morning at 7 o'clock at Thuiswijk B86.
In the year 1852 on September 25 is born Pieter Vetspoor, Saturday morning at 9 o'clock in Sayville.
My child Pieter Verspoor died July 25, 1853 on Monday morning at 6 o'clock at the age of 10 months.
Family Background in Holland
The smaller Dutch Bible, continued
page 5
In the year 1868 on August 23, Marinus Vetspoor at the age of 24 years
and 7 months was married to Helen F. Blydenberg, aged 21 years and 2 months.
In the year 1877 on August 9, Marinus's wife died at the age of 30 years and 2 months, on Thursday morning at 6 o'clock.
End
Family Forbears-in Holland
Verspoor If the family followed the Dutch customs in naming children, and they appear to have done so, then the parents of Leendert Verspoor were named Marinus and Isabella.
5
De Koning
Pieter Anthse deKoning (8.24.1795-220.1854) m~l~riaantje Arijse Borsje( 5.5. 1793-8.8. 1831)
Lena (2.3.1818-6.18.1871)
Anthonij (5.26.1819-8.21.1820)
Arij (6.16.1820-6.7.1859) m. Pieternella LaRooi (1823-11.27.1860)
Cornelia (10.21.182I-2.11.1838)
Dina (6.13.LS23-12.2d.1907) m.Leendert Vetspoor (see page 8 of DeGraff
Pieternella (1.7.1825- ?) family tree)
Anthonija (7.26.1827-2.3.1825)
Anthonij (12.1.1828-6.7.1830)
Willemiena (3.3.1830-3.11.1868)
Pieter deKoning married [2~ ... Anthonij (1835-5.21.1838) jan (1.1845-8.23.1845) jan (4.14.1846-11.26.1846)
There may have been other children.
FAMILY BACKGROUND IN AMERICA DEGRAFF FAMILY TREE
Based upon information from Belle Verspoor DeGraff, tombstones in the Sayville Union Cemetery, items in The Suffolk County News, and the faulty recollections of descendants.
This record begins with those who lived in the United States.
: Indicates no children from this marriage.
Qornelius DeGraff, Sr. (2.14.1823-2.4.1894) m. Lucy (Leuntje) VanOverhois
" ' (3.6.1820-3.27.1903)
Hannah m ....... Andrews (Michigan) [Note 1
Orilla m ..... Varnum
others?
Matthew (3.11.1848-9.19.1919) m. Belle Verspoor (3.17,1848-3.12.1926) [See listing below on page 8 ]
Cornelius, Jr. ( ) m. Fannie Smith : [Note 2
Garret (10.9.1851-12.13.1937) m. Rebekah Rudolph (3.19.1858-8.25.19&1)
IWilliam C. (10.2o.1880-t ) m. [1~ Hanna C. Koerwer (1887-1918)
Muriel m.
m.[2] Consuela Ayres
Christine (1884-1978) m. George E. Pell
Doris P. m ..... Evans
George
Gladys m .... Winters
Richard
Josephine m. Benjamin Adams
Evelyn m... , . McKenna
Garrett
~John m. Gussie
Neil m. Caroline Fiala
Nell :
Gilbert m. Albertine Kryser
David
Carol (died young) :
Jules:
Laura m ..... Brandt
Nelly m. Olaf VonBommel Barbara m. Kenneth Nocar Robin
DeGraff family tree
i(Children of John and Gussie DeGraff, continued)
!
Anna m. Milton Haas Milton Robert Betty
Robert m . . .
Jacobs ("Coby") m. [1] . . . VanDyke
"Harm" m. jenny Stark Albert ( a minister) Donald m. Gertrude . . · Virginia m ....
8 children
Henry M. m ....
Cornelius )"Kale") m ....
Lerner m.[2]
2 children
Lerna (18..-1955) m. B. F. Stout :
Matthew
(5.12.1861-11.3.1899) m. Cornelia VanVessem (1865-1952)
Cornelius ("Taffy")(1888-1959) m .... James Warren Peter Garret
Matthew (1893-1963) m. Minnie WesterbekeDorothy
Richard m. Marjorie Egner
Barry
Bruce m. Margaret Mensching
Donald
Cornelia ( -19 ) m. Walter VanPopering
Walter
Ruth m .... DePree
Jean m .... Manion
Jarret E. (10.28.1895-10.2.1925) m. Adrianna Saunders (a widow) Edgar
Myra m. Walter Rowland
June m .... Miller
Neltje (1898-1975) :
Adrianna (1900- ) m. Kenneth Campbell (She lives in Washington, D.C.)
Derry (adopted)
[Note %
[NoteT
DeGraff Family Tree
(Children of Cornelius and Lucy DeGraff, continued)
7
Matthew (~.11.1848-9.19.1919) m. (~.2~.1868) Belle Verspoor (3.17.1848-3.12.1926)
(carried from page 6) (for her forebears, see page 1-5, 10)
Lena (10.21.1871-3.25.1879) : [Note
Dinah (4.25.1873-12.31.1955) : [Note 5
3ornelius (9.5.1874-12.2..19311 m. (ll.12.0D) [1] Mary Jane P~odes [Note 6
George Thomas ("Som") (&.12.02-1.14.63)
(187 -8.31.1912)
m. Mattie Zegel Hall :
iBurton Lester (1907-1969) m. Rachel Brown :
Co=elius) m. [2] (12.22.22) Dorothy Lay Archer (1890-11.21.28) [Note 7
iElizabeth Elliott (11.2.25Peter David (8.14.49Christine Lay (3.12.52Janet Claire (2.26.55Elizabeth Teale (3.3.60-
) m. (10.23.48) Robert Lester DeRoo
) m. (1..77) Lindls° n of Harry & Elsie DeRo
( .25.
f m.4~mas J. Jackson
iDavid Lay (3.12.28- ) m. (9.13.58) Gloria Kamna
I Carol Ann (7.1.60- )
David Peter (11.26.6&- )
Judith Marie (12.30.65- )
!
Belle (Lena Isabelle) 8.18.1876-9.27.1937) m. (12.3.0~) Louis Alfred Otto
(6.5.75-11.15.3o)
[Note 8
Lucy Belle (1.1.05-~ m. (7.25.64) Samuel Armstrong Talbot : (4.19.03-2.20.67) [Note 9
L~uis Leslie <10.25.10- ) m (7.16.38) Dorothy Elaine Hiller
--- (7.3.15- ) ~Note 10
Carol Louise (lO.2.&l- )(~i.~5' bi 'am Craig Moody (lO.25.&l-
Christopher Edward (11.15.682)
Ian Craig (8.23.72-)
Elaine Frances (3.27.44- ) m. (6.29.77) Thomas Sigardson, Jr.
Robert Louis (12.31.45- ) m. (8.19.67) Judith Hahn
Sean Robert (7.27.70-)
Matthew Louis (7.31.73-)
Charles Raymond (10.15.1~-5.1.60) m. (6.25.37) Johanna Gertrude Huson
! (5.23.1~-2.22.63)
F~+.~ 11
IJan Charles Huson (4.21.38- ) m. (9.12.59) SusanLGore
(daughter of Wilbert & Vene Gore~
Jan Peter (9.14.60-) m. 2(6.2G. 62) Glenda Carol Johnson{ 9~
Joel Christopher (6.14.62-)
Nathan Charles (A.14.65-)
Joann Carolyn DeGraff (2.20.&0-) m. (8.20.60)(son of Robt.R° bert& ThomasK,burg)K'burg
DeGraff Family Tree
(children of Charles Raymond Otto continued)
Jason Lewis (12.8.AA-) m. Susan Moon (1. .48)
Jennifer Lynn (11.15.58-)
Jason Christopher (8.17.71-)
Kristin Belle (9.21.~6-) m. (6.22.68) Tunis Coale Foltz, Jr.
Beth Joann (8.27.72) (6.29.~3-
Son of T.C.Sr. &
Jason Tunis (3.22.76)
Nell Frederick (12.31.d9-) m. (9.13.69) Linda Gottardi Eric Peter (9.27.51-)
/0
Foltz)
Leonard 5.&.1878-12.26.1953) m. Sarah E. Newton (1881-1950) : rNote 12 Lucy (6.18.8&-5.15.1937~ : rN° te !~
DeGraff Family Tree - Verspoor Section
Leendert Verspoor (10.11.18L~-6.1.1884) m. Dirsde Koning (6.13.1823-12.24.190~ [For their forebears, see pages 1-5] ~Note 1~
· · n Blyd~n~urgh (1~yr~S77) .
Marlnus (1844-1923) m~28.23.$.8o8)_El.le F.
hz] Ange~lne uraln : L3] aggie ,~l~lamSNole[ ~
L
IIda m. Sylvanus James
Frederick ( -64) m. Edith
Edith m. Stuart Ball
Stuart M., Jr.
Barbara Ashley (1950-)
Ethel m. Kenneth Milburn Susan Denise (1951-) Cynthia Ashley (1953- ) Andrew (1983- )
Helen m. George Corwin : [They lived in Southhampton, N.Y.]
Irene :
Sylvia m. Orlie Ray Burger
Frederick (1922-1957) m.
Linda
Alan
Marcia m. Cripps
Leonard, m. Grace · · ·
Elsie m. John Edwards
Clarence m .... Ruzicka
Kenneth
Roy
Ethel (died young)
Hannah (2.13.1845-7.18.1937) m. John Hiddink (9.21.1839-3.28.1903):[Note 18
(Hannah was christened Ariaantje)
Belle (Isabelle) (3.17.1848-3.12.1926) m. Matthew DeGraff (1848-1919]
For their descendants see pages 8,9)
Pieter (9.25. 1852-7.25. 1853)
His grave beside his parents is marked ~Baby".
Hiddink Family
(came to Sayville in 1852' )
Hendrik Jan Hiddink (1802-73) m. Henrietta Florida van Holten (1803-69) Adolphus (1828-75)
Bernard (1834-94) m. Lorena (1843-1927) John H. (1865-72) Marinus (1866-1914) John A. (1874-1931 )
John (1839-1903) m. Hannah ~ersp,Qr { 1845-1937 )
(Great Aunt Hannah)
Note 8
Belle (Lena Isabelle) DeGraff was the fourth child of Belle and Matthew DeGraff. Until her marriage to Louis Alfrdd Otto she lived at the family home at 53 Greeley Ave. She attended the local elementary school, and then trained as a seamstress and dressmaker, living for a time in Brooklyn for this training. After her marriage in 1903 she and her husband moved to the stone front house farther up Greeley Avenue which had been built as Ike Greene's architecture office. A daughter Belle (Lucy Belle) and a son Louis Leslie were born there, and in 1911 the family moved to a new home which had been built for them at 79 Greeley Ave. Another son~ Charles, was born in this house in 1914. During the early 1920s this home was rented to ~ residents from N.Y. City, while the Otto family lived temporarily at 22 Willerr Ave. In 1930 she accepted her eight-month old nephew, David DeGraff into her home after the unexpected death of his mother, and kept him until her death in 1937 (coronary thrombosis).
Belle was relatively tall (5'-10") and erect, pink-cheeked and comely of face, with brown eyes and very long dark hair. She was a woman of great understanding and sympathy, to whom man~ persons came for comfort and guidance when troubled. She was active in the Sayville Congregational Church, serving a term as president of its wornaris society, the Needlecraft Club. She helped found the Sayville Library Association, and was a founding member of the Women's Village Improvement Society, serving a term as president but declining to be its candidate for member of the Sayvi!le-School Board of Education. For many years she was active in the Sayville Study Club, a group interested in literature. Best of al1, she maintained a home to which four children looked with reverent memoried, as they strove to provide the same atmosphere for their own children.
ouis Alfred Ottowas the fifth child of John and Cornelia Hage Otto, born on June 5, 1875, in a family of five boys and one sister. His father was a "bayman", and as soon as the boys were physically able they accompanied their father on the bay to tong for clams or oysters, to dredge for scallops, to net for fish. Attendance at school was secondary to working, and only when the bay was iced over, or the weather was too mean to work in exposed locations were the boys allowed to go to school. As a result Louis received only about 4 years of schooling ---I during Januaries and Februaries. Later he supplemented this meager formal training with extensive reading.
Father John Otto was a good Dutchman and believed in psying homage to his religion, requiring his family to sit through long prayers and devotions, a practice not understandable to young children wshing to get out and play with their contemporaries. In spite of irksome prayer time at' home, Louis and his brothers hung around local out-of-doors revival meetings enough to become well versed in the hyms which were used, so he could teach them to his daughter later.
Apparently father John Otto was a strict disciplinarian while at work too. Per my father, one day he was berating John Jr. for loafing v~ile tonging. To escape the tirade John Jr. jumped overboard and swam to an oyster lot stake for support. The stake, weakened by toredo worms, broke off, and John Jr. had no choice but to come back to the boat and face his father, who was armed with a rope's end. As soon as they were able to support themselves all of the boys left home and made their own way in the world.
Louis, and his younger brother Bert, chose to buy their own sailboat and to live on-board her, ice-out to ice-in, while tonging clams in Prince's Bay on the southeasterly side of Staten Island, and selling their catches at the Fulton Fish Narket in New York. Somewhere around 1900-1902 Lou fell from the deck into the hold, badly injuring one knee. After months in a hospital on Staten Island, with his knee cap being replaced by a silver plate, he emerged on crutches and with a brace on his leg. Facing insuperable diff~ties in resuming their former life, Lou and Bert returned to Sayville to create a new world for themselves.
The new world emerged as Otto Bros. Retail Coal Sales. They purchased a piece of property on the north side of the Long Island Railroad tracks in Sayville, put in a railroad siding and the necessary bins, and became coal dealers. After about five years Bert decided to become a butcher, worked with brother Tom to learn the buAiness, and set up a butcher store in Bayshore. The coal yard became Louis A. Otto, Coal and Wood, Tel. Conn. 157.
The coal yard continued to operate for many years. Lou created many mechanical coal moving machines to reduce the back-breaking labor normally present, Many of these seemed patentable, but a friend of his in Sayville named Rohm had a valid patent on "friction tape". Goodyear and Firestone produced and sold this material without paying royalties, and postponed and delayed the law suits which Rohm threw at them until he ran out of money. Lou did not bother with patents, but soon engineers from Link Belt appeared and went over his machines with measuring tapes (with Lou's permission) and in a few years had commercial versions of his machines on the market.
During the nineteen teens there were two to six draft horses stabled in the barn behind our house to provide tractive effort to the coal delivery wagons. These were joined by two to four milk cows, two to six pigs, and 25 to 40 chickens. Lou was a frustrated farmer, and harvested hay and grain for his animals from many outlying fields. Our gardens were extensive, with asparagus patches, everbearing strawberries, many rows of peanuts, potatoes, cabbages, brussels sprouts, etc. During WW I we were nearly self sufficient by gardening and canning. Very early in my life I learned to ride my bike to Bayport, West Sayville and Sayville to deliver excess milk from our cows to selected customers.
During the early WW I years Lou became interested in lumbering, and developed a portable saw mill with which he could "log-off"mthe marketable maple, oak, and chestnut on private estates in Smithtown, Ronkonkoma, and South Haven. The increasing difficulty encountered in buying carload lots of coal, unless you had appropriate political connections, led Lou to sell the coal and wood business to Cecil Proctor, a local politician. Thereafter he devoted full time to the saw mill. When US entered WW I he moved the mill to the Patchogue yard of Bailey and Sons, and cut up locust trees into billets for policemans clubs. In November 1918 Lou received "Greetings from the President" to report for his army physical, but the end of the war cancelled this.
At the end of the war the saw mill was sold, and the proceeds used to purchase tools and materials for the Cuddle Chair Co. Cuddle Chairs unfortunately did not sell, and the investment was lost, so Lou turned to his first skill, clamming, He· built, with the help of his cousin Doodle Otto, a 30 ft. V bottom claming boat, white oak frames, long-leaf yellow pine keel and planking. With this boat he again became a bayman, and with Sylvenus Titus James as a partner, he tonged clams in Great South Bay. One year there was a heavy set of scallops in the bay, so they added a mast, spars, jib and mainsail
to the boat and dredged for scallops. Back at home, Louis Leslie Otto and others opened the scallops and prepared them for market. Joseph Weeks joined the team on the boat, and that winter Vene James died. Joe Weeks and Lou Otto claw~ed for a year or two longer, then came ashore and started a concrete building block business. The plant was at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Church St., north of Sayville. This business prospered moderately, but in 1930 the breaking of a drag-line cable caused lacerations of Lou's arm, an erysipelas infection, and Lou Otto's death.
The coal yard established by Lou and Bert Otto around 1902 was purchased by their older brother Tom in the late nineteen twenties and operated by him until his death in 49, and by his two daughters until 1959. About 1915 Louis Ruzicka became a wagon driver and delivery man for my father, and after serving inWW1 returned to the same job. He conting in this capacity for each successive owner ,until retiring About 1968.
Lou Otto rarely spent an evening at home. He maintained an office downtoE in his brother Tom's butcher store, and roamed Main St., account book in his pocket, to meet his debtors when they had money. Saturdays were pay days then, and nearly everyone went shopping along Main St. that evening, so Lou was busy. His favorite haunt was Jake Stryker's fish market on South Main St., counters in front, fish storage and preparation room in the back, but in between was a lounging room with a card table and a pot-bellied stove. Pinochle was the favorite game. Lou also enjoyed watching baseball, would attend the local town-team games, and would even take his family along in the trusty model T to the out-of-town games.
During his entire adult life ashore Lou was an active member of the Sayville Military Band, playing the helical bass horn. His brother Tom played the baritone horn in this same band, and employee Lou Ruzicka played the Sousaphone. I (LLO) believe that when I was born, as soon as my sex was established he went out and purchased an Eb Alto Horn so I could join him in the band. I did join this group at an early age, playing the Eb alto for many years, then switching to the Bb.
Note 17
Cornelius and Johanna Baker Otto came to West Sayville from Holland in 1852, with their four sons, and settled in West Sayville on Atlantic Avenue. Connelius was a fisherman. He and his wife were charter members of the Dutch Reformed Church when it was formed in 1860. Three of their sons married three sisters, Nell, Cornelia, and Maria Hage.
Many of the descendants of this couple continued to live on the south shore of Long Island. In the late 1920s and early 193Os the women of the third generation, with our Grandma Otto, used to get together two or three times a year for which I called a "Cousin party". I always hoped there would be one while I was home on vacation. There is in the Hage family line an ability to tell a story well. These parties were hilarious affairs because so many good family anecdotes would be told and retold. Much of what I know about my father's cousins came from these delightful tea parties. Among those usually present were Grandma Otto, Aunt Anna Tinner, Aunt Nellies group (Jane Otto Otto, Westerbeke, Rogers, Mantha, Skinner, and Phanemiller), Josephine Terry Fitzgerald, and Alice Isles, Annie Seerveld Brown and Minnie Dykstra, and my mother (who only married into the family), and sometimes I (BOT) was there.
Note 18
ohn and Cornelia Hage Otto.They owned an acre of ground with a house, barn, and old trees facing Greene Avenue and running thru to Greeley Ave. John Otto 'bent on the bay", but he was also a farmer and cultivated land beside his house. The northwest corner of this land was subsequently sold to his son Louis A. Otto, and became our land at 79 Greeley Ave. The Greeley Avenue edge of the property was lined with silver maples which John Otto had planted.
ohn Ottowas apparently a stern and religious father. Morning prayers were held each day while his sons chafed to be out and play. He became very deaf, a problem transmitted to his son John Jr. and his daughter Anna (both totally deaf by age 20), the latters son, Herbert Parkhill, and to his other sons Louis and Thomas, both partially deaf by young manhood. John Otto was also the source of the hand tremor which has plagued some of his descendants. He must have been a tall man, since all of his children were tall, even though their mother was short.
ornelia Hage Ottowas the daughter of Cornelius and Minna Hage (see note 8), coming to Oakdale with her parents in 1549 at the age of 5. She was a story teller, telling many tales of her childhood (see note 8). After her marriage to John Otto they settled in their home on Greene Avenue. Grandmother wanted to travel, but Grandfather did not, so they didn't. John Otto died in May, 1905, and Grandmother was free to go. By July she was on her way back to Bruinisse, in Holland, her birthplace, intending a long visit. However, Holland was cold, and Grandmother was "cold-blodded", so she soon came back home to get warm. Thereafter she traveled whenever half an opportunity presented itself. If she learned that you planned a day's trip to New York, she would say "I will be ready". Ready she was, an hour ahead of time, and fretting because you were not there yet to pick her up. She spent several summer holidays near the Choptank River in eastern Maryland, where she had been as a girl, reveling in the hot Eastern Shore summer. Grandmother was a stickler for Victorian propriety, but withdrew objections to my pajamas (dreadful innovations ) when convinced the flannel would keep my childish legs warm. She repeatedly made sun bonnets for me to protect me from the sun because I tanned so readily. This she considered woman like'
Grandma Otto was a small woman (apparently like her mother), with dark hair. She was a poor cook, having little interest in it. My father went to great lengths after his marriage to avoid eating a meal at his mother's table. She was a quilt maker, and made fine quilts for each grand child. However, she made them to fit her own small frame, while her grandchildren were all tall.
note 19
ohn Otto Jr. (186 -19 )was the eldest son and second child of John and Cornelia Hage Otto. He was afflicted with wanderlust, taking off at an early age. As a telegraph operator he moved all over the west and into some foreign countries. At one point, for a period of 48 hours, he owned the heart of what was to become downtown Seattle, it was One in one poker game and lost in another. After his marriage he settled in Brooklyn, N.Y., and after retirement, in Sayville.
note 20
ornelius Otto and Aunt Roselived in a house on lower Colton Avenue in Sayville. He never in my (LLO) memory came to our house. He was captain of an oyster steamer for the Bluepoints Company, which owned all of the bay bottom, mainland to beach, from Bluepoint on the east to Nicoll's Point on the west, and would let no one else catch clams or oysters from it. When he retired from the company they allowed Uncle Case and another retiree to clam on their land (selling the clams to Bluepoint only). One November morning Case and his partner came down to their boat to go out to work. Uncle Case went below into the cabin to light the stove, his partner went to the forward deck to clear anchor and mooring lines. There was a terrific explosion, partner was blown overboard into the water and survived. The cabin structure went straight up into the air, then descended onto Uncle Case, crushing him. Moral: Diesel engines only for me.
Note 23
ornelius and Jocomina Hage. hey were the First Dutch Family to come to the Sayville area, arriving in Oakdale on 6.6-1849. they came from the village of Briinisse, which is on the island of Duiveland in the delta of the Scheldte River below Rotterdam. (In 1953 there was a terrible storm in the North Sea causing bad flodds in the river mouths. Bruinisse was washed off the map, and many other island towns were destroyed partially or completely. All village records were lost, but some,county:' records are still available. To avoid a future repetition of this disaster, the government initiated the Delta Project to join the many islands and seal off the estuaries.
ornelius Hage was a farmer for General Ludlow on the latters estate in Oakdale. He and his family lived there until they moved to a little house on the west side of Railroad Avenue in Sayville, the next house north of the court house which was subsequently built on the NW corner of Railroad Avenue and Swayze Street. The american pronunciation of his name is H a J (long A, soft g), the dutch pronunciation is something like aw-huh. Cornelius Hage was a very quiet, patient man, married to a little spit-fire of a woman, Minkya van Kaze Aw-huh. He was known for his unfailing answer to her outbursts - the Dutch word for patience. (It sounds like hedeult. He and his wife were charter members of the Dutch Reformed Church in West Sayviille when it was organized in 1860.
Cornelius Hage had a sister Johanna Maria Hage (1816-1894) who married Petr Henry Okkerse. They lived on Chicken Street (now West Street or Dale Drive) in Oakdale.
When the Hage family arrived in Oakdale they must already have had four of their seven daughters. Grandma Otto (Cornelia) remembers going to church services in the little chapel, St. John's Church, still standing in Oakdale, where the slaves of the Ludlow family sat in the balcony. The little girls drove the cows home from pasture to the barn carrying a forked stick to pin down snakes. A huge black snake appeared one day on the kitchen rafter above where Mother Hage was heating a large kettle of water. She dealt with the emergency at once by pushing the snake off the rafter so it fell into the pot. In their first summer the little girls had trouble learning English. The family needed a kitchen knife, so little Cornelia, who had been to school in Holland, went to the Terry store in Sayville. She saw the printed name of her need, and happily asked for a knife, giving it the Dutch pronunciation. She always laughed about the laughter which greeted her efforts, but she got the k~e.
Apparently while Cornelia was in her early teens she accompanied the Ludlow family to the Eastern Shore of Maryland one summer. As an old lady, she used to tell the tale (which made mine and my brothers pop) of seeing the battle of the Merrimac and the Monitor from the Maryland shore during the Civil War, but a study of dates indicates this could not have been true. When she was telling this story she was old enough to have confused this and other events from her early life.
All seven of the Hage sisters married, three of them to three Otto brothers - William and Nell, John and Cornelia, Henry and Maria.
Note 24
ouise Hage, ne of Cornelius and Minna Hage's younger daughters, married George Howell. They owned the land on Greeley Avenue immediately north of John Otto's property. They sold it to the Bezant family, who were Bohemians. They subsequently sold the property to our neighbors, Tony and Mammy Vitoch. George and Louise Howell moved shortly after 1900 to a farm in North Carolina near Morehead City.
Note 25
oanna Hage married John Seerveld, a nurseryman and gardener. Their son Frank had a very fine baritone voice, and was known in New York City and Long Island as "The Singing Fisherman".
Note 26
ddie Hagemarried John Peter Radcliffe and lived in Yonkers, N.Y. Their son William and his wife were special friends of my parents, and there was much summer visiting while the children were young. Belle also knew John P. Radcliffe IX and Clara and Lincoln Work. Louis Leslie Otto was named after Leslie Radcliffe, the son of William Radcliffe.
Note 27
lmina (Alice)Hage who was a humpback, married John Terry, who had lost a leg in the Civil War, and used a wooden leg. He was the local constable, and a carpet weaver. Behind their home, which was next door to that of her sister, Cornelia Hage Otto, was a shop in which was installed a large carpet location. John Terry would make carpets on this loom from strips of rags sewn together end to end and rolled into balls, brought to him by customers. Operation of this loom was a fascinating thing for children to watch.
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1910 - 1992 (81 years)
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