John L. Ott, farmer, is the second in a family of six children born to George L. and Elizabeth (Distler) Ott, and was born in St. Louis County, Mo., in 1848. Both parents were native Germans, and at the age of nineteen years the father came to the United States and settled in St. Louis, where he worked as a butcher for a short time. After his marriage he bought a farm of sixty acres in the county, on which he resided until 1858, having made valuable improvements in the meantime. He sold out at the latter date for $5,000, and came to Cole County, settling in Clark Township, where he bought a farm of 400 acres, on which very slight improvements had been made. He repaired his house, built a fine barn, opened about 100 acres of land, and made grain-raising and fruit a specialty. After residing here until 1873, he went to Jefferson City, where he spent his declining years at greater ease than farm life would permit. He died in 1886, still survived by his excellent wife. John L. Ott resided under the paternal roof until he attained his majority, then rented land of his father for about seven years. He then purchased a farm of 125 acres in Jefferson Township, but sold out at the end of two years, and after working in the city one year he purchased his present farm of 131 acres on the Brownville road, three miles west of Jefferson City. Here he has a neat cottage surrounded by all conveniences, good out-buildings, and an orchard of 200 apple trees. His farm is well adapted to raising grain, and yields about twenty-eight bushels of wheat to the acre. While residing with his father he was married to Miss Maggie Schmidt, a native of Cole County, by whom be has four children: Herman, Annie, Albert, who died at the age of eight years, and Hilda. The family attend the Lutheran Church.

Transcribed from:
History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries, and Osage Counties, Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing Company (1889).