THE KOTTIG FAMILY

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PICTURED ABOVE: George Kottig I standing in front the house he built in 1891 up on "Nanny Goat Hill" at 2938 Golden Ave., circa early 1900's

George Kottig was born as Gerhard Kottick in 1861, just outside of the village of Epe, in Northwest Germany near the border with The Netherlands. It was an agricultural area but his family owned just a small plot of land. So to survive they were tenant farmers. 

Gerhard was the fifth of nine children. With no land and no other way to earn a living, he had very little chance of ever establishing himself there financially. 

In the 1880's, European farmers were beginning to hear about inexpensive farmland in America in places like the fertile Ohio River Valley. The U. S. Government itself was actively recruiting farmers in Europe to come to America. The growing American population had to be fed. 

Around the same time, the German government had just enacted conscription laws requiring mandatory enlistment of every able bodied man into the military service. 

So in 1882, at the age of 21, Gerhard Kottick along with Maria Francisca Möllmann, one year his senior, made the life changing decision to leave everything they had ever known and everyone they had loved behind and make the long, arduous journey to America to find a better life. 

The two traveled on the Steamship Castor. They departed from the Port of Amsterdam on August 9, 1882. A voyage like this could be treacherous and take weeks to cross the open seas depending on weather. However, the Steamship Castor made good time, arriving at The Port of New York in just 17 days. It was August 26, 1882. 

At Ellis Island, U.S. Immigrant Inspectors as they were known then, mistakenly registered Gerhard Kottick from Epe, Germany as Gerard Kottig from The Netherlands. These "lost in translation" misspellings and misunderstandings were not uncommon at Ellis Island. 

When Gerhard and Maria Francisca finally arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, they connected with another young couple there by the name of Frank and Elizabeth Sieber. Both Frank and Elizabeth were American born, but their parents had known Maria Francisca Möllmann's parents from back in Epe, Germany

Gerhard soon found employment with the railroad. To save money, the two couples rented a single family house together in the East End of Cincinnati.

According to Hamilton County, Ohio records, on May 15, 1883, one George Kottig and one (Mary) Frances Mollmann were married. This is the third name that we have found for young Gerhard. 

The wedding ceremony took place at St. Rose of Lima, the German Catholic Church located in the East End of Cincinnati. This church would play a major role in the lives of family members for generations to come.

The two couples lived in close quarters raising their young and growing families together and became very close friends. They worked hard, sacrificed and saved all what they could of their earnings. In 1891, the Kottigs and Siebers finally had saved enough money to purchase two small plots of land on Golden Avenue up on "Nanny Goat Hill", away from the spring floods.  The plots cost of $420.00 each. That was a lot of money for a man making only $60 a month working on the railroad. 

On those two plots of land, the families built identical 20 ft x 40 ft, two-story, shotgun style houses at a cost of about $1,500 each. The two houses stood right next door to one another at 2938 and 2940 Golden Ave. 

George and his wife Maria Francisca were very prolific, having ten children in twenty years. Sadly, their infant son John died of typhoid at 6 years old. Another son, Will, would die of consumption at the age of 25. 

Tragically in 1904, Maria Francisca, the matriarch of the family died while giving birth to their tenth child. Now, without a mother, the eldest daughter, Teresa Anna Kottig, assumed the monumental task of raising the remaining seven Kottig children. She was just 19 years old.

The next generation of Kottigs remained close with the Siebers. They grew up next door to one another and attended St. Rose Church and School together. Their decendants remain in contact to this day.

As adults, two of the Kottig children did not marry, three married but had no children and only two married and had offspring. Cecilia and Clara. However, since all the children of the next generation were born to daughters, their children did not carry the Kottig name.

George Kottig ended his long journey on December 16, 1919 at the age of 58. As was tradition at that time, George's viewing was at the family home on Golden Avenue. The funeral mass was said at St. Rose Church. George Kottig was laid to rest at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Cincinnati. He is buried next to his wife, Mary Frances. In his life George Kottig achieved exactly what he set out to do in 1882. He came to America and made a better life for himself, for his children and for the generations to come. He truly lived the American dream. 

In August of 1984, 102 years after the first Kottig came to America, Willamena Francisca Cecilia Kottig Corcoran, the seventh born child and last surviving Kottig family member, passed at the age of 87. All are gone now along with the Kottig name. 

- John Kanis III