Fairwater, Wisconsin: Louis Ott Family, 1880

Pictured above is the Louis Ott family taken around 1880. John and Mary Laper are shown standing at the right end of the middle row. At the opposite end of the same row is John Frei. The photograph was taken during a family gathering in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Mr. Ott was one of the organizers of the Fairwater Lutheran church. According to the church's centennial booklet:

Louis Ott bought the present grounds for $50.00 and presented it to the congregation. Mr. Ott and William Werth, with others, went to Eureka in 1872, which was then a fairly prominent lumbering town on the Fox River. Logs were purchased above Eureka, floated down to the village, sawed into timbers and boards, and hauled by members over the winding trails, with team and wagon, to the site of our church. The stone for the foundation was hauled by oxen and wagon from a quarry near Oshkosh.

Mr. Ott was instrumental in gathering funds for the newly formed congregation. In the days when butter was ten cents a pound and other things were at such low prices, he managed to collect over $2,000 for the church.