Contributed by Diane Ciba
Young Otto was born June 24, 1890, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Wilhelmina (Brinkmann) and Otto Dreher. His parents came separately to the United States from Germany 15 years earlier and were married a year before his birth in Pennsylvania. At the time of the 1900 Census, his parents lived in Camden, New Jersey, where his father worked in a diamond drill factory.
In 1910, the family still lived in Camden and Otto was listed as a Baker in the Cake industry. In addition to his parents, his four younger siblings were still at home.
Otto first appears in the Waterbury City Directory in 1916 as an employee at Scoville Manufacturing Company, boarding at 523 North Main Street.
When he registered for World War I on June 5th, 1917, he was employed as a Baker at Kelly Co. in Waterbury. This record indicates that he was supporting his mother, his wife, and child at that time. It also states that he was a slender man of medium build, with blue eyes and white hair, even though he was only 27 at the time. He was considered disabled because he had one finger missing on his left hand.
The WWI service record for Otto lists his address as 331 North Main Street in Waterbury when he joined the Regular Army in August 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont. Information about other veterans of World War I from Watertown can be found here.
On November 10, 1917, while on a 48-hour furlough from the U.S. Army, Otto married Irene Roberts in Watertown, CT.
- 8/18/1917 – Enlisted Fort Ethan Allen, VT
- Born Philadelphia, PA 27 3/12 years before
- 8/18/17 – 9/24/1917 Private in Bakery Co. 77
- 9/24/1917 – 3/16/1918 Promoted to Sergeant of Bakery Co. 337
- 3/16/1918 – 5/1/1918 Sergeant in Bakery Co. 327
- 5/1/1918 – 10/1/1918 Sergeant in Bakery Co. 337
- 1/7/1918 – 10/1/1918 Member of the American Expeditionary Forces in France
There is a record of Otto Dreher of Camden, NJ who died in France during World War I, but several sources suggest that Otto from Watertown lived here after 1920.
No further information about Otto or Irene Roberts, his wife, has been discovered.
Otto married Mary Ella Clark in Moorestown, NJ on 06/21/11, and they had a daughter, Emily who was born around 1912. No wife at all is mentioned in the 11/01/18 Courier-Post (Camden, NJ) article announcing Otto’s death. According to the license for Mary’s 2nd marriage in December 1918 to Charles M. Baker in Philadelphia, it is said her previous marriage was dissolved by death on 10/01/18, presumably referring to Otto. So I am not sure where Irene Roberts fits in to the picture, maybe there was a mix-up somewhere in the reporting by the military, or possibly Otto and Mary divorced prior to his departing for the service.
I have a feeling we might have a mixup for names. Otto T. Dreher is listed as living in Waterbury, CT in 1916, and there is a marriage record date Nov. 10, 1917 to Irene Roberts in Watertown, CT. His draft registration card, dated June 5, 1918, also has him living in Waterbury with wife and child. On his draft card, his birth is listed as June 24, 1890 in Philadelphia, PA.
The Camden newspaper obituary is the only one I found, but it is certainly possible that we are talking about two different men with the same name. I have removed the death information, we will continue to search for Otto.
Thank you so much for taking the time to help us correct our records.
This is such an interesting case, I can’t seem to let it go 🙂
The Camden newspaper article of Nov. 1, 1918, suggests that Otto was living in Waterbury (Watertown), CT when he enlisted.
An article from the Republican Farmer newspaper dated October 25, 1918 suggests that Otto Dreher of Watertown died of disease while in the service.
We will keep searching.