Johann (John) Otholt & Family

Johann Otholt was born on May 14, 1888 at Koloa, Kauai to Johann Otholt & Helena Margaret Müller, German immigrants that came to Koloa Plantation just one year earlier. He was the 6^th child to the couple, but the 2^nd living child. Johann attended the government school until the 8^th grade and began his work for the sugar plantation.

In 1903, at the age of 15, Johann was working for the Koloa Plantation as a watchman for the reservoir.

In the 1910 Census, at the age of 22, Johann is working as a machinist at the Koloa Sugar Mill. He is also going by the name “John”. From 1911 to 1913, John worked as an assistant engineer at the plantation.

By 1914, he was living in Waialua on the island of O’ahu.

Sometime before 1920, John married Louisa Reyher, the daughter of Ernest Reyher Sr., a German immigrant and Wilhelmina Tavares, a Portuguese immigrant. Louisa was born on May 19, 1896 in Koloa, Kauai.

In the 1920 census, John Otholt was 32 years old and living near his brothers in Waialua. His wife and his wife’s younger brother, August Reyher, is living with them. John is working as a machinist at the Waialua Sugar Mill.

On December 25, 1923, John Otholt was onboard the ship S.S. Maui, sailing from Honolulu to San Francisco. He was 35 years old and no other member of his family was onboard according to the passenger list. I am unsure what his reason was for going to San Francisco.

John’s wife Louisa gave birth to their first and only child, Lionel John Otholt, in 1928 in Waialua.

John Otholt is missing from the 1930 census but reappears in 1940. He is now 52 years old and living in Mill Camp #7 with his wife Louisa (age 44) and son Lionel (age 10). John still works as a machinist at the sugar mill making $3000/yr.

In 1949, John is listed as an engineer at the Waialua Plantation.

 John Otholt and possibly his wife, Louisa, in the background.

Louisa died on September 22, 1962 in Waialua. Two years later on Monday morning, June 22, 1964, John and Louisa’s son Lionel was in his bedroom, waiting for his driver to pick him up and go to work. Before the car came, John heard a gunshot from the bedroom. Lionel had shot himself in the head. No reason was given. Lionel was 36 years old. The only other thing we know about Lionel is from his cousin who says, “he was a cowboy of some sort”.

John survived his wife by 10 years and died on February 20, 1973 in Waialua. 

There are no known descendants of this line. 

Memories

From the memory of John’s niece: Louisa was part German and might’ve had a little Portuguese. I don’t remember seeing her smile at all. She, like Auntie Anna, stayed indoors most days and the only time I had a glimpse of her was when she walked to the store to shop. They did not own a car. Uncle John worked as a sugar boiler boss at the mill. He spent a lot of his non-working hours on his front porch reading the newspaper, smoking a pipe. He sometimes looked up to see who was walking by. This idleness upset my mother because his back yard was a complete jungle of weeds and she thought he should be cleaning it. Uncle John’s front yard was neatly mowed but the back yard remained in its natural state for years.

Gerhardt Otholt & Family

Gerhardt Otholt was born on April 2, 1884 at Koloa, Kauai to Johann Otholt and Helena Margaret Müller, German immigrants that came to Koloa Plantation just one year earlier. He was the 5^th child to the couple, but the only one living, as his older siblings had died on the voyage from Germany to Hawaii. Gerhardt attended the government school on the plantation until the 8^th grade when he began working for the plantation.

Gerhardt Otholt is found in the 1900 Census of the Hawaiian Islands. At this time, he is just 16 years old and listed as a plantation laborer. He can read, write and speak both English and Hawaiian, in addition to German, the language his parents spoke.

At the age of 19, Gerhardt worked as a locomotive engineer on the plantation locomotive Paulo.

On Friday, January 1, 1909, at 10:00 a.m. at the Lihue Lutheran Church, Gerhardt Otholt married Anna Helene “Annie” Bremer, the daughter of Johann Leonhard Bremer and Helen Gesine Charlotte Meyer, also German immigrants.  Witnesses to the marriage were Henry Otholt, William Bremer, Helen Bremer, and Helene Otholt. On the church marriage record, Gerhardt's name is "Gerhard Karl Friedrich Otholt". On his marriage license, his name appears as "George Otholt".

Annie was born on November 1, 1889 at Lihue, Kauai. Her father probably worked for the Lihue Sugar Plantation. Lihue is a town located about 11 miles northeast from Koloa, on the eastern shore of the island.

Their first child Charles Otholt, known to his family as Charlie, was born on November 8, 1909 in Koloa, Kauai.

In 1914, Gerhardt moved his family to the island of O’ahu when he began employment with the Waialua Sugar Plantation. On March 29, 1917, Gerhardt and Annie had a daughter they named Dora Helen Otholt. 

 

Gerhardt Otholt and Family, taken about 1925.

On October 26, 1918, Gerhardt registered for the WWI draft. On the registration is a description of Gerhardt. It says that he is short, medium build, with brown hair and eyes. It also says "first joint of forefinger of left hand missing."

Gerhardt continued to work for the Waialua Plantation as a machinist at the sugar mill and as an engineer on the plantation locomotive.

In Waialua, Gerhardt and family lived in a plantation house about where 67-250 Goodale Ave. is now located. The old house has long been torn down. Their neighbors for some time were Alfred Souza and J T Correa. Across the street were his brothers Carl and John. Henry lived around the corner on what is now Naukana St.  

 

 (L) Annie, Dora, and family friend; (R) Annie Bremer Otholt

Tragedy struck their family when their daughter, Dora, died in 1927 at about the age of 10 from blood poisoning in one of her legs. She is buried at Puuiki Cemetery in Waialua.

 

In 1940, Gerhardt was 56 years old. According to the 1940 Census, he was a mechanic at the sugar plantation making $1122/yr and his son, Charles (age 30), is a machinist at the sugar mill, making $811/yr. His wife is still living. She is now 49 years old. 

Some time in the mid-to-late 1940s, their son Charlie may have married a Samoan woman by the name of Feiloai Fonoimoana.She was from the Laie/Kahuku region of the island. This relation has yet to be confirmed.

In 1949, Gerhardt is listed as a foreman at the Waialua Plantation.

On June 4, 1953, his wife Annie died in Waialua at the age of 63. She is buried at Puuiki Cemetery.

Gerhardt survived his wife by almost 11 years, until he died in May 1965 in Waialua. He may also be buried at Puuiki Cemetery, but this is not confirmed.

 

Gerhardt Otholt in his later years, after the death of his wife.

Memories

From the memory of Gerhardt’s niece: Uncle Gerhardt lived a very quiet life; he looked plump to me, what little I saw of him. I never saw people visit their house. I hardly saw Auntie Anna at all as she rarely showed herself outside the house.

Another niece says: On several occasions when Uncle Gerhardt and Auntie Anna quarreled, he would put all of his animals into his car and go for a drive to cool off. I remember seeing the rabbit ears flopping through the rear window of the car as he drove off.

Daniel Carl OTHOLT (1945-2000)

Daniel C. "Danny" Otholt, 54, a Honolulu musician known as a versatile jazz guitarist and singer, died May 17 in Kaiser Hospital.

"He loved to play music," recalled his brother John. "He enjoyed making people happy with music. That was his goal. That's what he enjoyed about playing music."

Danny was the oldest of seven children. "He kind of was the leader of the family, and everybody honored him," his brother said.

John Otholt recalled Danny was playing in bars at age 16, after having learned guitar in his early teens. After leaving home at 18 and going on his own, he was drafted and served as an Army medic in Vietnam, something he rarely discussed, his brother said.

Born in Honolulu and a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, he performed at Trappers in the Hyatt Regency Waikiki with pianist Betty Loo Taylor in the early 1990s. His credits also include engagements at John Dominis and Trattoria restaurants, Hank's Place in Kaimuki and the Imperial Hawaii Hotel.

His earlier bookings, as a member of the group The Three of Us, included the Sheraton-Waikiki, Top of the Ilikai, JB's White Elephant supper club in the Colony Surf Pavilion Hotel, Russell's Rowboat, Cinerama Reef Hotel, Outrigger Hotel, Hilton Hawaiian Village and Kuilima Hotel on the North Shore. Additionally, he played in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other places.

He also is survived by companion Gayle Bonham; sons Timothy Otholt and Anthony Lee; mother Elnora O'Neill; sisters Kahana Smith, Lorna-Lei Love, Nina Weaver, Nona Haberman and Helen Kalili; and one grandson.

Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday at Diamond Head Mortuary. Call after 9 a.m. Inurnment 10:30 a.m. June 1 in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl. The family requests aloha attire.

Elnora Kahanaleinani (KALILI) (OTHOLT) O'NEIL (1925-2004)

ELNORA KAHANALEINANI O'NEIL, also known as NONA WILLIAMS OTHOLT, 79, of Sun City, Calif., died July 18, 2004. Born in Hawai'i. California State Unemployment Office civil service secretary. Survived by children, Kahana, Lorna-Lei, John, Nona, Nina and Helen "Happy"; 22 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren. Visitation 1:30 p.m. Saturday at 61-220 Kamehameha Highway, Hale'iwa; memorial service 2 p.m. Arrangements by Miller-Jones Mortuary, Sun City.

Emelia Marie OTHOLT (1920-2007)

OTHOLT, Emelia M. - Passed away on May 25, 2007 at Saint Joseph's Care Center, Spokane, WA. She was born January 20, 1920 in Hono'uli'uli, Hawaii, a tiny sugar plantation camp. She was preceded in death by her husband Henry in 1995. She spent most of her life in Hawaii until moving to Spokane in 2000, seeing snow up close for the first time. She loved to share her Aloha Spirit with all she met. She is survived by her son and daughter in law, Carl and Paula of Spokane, their children Monica and Hayley; daughter Joyce Perry and her husband Bill of Kula, Hawaii, and children Jacqueline, Deborah, William and Jennifer; daughter Barbara Pangelinan and her husband Tom of Las Vegas, her children Rick, Mark and Lance; daughter Carol Massey and her husband Alphonso of Colorado Springs, and children Bella, Lawrence, and Christine; numerous great-grand children, nieces and nephews. Services will be Saturday, June 9 at 12 noon at New Heights Church, 708 West Nora, Spokane, WA 99205. Casual or Aloha Attire.

Alice (OTHOLT) HORII (1918-2007)

ALICE OTHOLT HORII, 89, of Washington, formerly of Mililani, died Dec. 12, 2007. Born in Waialua. Retired Waialua High School cafeteria cook; and Kuakini Adult Day Care volunteer. Survived by sons, Ralph and Paul; grandchildren, Tara-Lyn and Brent Horii; sister, Juliet Crosson; brother, Richard Otholt. Visitation 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Mililani Mortuary Makai Chapel; service 5 p.m. Casual attire.

Tawny Ann Makamae PASSOS (2005-2005)

Tawny Ann Makamae Passos, infant daughter of Lon and Brenna Passos of Haleiwa, died in Kapiolani Medical Center. She was born in Honolulu. She is also survived by brother Tayvis; grandparents Rosalyn and Garrett Passos, and Beverly and Todd Nicely; and great-grandparents Evelyn Fujinaga, and Samuel and Mercedes Aricayos. Services: 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Liliuokalani Protestant Church in Haleiwa. Call after 11 a.m. Casual attire.