Shortly after Johann Otholt died at Koloa, his widow, Lena (“Oma” to her sons) moved to Waialua on the island of O’ahu. I am not sure whether it was Lena who moved first or if her sons were already living in Waialua and she moved to be close to them, or if perhaps they all made the move together. However, all of her sons were working for the Waialua Sugar Plantation by 1914.
Lena lived with her son Carl and his wife Lucy for some years and moved
out to live with her “favorite son”, Henry. By the 1920 census, she was already
living with Henry, so the time spent at Carl’s household was very brief. According
to Alice Otholt Horii, eldest daughter of Carl Otholt, “Henry and his mother
lived down the same lane as Mrs. Alameida, near our house, in the same Mill
camp.”
In memories from Lena’s granddaughter, we learn the following:
Oma did not get along with Anna, Gerhardt’s wife. (reason unknown)
Oma chewed tobacco, and spat juice out the windows, which her
daughter-in-law Lucy did not like.
Oma used to sit under the avocado tree and make clothes by hand. She
was very fat, still with blonde hair, and “walked like a rocking chair”.
During the 1920s, Lena’s son Henry had a Hawaiian common-law wife. Lena
had once tried to stop a fight between Henry and this Hawaiian woman, but in
the fighting she fell down and hurt her head on the sidewalk.
Lena died on June 16, 1925 in Waialua. On her death certificate, it
lists the cause of death as “cerebral hemorrhage”. It is unknown if this was
due to the fall during Henry’s argument. Lena is buried in Puuiki Cemetery in
Waialua.
To learn more about the sons of Johann and Lena, click the tabs at the top of the page or the links that follow for each son:
Gerhardt Otholt
Johann Otholt
Carl Otholt
Heinrich Otholt
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