Anna Lydia BOTTENUS (1875-1953) was, according to her daughter Doris KAIPER, one of the first women in the United States to earn a degree in fine arts; she played the harp and painted china. Although asthmatic, she lived to be seventy-seven and, said a granddaughter, had lovely, long dark hair until the day she died.
She was born the tenth of eleven children in a family of religious Cincinnati German Protestants. Her father (Carl) Daniel BOTTENUS wrote in his family Bible: "A daughter, born 19th March, 1875, (144 Dayton Street) baptized 3rd of Oct. 1875, by Rev. A. W. Spahr, pastor of York Street M.E. Church, Cincinnati, Ohio (at the church) received the name ANNA LYDIA. May God bless her also. AMEN."
Daniel BOTTENUS, a tailor, was born in "Muehlheim near Koeln" on 12 Sep 1824. The men in his family, according to Ellen's grandmother, were all selected for the Prussian Imperial Guard because they were so tall. Daniel emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, before 1853, when he married Sophia Elisabeth MEUTTMANN.
Sophia was born 31 May 1834 in "Altenbuch, Hannover province"; her father (probably named Jacob) is said to have owned a meat-packing plant in Hamburg at some point, but whether he lived long enough to emigrate to the US is still unknown. Sophia's mother, Anna VORRATH (born about 1804), definitely settled in Cincinnati with her children; Anna's will was probated shortly after her death in May 1877.
Daniel BOTTENUS's mother, (Johanne) Helena DANIELS, was the source of the family name Ellen. Helena was born 15 Mar 1793, in Muehlheim on the Rhein; she lived all too short a time, as Daniel recorded in his Bible:
"The dear mother died August 30, 1828, at nine o'clock in the evening in childbed (the child died soon afterwards) and we four children were orphans and have never had the fortune to embrace a mother. God bless our dear mother and keep us, her children, in mercy. AMEN."Dozens of known descendants of Daniel and Sophia are living today.
