Otto...Otto Wagner family
Otto Wagner Sr., eldest son of Henry Wagner and Lucy Classen was born Jan. 4, 1895 in a sod house on the family homestead about five miles north and west of Bristow, Nebraska. In 1903 the family moved to Bristow where they lived in a house behind the lumber yard. After a short time grandfather decided he didn't like town life so he bought another farm about one half mile west of Bristow. Otto attended school in Bristow and business school in 1917 at Grand Island, Nebraska. The family moved back to the homestead in 1912. Otto married Alma Martens, foster daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Mourer on June 27, 1922 at Butte, Nebraska. Their first home was in a new house on the farm west of Bristow. Here their first son Glenn was born. Father bought some Indian land 12 miles south of Mission, South Dakota. He moved there in 1924. Here their other four children were born. Dods Lucille was born Nov. 7, 1924. Viola Marie was born October 3, 1926. Otto Jacob was born Jan. 1, 1929 and died April 16, 1986. Alma Mae was born February 4, 1931. Times were hard with drought and grasshoppers and the family was forced to move back to Boyd County in the fall of 1934. We moved in with May Mourer and Keith. We spent the winter with them. In the spring we moved to the Wagner family homestead and grandfather moved to the farm by Bristow. In the summer of 1936 May Mourer passed away so we moved back to the Mourer farm. We went to country school at district 43 and high school in Spencer. In 1945 father bought a smaller farm a mile west of Bristow along the highway. Here he spent the rest of his life. On June 27, 1972 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with all their children home for the occasion. Otto took sick that fall and passed away October 30, 1972 of cancer.
Alma Margret Martens, daughter of Henry Martens and Emma Brush was born July 5, 1902 at East Portchester, New York. The mother and father and four children lived at Riverside Creek, East Portchester. There were financial problems. The husband deserted, and the mother and children were dispossessed from their home. They headed for New York City getting lifts on the road. Finally, they reached the 39th police precinct station house on White Plains Avenue in New York City where the mother applied for shelter. The mother was taken into custody as a vagrant, but was released the next morning. The children were sent to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children for shelter. The mother kept one child, Charles, age two months, and the other three children were sent to Hope Farm from June 20, 1907 until November 5, 1908, when they came into the care of the Children's Aid Society. They were put on an orphan train and came to Madison, Nebraska. Here they were put in foster homes. Henry and Alma went to live with the John R. Mourer family and Freda was placed with Mr. and Mrs. Davies on November 20, 1908. She was legally adopted on Jan. 14, 1911 in the court of Madison County, Nebraska. In 1913 the Mourer family moved to a farm two miles north and one half mile east of Spencer, Nebraska. Here, Alma finished grade school and Spencer high school. She graduated from Spencer high school in 1922 and married Otto Wagner June 27, 1922. The Mourers also raised a nephew, Keith Mourer John and May Mourer are buried in the Union Cemetery at Spencer. After Otto's death in 1972, Alma continued to live with her son Glenn, who never married. She passed away December 18, 1989 at the Niobrara Valley hospital at Lynch, Nebraska. Otto and Alma are buried in the Bristow Cemetery close to their farm. Doris Fernau Wagner

Otto