Otto Boettger (1842-1907)

Otto Böttger (1 September 1842-1 August 1907) was a significant optical and scientific instrumentmaker in Adelaide. While he ran his business for only 20 years, it gained such a high reputation that it became the major supplier of scientific and engineering instruments to the South Australian colonial government and the Boettger name continued as the business name into the 1970s.

Otto Böttger
Born	1842 Elberfeld, Rhine Province, Prussia (Elberfeld, Düsseldorf, Rheinprovinz, Preussen)
Died	1 August 1907 Cologne, Rhine Province, Prussia, Germany
Nationality	Prussian British
Other names	Otto Boettger
Occupation	Optical and scientific instrumentmaker
Spouse(s)	1. Johanne Maria Luisa Anna Vielhaack (married bef. 1877)

Biography

Created by Benjamin Hollister and made available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0.

Böttger was born on the first of Septemeber, 1842, in Elbefeld, near the city of Dusseldorf, in the Rhine Province of Prussia, the son of Wilhelm and Julia (née Schmidt) Böttger.

Timeline

Date	Event	Source	Notes

Residences in the City

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Work in the City

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Published Obituary

From the Advertiser, Wednesday 4 September 1907:

Personal The death occurred at Cologne recently of Mr. Otto Boettger, the well-known Adelaide , optician and instrument-maker. The deceased, who was 65 years of age, was born in Elberfeldt, Germany, and came out to Australia in 1877. He had previously conducted a large business in St. Petersburg, but the venture not proving successful he determined to emigrate to Adelaide. His first engagement was with Mr. Dobbie cleaning old keys and repairing machinery. Starting in business for himself, his great knowledge of surveying and engineering instruments led the Government to place all their work in this department in his hands, and the results proved eminently satisfactory. About 10 years ago the business in Flinders-street was transferred to Mr. G. C. Kohler, who was an apprentice of Mr. Boettger's at one time, and had been with him nearly 30 years. Mr. and Mrs. Boettger then returned to Germany to spend the remainder of their lives in retirement. The deceased left no family.