My Genealogy Hound

John C. Hottel was born in Harrison County, Ind., in 1840, the son of Gideon Hottel, a native of Shenandoah County, Va., of German descent; the mother’s maiden name was Kendle, and her native State, Tennessee. The father went to Indiana in an early day, and in 1845 moved to Lee County, Iowa; after six years there he came to Clark County, and spent twelve years, and in 1863 moved to California; he spent about twenty years in that State, and then came to this county. The mother died in 1885, at the age of sixty-nine years, but the father still lives at the hale old age of seventy-six years, and makes his home with his children. Our subject is the second son of four children, all of whom have lived to be married. He was but five years old when the family went to Iowa; he received a good education in Clark County, chiefly. At the age of fourteen he was kicked by a horse, which has affected him through life. He began as an apprentice in a plow factory at Athens, at the age of eighteen, and continued until 1861. The following year he entered the Confederate service, and after having a horse shot from under him in a skirmish he was detailed as a mechanic. After the war he moved to Bunker Hill, in this county, and followed blacksmithing for seven years with success. It was here he married N. E., a daughter of Washington and Harriet (Graham) Morgan, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter of Tennessee. After the birth of their child, Hattie B., our subject moved to California; two years later he went to live with an uncle in Iowa, and after the latter’s death, came to his present home, where he has been engaged in farming. Since 1886 he has been a judge, elected as a Democrat. He is a Mason, and a member of the A. H. T. A., while he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. His second and third children are Lena and Ada L. He has a splendid estate embracing over 360 acres.