Miles W. Ott

MILES W. OTT. - Since 1889 Miles W. Ott has been most successfully engaged in the live-stock commission business at Kansas City, Kansas, and at the present time, in 1911, he is vice-president of the Woods-Egan Commission Company, one of the most prominent concerns of its kind in this state.

Mr. Ott was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of March, 1850, and he is a son of William A. and Eliza D. (Davis) Ott, both of whom were likewise born in Philadelphia and both of whom are now deceased, the former having been summoned to the life eternal in 1891, at the age of sixty-four years, and the latter having passed away in 1893, at the age of sixty-six years. To Mr. and Mrs. William A. Ott were born four children, three of whom are living and of whom the subject of this review was the third in order of birth. The father was reared and educated in the old Keystone state of the Union and he was identified with the butcher and meat business during the major portion of his active career. He removed west, with his family, to Kankakee, Illinois, in 1857, continuing to reside in that city for fully a quarter of a century and removing thence to Cherryvale, Kansas, in 1882 and he passed the residue of his life at Cherryvale. Mrs. Eliza D. Ott died at the home of her daughter at Gadsden, Alabama. In politics he accorded a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies of the Republican party and while he did not participate actively in public affairs he was ever on the qui vive to do all in his power to advance the best interests of the community in which he resided.

Miles W. Ott was a child of but seven years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Kankakee, Illinois, where he was afforded the advantages of the public schools and where he early became associated with his father in his meat and butchering enterprise. In 1878, however, he decided to make a venture for himself and in that year he went to Winfield, Kansas, where he engaged in the meat business for the ensuing three years, at the expiration of which he removed to Fort Scott, Kansas. Thereafter, up to 1889, he was identified with the livestock and market business - wholesale and retail trade - at Fort Scott, but in that year he came to Kansas City, Kansas, and engaged in the livestock commission business, with which enterprise he has continued to be identified during the long intervening years to the present time. He is a business man of square and straightforward methods and is recognized and honored as such amongst all his associates. In 1911 he became an interested principal in the Woods-Egan Commission Company and of the same is vice-president. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1911 and its other officers are: S. P. Woods, president; and L. M. Egan, secretary and treasurer. This concern conducts an immense business in the live-stock commission line and is widely renowned as one of the most important factors in the Kansas City commercial world. The offices of the Company are maintained at No. 521, 523, 525 Live Stock Exchange Building.

On the 12th of September, 1876, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Ott to Miss Bell K. Ullom, who was born in Laporte county, Indiana, and who came to Kansas City in the year 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Ott have one son, Geddes A., who is engaged in farming in Johnson county, Kansas, in the vicinity of Olathe. Geddes A. Ott married Miss Katherine Gallagher, who is a native of Kansas City, Missouri; they have one daughter, Helen, whose birth occurred on the 26th of December, 1903.

In a fraternal way Mr. Ott is affiliated with Kaw Lodge, No. 272, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; and with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically he is a stanch advocate of the cause of the Republican party. Mrs. Ott is a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Ott are numbered among the most prominent and loyal citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, and no one commands a higher degree of popular confidence and esteem than do they.