Source: "History of Manitowoc County Wisconsin", by Dr. L. Falge, 1911-1912, v.2, p.394-395.

Otto Stoelting is vice president and general manager of the Stoelting Brothers Company, manufacturers of all kinds of cheese factory equipment, his official connection therewith ranking him among the foremost men in that line of business in Wisconsin. He is numbered among the native sons of the Badger state, his birth having occurred in Sheboygan county on the 13th of October, 1866, and represents a family well known and highly honored in that county. His father, Fred Stoelting, was born in the principality of Lippe-Detmold, Germany, and in early life came to the United States as a journeyman, locating in the town of Herman, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. In his native land he had followed carpentering as an occupation but after his arrival in this state devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits in which he was engaged throughout the rest of his life. During his residence in Sheboygan county he became deeply interested in politics, serving in many important offices, and became recognized as one of the most prominent and influential citizens of his home locality.

He was reared in the faith of the Reformed church and the teachings of that institution ever formed the guiding influences of his life. He married Sophia Marten, who yet resides on the old homestead at the age of seventy- six years, although her husband passed away in 1903, when he had reached his seventy-sixth year. Their family consisted of twelve children of whom one is now deceased. The others are: Henry, a carpenter of Franklin, Wisconsin; Pauline, the wife of F. Blattgerste, a farmer of Shaller, Iowa; William, a carpenter of that place; August, also carrying on agricultural pursuits at Schaller; Otto, of this review; Ida, who married August Blattgerste, who is connected with the Stoelting Brothers Company; Bertha, the wife of Otto Johanning, a farmer of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin; Gustav and Adolph, partners with their brother Otto in the Stoelting Brothers Company; Mathilda, at home; and Herman, operating the old homestead farm. During the period of his boyhood and youth, which was passed amid the busy scenes and environment of rural life, Otto Stoelting acquired his education and in addition to his mental training which was received in the district schools he also acquired much practical experience in the work of the home farm, for he early became familiar with the tasks that fall to the lot of the country lad. After leaving school he continued to remain at home, assisting his father in the cultivation of the fields until about twenty- one years of age, when he went to Iowa and was there engaged at the carpenter's trade for one year. He then went to Denver, Colorado, and after a year and a half there spent removed to Schaller, Iowa, where in partnership with a brother he worked for about ten years. At the expiration of that period he returned to Sheboygan and there followed his trade for a year, after which, in 1897, he came to Kiel and for four years acted as foreman and salesman in the lumber business of J.B. Laun. His present business connection is that of vice president and general manager of the Stoelting Brothers Company which he organized in connection with his brothers, Gustav and Adolph, and which is now one of the foremost concerns of this character in the state. They manufacture cheese factory equipment, furnishing such factories with all of their machinery, but specializing particularly in the manufacture of cheese pressers and agitators. From the beginning the business has enjoyed a healthy and rapid growth for while the methods of the firm are progressive they are tempered by sound judgment on the part of the brothers who are thorough-going, practical and systematic business men. They are represented by salesmen in all of the various cheese manufacturing districts throughout the country and ship their product not only to every part of America but to foreign countries as well, a fact which indicates the extent and importance of their trade. The plant occupies a large building on the Sheboygan river and is numbered prominently among those institutions which have given the town of Kiel high rank among the manufacturing centers of this section of the state. Aside from his connection with this firm Otto Stoelting is also interested in the Metallic Screen Company of Collins, Wisconsin, and is one of the most active business men of this locality.

In 1895 Mr. Stoelting was united in marriage to Miss Mathilda Boedeker, who was born in Herman, Wisconsin, on the 5th of November, 1870, a daughter of Simon and Henrietta (Schaper) Boedeker. She died on the 8th of April,1903, in the faith of the Reformed church to which Mr. Stoelting also belongs, in politics he is a democrat and served as village trustee for several terms. His laudable ambition led him from a comparatively humble position in the business world into larger undertakings and his prosperity has followed as a natural sequence of persistent and well directed labor. He has become widely known through the extent of his business interests and enjoys the utmost confidence and good-will of all with whom he has been connected.

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