A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs
Biographical Volume II, Illustrated, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, Cal, 1915 

By James Miller Guinn

OTTO BRODTBECK. Measured by the ordinary standards, the life of Mr. Brodtbeck was not long, but measured by the results of his remarkable career its duration was sufficient for the accomplishments of great purposes. In the fifty years that were given him on earth, he had lived so wisely and efficiently that the ideals of youth were achieved, the hopes of boyhood were brought into fruition and the aspirations of mature manhood for a career of service to his chosen community had their realization in helpful citizenship. The half century that formed his life-span divided itself into three periods of unequal duration. The first period was covered by eight years in Switzerland, where he was born April 6, 1845, and where his father, Maj. Samuel Brodtbeck, member of an ancient Swiss family, had received thorough military training in the army of the republic.

The second period was covered by residence in Iowa and Illinois from 1853 until 1883 and by service of a few years during that time in the Union army during the Civil war. The family was living in Dubuque at the opening of the war, and father and son, the latter then a youth of sixteen, offered their services in behalf of their adopted country, espousing the cause of the Union with an ardor that subsequent hardships and privations in camp and on the battlefield failed to diminish. Throughout the war the younger man remained in the ranks, but the father, with a knowledge of military tactics that from the first made him a power in the service, rose to be major, continuing in that rank until the expiration of the war.

The third period in the life of Mr. Brodtbeck was his residence in California, where he lived one year in San Diego and spent the remainder of his life from 1884 until his death, April 24, 1895, in Los Angeles. This period was in many respects the most vital and forceful part of his career. Certainly it was the most interesting to him and the most productive of permanent results. Having had charge of several large estates in the east and having proved masterly in organization, thorough in detail and efficient in the oversight of great financial interests, he was prepared to enter into the material upbuilding of Los Angeles with intelligence and keen discrimination. In the handling of real estate he exhibited rare judgment. Seldom was his opinion concerning property reversed by subsequent developments and in his judgment as to values he displayed a sagacity that seemed intuitive. The realty interests of the city suffered a serious loss in his passing, for he had continued in the very forefront of property development until the end. A deep devotion to the welfare of Los Angeles was manifest in all his acts and he was scarcely less devoted to other parts of Southern California, whose great orange groves and peaceful farms, pleasant villages where sunshine always prevails, and unchanging atmosphere of prosperity appealed to his business instinct no less than to his artistic tastes. To a man of his temperament politics gave no appeal, and, aside from voting the Democratic ticket in national elections, he took no part in party affairs. A believer in the philanthropic principles of Masonry, having attained the thirty-second degree, he maintained an association with some of its branches until his death. He was also a believer in the uplifting influence of the churches and was a frequent attendant at the services of the Presbyterian Church as well as a generous contributor to its missionary societies. He was a member of the state legislature of Illinois, representing Madison county, for a number of years. In St. Louis, Mo., March 18, 1873, he married Miss Emily Weinheimer, a native of Highland, Illinois., and a daughter of Henry and Anna (Franz) Weinheimer, the former a merchant at Highland for many years. Four children were born of the union, but two of these died in infancy and Otto W. passed away at the age of twenty-six, at Phoenix, Ariz., where he was the city representative of R. L. Craig & Co. of Los Angeles. Of his family Mr. Brodtbeck is survived only by his wife and one child, Adele, now Mrs. Earl Cowan, both of Los Angeles