Photographs of three generations of the German American Ottenstraer family of Chicago, consisting mainly of individual and group shots, together with images of family homes, employees at the Mechanical Manufacturing Company, and members of the St. Ludwig Jaeger Ct. No. 247 Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps. Rudolph Ottenstraer was born in Germany in 1844, and emigrated to the U.S. at about age 22, settled in Chicago where he worked for Armour and Company, and retired to Grand Haven, Michigan about 1906. His sons August and John lived their entire lives in Chicago, and another son, Rudolph Jr., lived in both Grand Haven and Chicago.