Thanks to Dan Touse for submitting these photographs!
Otto G. Touse was born 18 April 1861 in Darmstadt-Hesse, Germany,
son of Frederick & Wilhemena Close Touse. The family came in
the summer of 1869 and settled in what was then known as the Franklin Iron
Works, now Franklin Springs, in the town of Kirkland. He was married
about 1885 to Amelia Parker, an immigrant from Danzig, then living at Peck's
Corners in the Town of Marshall. The family moved to Utica in 1895.
Otto had for some time dealt in raw furs. He went into the grocery
business and ran a store on Plant St. before opening the store pictured
here at the corner of Court & Schuyler. His wife Amelia is said
to have cooked lunches; his daughter Irene kept the books, and a son Oscar
helped run the store. Otto died Christmas night 1918. Oscar
and Irene continued to run the store until anout 1921. Irene married
Lorne "Hugh" Willis and resided in Yorkville. Oscar settled on a
family farm in Vernon Center and was a rural mail carrier until his retirement.
Photograph taken circa 1910. The man at the head of the horse
is Oscar Paul Touse (1888-1958) son of proprietor Otto G. Touse.
The store was located on the corner of Court and Schuyler St.