My Genealogy Hound

Christian Rott, glass-manufacturer, Wilkinsburg, was born in the village of Baden Hausen, Brunswick, Germany, October 29, 1843. His grandfather was Christian Rott. In 1850 his parents, Christian (a blacksmith by trade) and Elizabeth (Heisecke) Rott, came to America and settled at Pittsburgh. The father died in 1875; the mother is still living. There were three sons, of whom Frederick, the eldest, resides at Pittsburgh, and Louis, the youngest, at Homestead. Christian attended the common and high schools of the city till sixteen years old; then spent two years in a shovel-factory. By a fall through a skylight both his arms were broken, and the right never recovered its strength. Later he kept books for a soap-factory, and afterward he took the place of the foreman, and made soap for four years. In 1878 he became a partner in the firm of George A. McBeath & Co., the largest manufacturers of lamp-chimneys in the world. In March, 1884, he moved into the residence which he had built in Wilkinsburg, and commenced to beautify the grounds. He is quite as successful at horticulture as in his other undertakings. He frequently visits Europe, and gets all the points on glass-manufacture that are obtainable. He is a member of the Swedenborgian Church in Allegheny City, and of the L. of H., R. A. and A. O. U. W. He is a republican with free-trade tendencies; was a member of the Pittsburgh city council one year, and was active in procuring a borough organization for Wilkinsburg; is now secretary of three building and loan associations. In June, 1871, he married Sarah, daughter of C. C. Johnson, of Monongahela City, and she has borne him three children: William Frederick, Cora and Walter Christian.