Pastor Johann Martin Otto, son of gardner Johann Christoph Otto, was born on 22 February 1765 in Cottbus, Niederlausitz, Sachsen (Saxony).
He studied theology at the City Univeristy of Halle. He worked first as a teacher, but then was ordained on 25 March 1793 in Berlin.
From 1793 to 1820, he served as pastor in Beideck. From 1820 to 1835, he served the congregation in Kukkus.
His first marriage was to Maria Henriette Henning. She had been born in 1762 in Lüben, the Netherlands, and died 7 September 1807 in Beideck. Pastor Otto then married in 1808 to Anna Katharina Filbert. She had been born 24 November 1783 in Beideck, and died 9 October 1833 in Kukkus. They had two children:
(1) Amalie Henriette Otto, born on 4 January 1812 in Beideck, died in December 1868 in St. Petersburg. She married Pastor Peter Heinrich Abraham Haag.
(2) Gustaf Ferdinand Otto, born 17 July 1813 in Beideck, died in 25 December 1877 in St. Petersburg. He was also a Lutheran pastor and served the parishes in Kursk (1844-1852), Tver (1852-1858), and Tula-Kaluga (1858-1872).
Pastor Otto died on 28 January 1837 in Katharinenstadt. His funeral was held on 31 January 1837.
- Otto Johann Martin (wolgadeutsche.ru) (online)
- Parish register of Katharinenstadt.
- Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen – Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: AER Verlag Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Rußland, 1978): 162, 190.
Parish register in Katharinenstadt recording the death of Pastor Otto in 1837. The entry reads: "died on the afternoon of January 28 at four o'clock; funeral was held on the afternoon of January 31. Johann Martin Otto, Evangelical [Lutheran] pastor of the Kukkus parish on the small Tarlyk River; he was born born in Cottbus in Niederlausitz, 73 years, 11 months, 17 days; widowed; suffered from senility"
Source: Karl Becker.