Résumé

Principal, Henry Osterman, Architect, Walla Walla, WA. In 1908, Osterman leased Rooms #7-8 of the Baker-Boyer Bank Building as his offices. According to the R.L. Polk and Company Walla Walla City Directory for 1908, Walla Walla had only four architects practicing there at that time. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Walla Walla City Directory, 1908, p. 332.) Partner, Ostermean and Siebert, Architects, Walla Walla, WA, c. 1923.

Relocation

Born in Germany near the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Essen in 1862, Henry Osterman migrated to the US in 1889. In 1892, a Washington State Census reported that Henry worked as a carpenter, as did his relatives in town, William (his father), August (age 27), and Frank (age 25). (See Ancestry.com, Source Information, Ancestry.com. Washington State and Territorial Censuses, 1857-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006, accessed 10/19/2015.)

The US Census of 1910 indicated that Osterman had been naturalized in 1890, although this is not likely. The same census reported that Osterman and his family resided at 508 Lincoln Street in Walla Walla, where they stayed from at least 1908 until 1923. In 1910, they had enough money to afford a live-in servant, 19-year-old, Hazel Richardson. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation, Year: 1910; Census Place: Walla Walla Ward 1, Walla Walla, Washington; Roll: T624_1673; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0256; FHL microfilm: 1375686,accessed 10/19/2015.)

In 1923, Osterman worked with architect V.E. Siebert in Room #216 of the Drumheller Building in Walla Walla. (See R.L.Polk and Company's City Directory for Walla Walla, WA, 1923-1924, p. 164.) He and his wife had moved to Seattle by 1929, where they lived at 5517 16th Avenue NE in the University District.

Parents

His German-born father, Wilhelm (William), worked as a carpenter in 1892. His mother was Maria Wustoff.

Spouse

He married Lavinia Geneva Cooney Jack at Coon Rapids, IA, on 06/10/1902.

Children

According to the 1910 US Census, he and Lavinia had four children: Bernadina (born c. 1894 in IA) Henrietta (born c. 1904 in WA), Hugo (born c. 1906 in WA) and Ruth (born c. 1908 in WA). Lavinia had been married once before, and Bernadina was a child from this previous marriage.