Lutheran clergyman, author, b. Fet, Nedre Romerike, Norway. He graduated from the university in Christiana in 1849, and taught in an Oslo Latin school for several years. He was ordained in the Lutheran ministry in 1852, and in the same year migrated to Manitowoc, Wis. He was pastor at Manitowoc (1852-1860) and at Koshkonong (1860-1891). Otteson was a close associate of H. A. Preus (q.v.), one of the founders of the Norwegian Lutheran synod. He was synodical secretary (1853-1857), and from 1859 to 1868 was co-editor, with Preus, of the synod's official organ, Kirkelig Maanedstidende. Otteson was known as a clever Lutheran dialectician, and participated in many of the controversies of the young Norwegian synod. He was the author of a history of the Norwegian synod, published in 1881. After 1891 he retired from active preaching and lived in Decorah, Iowa. T. C. Blegen, Norwegian Migration to Amer. . . . Transition (Northfield, Minn., 1940); Who's Who among Pastors in . . . Nonv. Luth. Synods . . . (Minneapolis, 1928); WPA MS.Learn More
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
