Wattles, John Otis, d. 1859.

John Otis Wattles was a radical Hicksite Quaker and an ardent abolitionist. With his brother Augustus, John founded the Prairie Home Community in Logan County, Ohio; the Clermont/Excelsior, Ohio, utopian community; and, later, the town of Moneka, Kansas. John married Esther Whinery, an elementary school teacher, in 1844. The Wattles brothers and Esther actively defended John Brown. They continued to promote abolitionism and utopian communal living until John Wattles' death in 1859. Esther and her three daughters then returned from Kansas to Oberlin, Ohio, where the girls attended Oberlin College. Esther died in Coconut Grove, Florida, in 1908.

From the description of John Otis Wattles and Esther Whinery Wattles family papers, ca. 1820s-1950, bulk 1838-1864. (Rhinelander District Library). WorldCat record id: 526477320