Otto Wand, proprietor of the Collingdale Manufacturing Company mills at Collingdale, this county, where he has resided since 1892, is the only son of John and Louisa (Meyer) Wand, and was born September 18, 1859, at Nordhausen, province of Saxony, Prussia.
His father was a distiller by occupation, and had served in the regular army of Prussia. He was the father of three children, of whom only the subject of this sketch came to America. The two daughters were Agnes Sheiber and Anna Prahmer. The father died September 15, 1865, at the age of fifty-seven years.
Young Wand grew to manhood in his native town of Nordhausen, and received his early education in the schools of that place. He afterward attended college and also the university, where he passed his regular examinations and then entered the Prussian army as a volunteer for one year. At the expiration of his term of military service, in July, 1879, he came to the United States, locating first at San Francisco, California, where he remained for some time. In 1882 he removed to Philadelphia, where he engaged in the wholesale liquor business, and successfully conducted that enterprise until 1892.
In the latter year he purchased the business and plant of the Collingdale Manufacturing Company, at Collingdale, Delaware county, and has since that time been numbered with the enterprising manufacturers of this county. He is engaged in the production of all kinds of fancy turned work, including balustrades, fancy moldings and in the manufacture of tables. His mills employ twenty skilled workmen, and turn out an annual product amounting to nearly fifty thousand dollars in value.
In politics Mr. Wand is a republican and protectionist, though he has never taken any active part in political affairs, preferring to devote his attention strictly to his prosperous business.
He is a member of Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 449, Free and Accepted Masons : St. John Chapter, No. 232, Royal Arch Masons : Kadosh Commandery, No. 29, Knights Templar ; and Lulu Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and Knights of Birmingham. He is also connected with the Order of United Friends.
On September 16, 1886, Mr. Wand was united in marriage to Sophie Pabst, a native of Philadelphia, and a daughter of John Pabst. To Mr. and Mrs. Wand have been born two children, both daughters : Lena and Lulu.
Since becoming a manufacturer Mr. Wand has met with remarkable success, and is becoming widely known for the superiority of his products, which are in great demand in all parts of the surrounding country.
~ Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, by Samuel T. Wiley, 1894, Page 406.
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