Biography
John Otis Jr was born 14 January 1622 in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, United Kingdom to John Otis (1581-1657) and Margaret Darcy (1585-1653) and died 16 January 1684 Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States of unspecified causes. He married Mary Jacob (1632-aft1699) 10 May 1649 in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States.
The father of John Otis Jr was a Planter from Glastonbury, Somerset, who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1635 (based on 1 June 1635 grant of land at Hingham). First settled in Hingham; moved to Weymouth by 1657.
hen John was “about ten years old the family emigrated to new England, and his father settled at Hingham. The family residence was at ‘Otis Hill,’ where John lived until after his parents’ death. In 1668 he, or at least a John Otis, is mentioned on the Hingham records as being a landholder; it is also recorded that he took the oath of fidelity there in 1662; although in 1661 he had moved to Scituate. There he bought of Deacon Thomas Robinson the house on the south of Coleman Hill, formerly the residence of Gen. Cudworth, and resided there. In 1663, according to the records, he bought for 69 pounds a certain portion of another property from Mr. Hatherly. In 1678 he went to Barnstable and settled a land called Otis farm, opposite to Hinkley Lane, near the Marshes, West Parish. There he left his son John, and returned to Scituate, where he died.
“His monument was in the old burying ground. ‘Meeting House Lane,’ one mile south of the harbor, and in 1845, although broken and defaced, ws still legible. His will, dated Scituate 1683, gives to his eldest daughter, Mary, the wife of John Gorham, and daughter of Hannah and Elizabeth 50 pounds each; houses and lands at Hingham and Barnstable to John, Stephen, James, and Job; to Joseph and Job house and lands in Sciutate after after his mother’s decease. He is said to have been in King Philip’s War.
“John seems to have been of a rather pugnacious disposition and not easily amenable to the strict laws of the Puritans, so that one finds frequent references in the old records to his various legal troubles...”
"John, whose posterity is very numerous, married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Jacob of HIngham, 1653. In 1661, he settled in Scituate, on the south of Colman's hills. In 1678, he went to Barnstable, and took up 'the Otis farm,' near Hinckley lane. He left at Barnstable his eldest son John, and returned and deceased in Scituate 1683. His monument is in 'the old burying ground in Meeting-house lane': it is broken and defaced, but legible at this time.
"In his will, dated at Scituate, 1683, he gives 'To eldest daughter Mary, (wife of John Gowin), and daughters Hannah and Elizabeth 50 pounds each. Houses and lands at Hingham and Barnstable, to John, Stephen, James and Job. To Joseph house and lands in Scituate, after his mother's decease.'"
“In 1655, in accordance with a promise made to him at the time of his marriage in 1649, his father conveyed to him all of his real estate in Hingham, includeing the home on North Street. John Otis and his family resided there until 1661, when he purchased from Deacon Thomas Robinson a house, formerly that of Gen. James Cudworth (his second home in Scituate), on the south side of Colman hills in Scituate, and here he removed from Hingham. The site of this house is now [1938] covered by the railroad track of the Scituate Sand and Gravel Company.”
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Mary Otis (1654-1732) | 14 March 1654 HIngham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts | 1 April 1732 Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts | John Gorham (1651-1715) |
| James Otis (1655-1690) | |||
| John Otis (1657-1727) | 21 November 1657 Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States | 23 September 1727 West Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States | Mercy Bacon (1659-1737) |
| Hannah Otis (1659-1659) | |||
| Stephen Otis (1661-1733) | |||
| Joseph Otis (1665-1754) | |||
| Elizabeth Otis (1669-1748) | |||
| Job Otis (1677-1758) | |||
Siblings
Residences
Footnotes (including sources)
| ‡ General |
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