0^ 1 - ^'^ r 0^ 'o A 9^ >. i°-'*. 1* V.cr ' "i BIRTHPLACE OF THE PATRIOT JAMES' OTIS Copyrighted 1917 by Mrs. Charles F. Russell THE PATRIOT JAMES OTIS From a portrait by Jonathan Blackburn, reproduced by permission of the owner, Mrs. Charles F. Russell BIRTHPLACE OF THE PATRIOT JAMES^ OTIS By FRANCIS W: SPRAGUE, RIVEKBANK COURT, CAMBRIDGE. 1917 3dZ copyright 1917 Francis W. Sprague riverbank court cambridge / FEB 14 1917 ©ClA458i31 BIRTHPLACE OF THE PATRIOT JAMES = OTIS Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 3 page 148, "John Smith of Barnstable, to John^ Otis, of Scituate, Oct. 21, 1667". Plymouth Colony Records. Will of John^ Otis, dated Scituate, Mass. January 11, 1683. He died January 16, 1683. DEED FROM JOHN SMITH TO JOHN OTIS ALL that my dwelling house and lands both upland and meddow lying and being in Barnstable aforesaid on the west syde of a place Comonly called the bridge: the said uplands Containing by Comon estimation fifty acrees, be it more or less, and nine acrees of meddow be it more or less. The said upland bounded prtely by the meddow below the bridge : and prtely by a sett off: by the lands in occupation of Samuell and John Hinckley easterly: and by the lands in the occupation of John Chipman westerly : and by the meddow and prtely by the upland in occupation of William Crocker Northerly : and prtely by the lands of William Crocker and prtely by the Comon Southerly : and six acrees of the aforesaid meddow boundes east- erly by the bridge Creeke and westerly by the upland and south- erly by the meddow now in the occupation of Bridgett Hinckley : viz : or her assignes : northerly by a smale Creeke from the upland Running into the said Bridge Creeke: and the Resedue in a certaine prssell of Marsh as it was graunted him by the Towne (3) Containing three acrees be it more or less : Together with all yards houses edefices and all and singulare the proffitts privilidges and appurtenances in upon or belonging to all and singular the prmises with all and singulare deeds writings Records evidences touching and Concerning onely the prmises or any prte thereof. Dated October 21st, 1667. Signed, sealed and John Smith (Seal) delivered in the prsence of William Crocker Samuell AUin FROM WILL OF JOHN OTIS OF SITTUATE Sittuate January 11-1683. Imps. I give & bequeath unto ray Elder Daughter Mary the wife of John Gorum* ye sum of fifty pound with what she hath already had of my estate ye remainder thereof to be paid to her at such time & in such maner as her Mother my Executrix hereinafter named shall think fitt Item I give & bequeath unto my other two Daughters Hanah & Elizabeth fiftie pound a peice, to be paid to them at such time & in such maner as their mother aforesd shall thinke fitt. Item My will is that all my housing & lands at Hingham Barnstable & at accord pond shall be Devided betweene my four sons John Steven James & Job that is to say ye aforesd lands being duly estimated according to value my Eldest Son John shall have two shares or fift parts thereof ; sett out or divided to him to have & to hold to him & his heirs forever & my son Steven shall have one share or fifth part thereof Devided or set out to him to have & to hold to him & his heirs forever, & my son James shall have one share or fift part thereof sett out or Devided to him to have & to hold to him & his heirs for ever & my son Job shall have ye other share or fift part thereof to him &> his heirs forever. And further my mind is that my sou John shall have one of his two shares set out to him in some short time after my Decease & ye other share given to my son John & all ye rest of *John Gorhara Mary** Otis mentioned in this will, married Lt. Colonel John"^ Gorham, (son of Captain Johni Gorham and Desire Howland) February 24, 1674. They lived and died in the "Old Gorham House," still standing in Barn- stable, near the Yarmouth line. They were ray ancestors. (5) 6 these lands, abovesd. given to ray other three sons afore named shall remaine in their mothers possession tell she see cause to possess them of their so several shares or at her Decease : & I desier my son John to take ye manage- ment of those four shares for his mothers use tell she other wise Dispose. Item I give & bequeath unto my son Joseph all my housing & land in this Township of Sittuate (except two smale parcells of land one at Stonny Brook and ye other at Georg Mores brook) to be possessed & enjoyed by him after his mothers Decease to have & to hold from thence forth to him & his heirs forever ; & my will is that if my son Joseph desier to have ye ad two parsells of land at Stonny Brooke & George Mores brook, if he shall give securitie to his mother at her demand to pay thirty pounds within one year after her decease to such as she shall appoint him to pay ye same unto, that then he shall have ye ad two p^'cells of land also, to him & his heirs for ever, otherwise my Executrix shall dispose thereof or sell ye same if she see cause & make a good estate of inheritance to such as shall purchase ye same ; and 1 have given ye sd housing & land in Sittuate to my son Joseph to ye intent he shall live with his mother & manage ye sd farme for her use during her life. Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved Wife Mary all my housing & land whatsoever (except one share of those lands given to John) during ye terme of her naturall life & also all my moneys goods & chatties debts & demands, whatsoever, for her comfort & to bring up my younger children & to her dispose, etc. Signed, sealed & declared by John Otis abovesd to be his last will & testement in prseuce of us. John Otis (Seal) ACCORDING to History of Hingham, Mass. Vol. 3, p. 102 "He (John^ Otis) was born in England, 1620, removed to Scituate, Mass. 1661, from there to Barnstable, 1678, returning however soon after to Scituate, where he died 16 January 1683, aged 63. He married in Hingham, Mass. Mary Jacobs, daughter of Nicholas Jacobs and his wife Mary". In his will he mentions houses and land in Scituate, Hingham, and Barnstable. To son Joseph house and land in Scituate, (and it appears that his son John^ Otis, received the house and Otis Farm, "opposite Hinckley's Lane, near the Marshes West Barnstable". John^ Otis, (son of John^ and Mary Jacobs) was born in Hingham, Mass., 1657, he married July 18, 1683, Mercy Bacon, of Barnstable. They removed to Barnstable, where he died 23 Sept. 1727 aged 70. Their son Colonel James* Otis, born in Barnstable, 14 January 1702, was a Colonel and a Judge. He married Mary Allyne. They had ten children. James^ Otis, The Patriot, oldest son of Colonel James* Otis, and Mary Allyne, was born 5 Feb. 1724-5, in the family mansion, at Barnstable, opposite Hinckley's Lane near the Marshes, West Parish. He died May 23, 1783. "(See Otis Family, by Horatio N. Otis, N. E. Gen. Register, (1848) Vol. 2 p. p. 283- 289.) See also Tudor's life of James^ Otis, (1823) p.p. 6-495. James^ Otis born in the family mansion at Great Marshes, in what is now called West Barnstable". "The house still standing (1823) but with the loss of its wings". Deane's History of Scituate, p. 318, states that "John^ Otis, in 1678, went from Scituate to Barnstable, and took up the Otis Farm", "near Hinckley's Lane". "He left in Barnstable, his (7) eldest son John^ Otis, and returned and deceased in Scituate, in 1683". "Son John^ Otis (born 1667), was the ancestor of the distinguished Lawyers and Patriots by the name of Otis, in Barnstable and Boston, to whose fame no commendation of ours can add". John Gorham Palfrey, the historian, in his Oration at the two hundreth anniversary of Barnstable, in 1839 (p. 27) said, " On the fifth of February, 1725, in a farmhouse at Great Marshes, which within a few years has gone to decay and been removed, but which could money and art have preserved it, the grati- tude of an emancipated people should have made to stand for- ever, was born the pioneer of the American Revolution, James^ Otis." Amos' Otis, in "Barnstable Families" Vol. 1 p. 132 says the Otis Farm was east of the Bursley Farm, On page 133 he states that John Bursley 2nd, inherited the mansion house of John Bursley 1st "■taken down in 1827'". On page 135 "John Bursley 2nd owned at his death in 1726, the same real estate that his father did in 1660. (This being true it could not have been the Otis Farm in 1724 when the Patriot James^ Otis, was born.) See "Barnstable Families" Vol. 1 pp. 156-157 "John Chipman's land bounded easterly partly by land of John-^ Otis and partly by land of William Crocker". "The elder Chipmau, owned lands in West Barnstable before 1672". In volume two (2) p. 31 "Samuel Hinckley (Father of Governor Thomas Hinckley), was one of the first to remove to W. Barnstable, where he owned one of the best farms in the town", ("wow owned by Levi L. Goodspeed, Esq.") ("Barnstable Families" was written between 1850 and 1860.) (Vol. 2 p. 31) "Samuel Hinckley's son-in-law John Smith (the John Smith who deeded his farm to John^ Otis, of Scituate "Oct. 21, 1667") owned the adjoining lands since known as the Otis Farm.'''' The '■'■bridge" mentioned in the deed (of 1667) was very near what is now the railroad crossing over the State Highway in W. Barnstable, and near "Hinckley's Lane". 9 Amos'^ Otis, the historian, was the great grandson of Solomon* Otis, who was an uncle of the Patriot James^ Otis. Solomon* Otis was Registrar of Deeds for Barnstable. Amos''' Otis was born in Barnstable, 17 Aug. 1801 (See N. E. Gen. Register Vol. 51 p. 329). (1897). His "Barnstable Families" is the best history of the town ever written. Tudor says the Otis Mansion was still standing in 1823, Amos" Otis, was twenty-two years of age at that time. The map included with these notes shows where the Cape Cod railroad crosses the State Highway, also shows Bridge Creek, very near that crossing, and "Hinckley's Lane." Francis W. Spragub W84 s '^_ «• # , 1 • A. -<^ • o « ■' -(J 0°^ 7.T* A =>'^ *'^^'- -^ ^^"^ -"^ ' .^^•V ^ ^ T»' A. ^^V .^^"V •v ^ o •> • •y' ^°«.*^--/ *<>--^\/ "O^-^^^O'' V-0^ H O ■' ^> V »1* •- \..r ysm\ u^,^ y- ^Ao^ ■q*. *.'--•* aP '^ ♦L^l.'. V'^^