Harrison Gray Otis professional papers, 1793-1845

Historical/Biographical Note

Harrison Gray Otis was born in Boston, October 8, 1765, the son of Samuel Allyne (1740-1814) and Elizabeth Gray Otis (1747-1779). His father was a merchant who was active politics. He served as secretary to the United States Senate, from Washington's first administration to his death in 1814. Elizabeth Gray Otis was the daughter of Harrison Gray (1711-1794), who served as treasurer of the province of Massachusetts Bay and who, as a Loyalist during the Revolution, was forced to settle in England and to suffer the loss of most of his property in the States. Otis was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard, graduating in 1783. He read law with Judge John Lowell and was admitted to the bar in 1786. In 1790, he married Sally Foster (1770-1836), with whom he had 11 children. Otis and his family lived in three different Bulfinch-designed Boston houses: the first at what is now 141 Cambridge Street, headquarters of Historic New England, was built in 1795-1796 and sold in 1800; the second, larger house, located at 85 Mt. Vernon Street, was built in 1800 and sold in 1805; the third house, at 45 Beacon Street, was built in 1806. Otis lived at the last address until his death on October 28, 1848. Otis was active in the Federalist Party, the so-called 'gentlemen's party.' In 1796, Washington appointed him U.S. district attorney for Massachusetts. Otis resigned the office in the same year to enter Congress, in which he served from 1797 to 1801. He refused to run for reelection in 1800 and returned to Boston, where he remained active in politics, serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1802-1805 and 1813-1814 (speaker, 1803-1805) and in the state Senate, 1805-1813 and 1814-1817 (president of the senate, 1805-1806 and 1808-1811). In 1817, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and resigned in 1822 to run for mayor of Boston but was defeated. However, he was later elected three times as mayor, 1829-1831. Otis became an active leader of the state rights movement during Jefferson's Embargo, opposed the War of 1812, and was a leader of the Hartford Convention of 1814. In his business affairs, Otis became wealthy by investments in real estate. In 1795, he was a member of a committee to acquire a site for building a new state house. The site chosen, purchased from Governor Hancock's heirs, was located near the middle summit of Beacon Hill. Otis saw the potential for residential development of land on Beacon Hill, and together with Jonathan Mason, Benjamin Joy, William Sullivan, William Scollay, Joseph Woodward, Charles Bulfinch, and others, Otis formed the Proprietors of Mount Vernon, a syndicate to purchase land on Beacon Hill. The major portion of the land which the Proprietors wished to purchase was owned by John Singleton Copley, who had been living in England since 1774. Copley designated Samuel Cabot as his agent (see Correspondence-John Singleton Copley, Box 1, Folder 5) to sell the property, and on June 17, 1795, Cabot finalized the sale of the property to the Proprietors (see Legal Papers, Depositions-Charles Bulfinch, Box 1, Folder 16). The Proprietors paid the equivalent of $14,000 for Copley's 18 ½ acres, for which he had originally paid $3,000. Copley, however, hearing of the plans for the new state house, repented of the sale, disavowed the deal made by Cabot, and leased the land to William Hull. He sent his son, J. S. Copley, Jr. to Boston to break the contract with the Proprietors. The contract with the Proprietors was declared binding, however, and Copley had to abide by the sale. As Copley's title to the property could not be found in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds, other claimants to the property came forward during the next 40 years. In 1810, the heirs of Nathaniel Cunningham challenged the title, and in 1836, suit was brought by the Overseers of the Poor. Documents relating to both of these cases can be found in the legal papers of Otis. To resolve the case of the heirs of Nathaniel Cunningham versus the Proprietors, Copley reluctantly, in return for 1,000 guineas, gave testimony regarding his title to the land (see Legal Papers, Depositions, Box 1, Folder 15a.). Otis also managed to reach the claimant, Susanna Cunningham, who had been sequestered by her lawyers. For the sum of $10,000, she agreed to renounce her claim to the Copley Pasture (see Legal Papers, Writs, Box 2, Folder 18). The Copley Pasture covered an area which extended from Back Bay, up Beacon Street to Walnut Street, included Louisburg Square, and Pinckney Street down to the Charles River. This area became the most residential district in Boston. Source: Harrison Gray Otis Professional Papers finding aid.

Description

The Harrison Gray Otis Professional Papers document the business career of this civic and commercial leader. The collection is an assemblage of papers, the records of Harrison Gray Otis considered the major series. The date range extends from 1793 to 1845. The series in which the papers are arranged are correspondence, incoming and outgoing; several letters from John Singleton Copley regarding the negotiations and sale of his property to the Proprietors of Mount Vernon are included. Financial papers, legal papers (which form the bulk of the collection), maps and drawings, printed matter, and miscellaneous papers complete the series of his papers. Several small groups of papers related to other family members are arranged under the name of that family member: papers of Harrison Gray (1711-1794), the maternal grandfather of Harrison Gray Otis; papers of Samuel Allyne Otis (1740-1814), the father of Harrison Gray Otis; papers of William Foster Otis (1801-1858), son of Harrison Gray Otis. The papers of Harrison Gray date from 1756 to 1783, those of Samuel A. Otis from 1768 to 1791, and of William F. Otis from 1829 to 1847. Legal papers of other persons (1766-1820) form a small group, and the final group is papers relative to the Boston Mill Corporation, bulk dates, 1825-1828. An addendum to the collection is comprised of the former contents of a large portfolio which held oversize material presumed to have been part of Samuel Eliot Morison donation of the Otis Family Papers. The contents are divided into two parts: Deeds and Papers and Plot and House Plans. The first part contains miscellaneous financial papers, such as deeds, real estate documents, and legal material. The second part contains plans for houses on Beacon Street and at other addresses in Boston, commercial buildings in Boston, and residences in Maine and Pennsylvania. Source: Harrison Gray Otis Professional Papers finding aid.

Material in other collections

Papers of John Rutledge (1766-1819), University of North Carolina Library, Southern Historical Collection.

Papers of William Bingham (1752-1804), Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collections.

Papers of Joshua Francis Fisher (1807-1873), Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collections.

Papers of George Harrison (1762-1845), Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collections.

Otis family papers, 1687-1868, Columbia University Libraries.

Otis family papers, ca. 1740-1900, Columbia University Libraries.

Charlestown, Mass. papers, 1633-1855, Massachusetts Historical Society Library.

South Natick, Mass. papers, 1652-ca. 1870, South Natick Historical, Natural History and Library Collections.

Papers of John Prescott Bigelow (1797-1872), Harvard University, Houghton Library.

Massachusetts Historical Society Library.

Boston Athenaeum.

Boston Public Library.

New York Public Library.

Library of Congress.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged as follows:

I. Harrison Gray Otis business papers, 1793-1845
Correspondence series
Correspondence - incoming, 1812-1840
Correspondence - outgoing, 182?, 1831-1840
Correspondence - John Singleton Copley, 1793-1796
Financial papers, 1793-1844
Legal papers, ca. 1795-1845
Maps and drawings, 1769-1835
Printed matter, ca. 1826-1827
Miscellaneous papers (folders 31-33)

II. Harrison Gray papers, 1756-1783

III. Samuel A. Otis papers, 1768-1791

IV. William Foster Otis papers, 1829-1852

V. Papers of other persons, 1766-1820

VI. Boston Mill Corporation records, 1821-1828, 1842

VII. Addendum, 1773-1844, undated
Deeds and papers
Plot plans and house plans

Record details

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