Statesman; born in
Boston, Mass., Oct. 8, 1765; graduated at Harvard University in 1783, and was admitted to the bar in 1786, where his fine oratory and varied acquirements soon gained him much fame.
In
Shays's insurrection (see
Shays, Daniel) he was aide to
Governor Brooks; served in the Massachusetts legislature; was member of Congress from 1797 to 1801; United States district attorney in 1801; speaker of the Assembly from 1803 to 1805; president of the State Senate from 1805 to 1811; judge of common pleas from 1814 to 1818; and mayor of
Boston from 1829 to 1832.
In 1814 he was a prominent member of the Hartford Convention, and wrote a series of letters upon it. In 1804 he pronounced an eloquent eulogy of
General Hamilton.
Many of his occasional addresses have been published.
His father was
Samuel Alleyn Otis, brother of James.
He died in
Boston, Oct. 28, 1848.
