Harrison Gray Otis. From a Photograph presented by Mr. Samuel E. Morison of the portrait by Gilbert Stuart.

Viewing image 1 of 2
Next >
  • image 1
  • image 2

Item Information

Title:
Harrison Gray Otis. From a Photograph presented by Mr. Samuel E. Morison of the portrait by Gilbert Stuart.
Title (alt.):
A Brief Account of Harrison Gray Otis. By Samuel E. Morison statesman. Author of "Life and letters of Harrison Gray Otis". Harrison Gray Otis was the son of Samuel Allyne Otis and Elizabeth Gray, and nephew of James Otis the famous patriot leader and Mercy Warren, the poetess and historian. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Harrison Gray, the last royal treasurer of Massachussetts and a prominent loyalist. After graduating from Harvard College in the class of 1783 ("the first scholar of the first class of a new nation" as he was described at the bi-centennial celebration of 1836), young Otis was thrown on his own resources owing to the bankruptcy of his father. But, endowed as he was with a winning personality, a keen intellect, the Otis gift of oratory, and numerous influential relatives, the young man quickly made his way in the world. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1786, and soon became one of the leading lawyers of Boston. In 1790 he married Sally, daughter of William Foster. Two years later Otis confided to an acquaintance that his utmost financial ambition was to be worth ten thousand dollars, but the wave of prosperity that set in just before the French revolution was soon to carry him far beyond that modest limit. The seventeen-nineties were among the greatest eras of inflation and expansion that the United States has ever seen. The young country was just finding itself, commercially and industrially. Yankee ship owners were discovering new markets in Russia, India and the far east, and when the great war broke out in 1973 there was an American merchant marine to profit by it. A great immigration from Europe was expected, and every American with a bit of spare capital, from President Washington down, speculated in wild lands. The stock of new banking and manufacturing enterprises rose rapidly in value. All this gave rise to a new financial aristocracy, and this in turn led to a great increase in building, and to a new type of dwelling, more commodious than had existed in colonial days. Charles Bulfinch returned from Europe in 1787, just in time to give the architectural ambition of the newly rich the right artistic direction. Under him and his school American domestic architecture reached its apogee. Harrison Gray Otis had an iron in every fire, which with a combination of shrewd business judgment and luck made him a wealthy man before he was thirty years old. His ventures, modest at first, in foreign commerce; in Maine, western and Georgian lands; and in local real estate; (the population of Boston increased thirty-three per cent between 1790 and 1800) were uniformly successful; his skill as a lawyer secured him large fees from clients in commercial lawsuits, and English exporting firms made him their Boston agent. By 1795 he was ready to build a large mansion in the new style for his young family, and also to enter national politics. It was in 1793 that Otis acquired the site of his new house from his father-in-law, William Foster, and the mansion was built in 1795. One of his letters dated June 17th of that year, mentions that the building had already begun
Description:
[Information from item housing] Otis, Harrison Gray - Mayor of Boston
Date:
[ca. March 1917]
Format:
Photographs
Genre:
Photographic prints
Location:
Boston Public Library
Arts Department
Collection (local):
Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue
Subjects:
Mayors
Otis, Harrison Gray, 1765-1848
Extent:
1 photograph : print ; sheet 188 x 125 mm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/4m90j0312
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Language:
English
Notes:
Title(s) from item.
Preferred Citation:
Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue, Boston Public Library
Notes (acquisition):
Gift; Boston University, College of Communication, 1977/1978.
Notes (date):
Date from item.
Identifier:
22_10_000407_0001
Barcode:
39999088103575