Background
Harrison Gray Otis was born on February 10, 1837, at Marietta, Ohio, the youngest of the children of Stephen Otis and his second wife, Sarah Dyer Otis. He was descended from John Otis, an early colonist in Massachusetts.
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Harrison Gray Otis was born on February 10, 1837, at Marietta, Ohio, the youngest of the children of Stephen Otis and his second wife, Sarah Dyer Otis. He was descended from John Otis, an early colonist in Massachusetts.
Harrison Otis received a brief common-school education and at the age of fourteen became a printer's apprentice. In 1856-57 he attended Wetherby's Academy at Lowell, Ohio, for five months, and afterward took a commercial course at Granger's College at Columbus.
Harrison Otis resided for a time in Louisville, Kentucky, where he became an active member of the new Republican party and served as a delegate from that state to the national convention of 1860. He enlisted in the Union army at the beginning of the Civil War and served with the 12th and 23rd Ohio Infantry. He fought in fifteen engagements, was twice wounded, attained the rank of captain, and at the end of the war was brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel. After his discharge he returned to Marietta and for about eighteen months was publisher of a small local newspaper. In 1866-67 he was official reporter of the Ohio House of Representatives, then moved to Washington where he was foreman in the government printing office (1868 - 69). During this period he acted as Washington correspondent of the Ohio State Journal, and had immediate charge of the Grand Army Journal. In 1868 he was a delegate from the District of Columbia to the soldiers' and sailors' convention at Chicago which first nominated General Grant for the presidency. For about five years (1871 - 75) he was chief of a division in the Patent Office.
In 1876 Otis moved to California. He first settled in Santa Barbara and for four years conducted the Santa Barbara Press. From 1879 to 1881 he served as special agent of the Treasury Department to enforce the terms of the lease of the Alaska seal fisheries to the Alaska Commercial Company. In 1882 he moved to Los Angeles and purchased a substantial interest in the Times, which about this time had absorbed the Weekly Mirror; by 1886 he had acquired full control. For the next thirty years, as president and active manager of the Times-Mirror Company, he was one of California's most picturesque, forceful, and noted journalists. Under his wise and aggressive leadership, the Times contributed in many ways to the growth and expansion of Southern California.
In 1888, Otis was largely instrumental in organizing the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. His journalistic career was temporarily interrupted by the Spanish-American War. At its outbreak, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, and with his command saw active service in the Philippines. At the end of the war he was brevetted major-general "for meritorious conduct in action at Caloocan. " For many years the Times was widely known for its zealous championship of the open shop and for its bitter and unrelenting opposition to union labor. In revenge for its unsparing attacks, a group of union men dynamited the Times plant October 1, 1910, destroying the building and killing twenty-one employees. The sensational trial (1911) of the McNamara brothers, charged with the crime, attracted nationwide attention and came to a dramatic end by their confessions. Otis continued in active direction of the Times until the day of his death
In addition to his newspaper interests, Otis became identified with a number of business ventures all of which proved highly profitable: he was president of the board of control of the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company; a director of the California-Mexico Land and Cattle Company, and president of the Colorado River Land Company, its successor. Throughout his long life he retained his early interest in politics, taking an active part in all state campaigns in California. He was an uncompromising Republican and vehement opponent of the Progressive movement in that party. He was interested in international arbitration, and one of his last efforts was developing the details of his peace program, outlined in his Plan to End Wars (1915), a synopsis of which had been published in the Times only a few days before his death. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Chandler, in Hollywood. His own city residence, "The Bivouac, " had been given, the preceding Christmas, to Los Angeles County for a public art gallery; it is now known as the Otis Art Institute.
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Quotes from others about the person
A contemporary journalist, speaking of his "most powerful personality" and "overwhelming individuality, " says that "he permeated and dominated his entire establishment. He marched his martial way through every department - editorial, news, mechanical and business. He knew every detail of every department better than the men at the head of them. "
On September 11, 1859, Otis was married to Eliza A. Wetherby, who was actively associated with him in journalism until her death in 1904. Five children were born to them, one son and four daughters.