(V) Horace, sixth son of Levi and Hannah (Plympton) Holden, was born November 5, 1703, died March 25, 1862, in New York City.  He obtained his education in the Academy of the Rev. William Woodbridge, D.D., in Newark, New Jersey.  In 1809 he came to New York City and entered the office of Ezra Bliss with a view to the profession of law.  In 1814 he was admitted to the bar, and from that time to his death, a period of forty-eight years, he practiced his profession in new York City, with great monetary profit and won a high reputation as trustee, guardian, executor, real estate lawyer and counsellor.  His piety entered with him into every act of life, and his integrity earned him the nickname of the "Honest Lawyer" as he "never advised or defended that which an honest man and a Christian could not maintain and justify. Though originally inclined to the church of his father, who was an Episcopalian, he became in 1829 a member of the Brick Presbyterian Church in Beekman Street (the Times Building now covers the site), and three years later was appointed elder, in which capacity he served for the remainder of his life.  He was for many years superintendent of the Sunday school, and a leader in the weekly prayer meeting.  He was one of the founders, in 1857, of the famous Fulton Street noon-day prayer-meeting for business men.  For twenty-seven years he was one of the board of managers of the American Bible Society, and for twenty-three years was a member of its committee on legacies, during many of them its chairman.  He was also for along time a member of the board of managers of the New York Sunday School Union.  He was frank, outspoken and impulsive, generous almost to a fault, giving largely to religious institutions and charities, public and private.  He was the owner of several valuable pieces of real estate in New York City, also a country seat at Bay Ridge, Long Island. 

          Mr. Holden married (first) August 8, 1816, Bathsheba Sanford, born May 8, 1793, died February 3, 1820.  Married (second)

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February 19, 1824, Mary Cotton, born November 27, 1795, died August 17, 1832.  Married (third) December 25, 1833, Catherine Plant Judson, born February 7, 1805, died December 17, 1886, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Plant) Judson, of Stratford, Connecticut.  Child of first wife: 1.  Harriet Sophia, born July 29, 1817, died December 31, 1850; married, July 22, 1840, Stephen Howard Thayer, (see Thayer VIII). Children of second wife:  2. James Cotton, born December 15, 1824.  3. Sarah cotton, August 7, 1826, died August 28, 1832.  4. Mary Douglas, March 13, 1828, died August 26, 1832.  5. Eliza Storrs, December 23, 1829, married Rev. J. Ford Sutton, died April 12, 1859.  6. Horace, February 13, 1832, died August 31, 1832.  Children of third wife:  7. Sarah Judson, December 16, 1834, died February 20, 1836.  8. Horace, August 10, 1836, died August 6, 1842.  9. Katherine Judson, April 26, 1838, married Rev. J. Ford Sutton, died December 30, 1898.  10. Mary Stirling, February 21, 1840, died February 15, 1845.  11. Edward Ogden, December 28, 1841, died April 26, 1848.  12. Daniel Judson, January 15, 1844. 

OTIS.     The Otis family has had many men of distinction from colonial times to the present, and all are of the same family, all descendants of the same progenitor, John Otis, or, as the name is otherwise spelled, Attis, Oates, Oatise, Oatice.  The English family has a coat-of-arms.  From New England this family has scattered throughout the United States.  it has been prominent in the development of Southern New York and still has in that section many worthy representative citizens.  In the annals of the family history are found names of some who have attained positions of honorable mention and marked prominence in the affairs of the country, namely, James Otis, whose name stands in the highest order as an orator and patriot, of whom president John Adams said:  "James Otis rocked the cradle of liberty and breathed into this nation the breath of life." General Otis, who for a considerable period was in command of the United States military forces in the Philippines, and the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, proprietor of the Los Angeles Times.

          (I) John Otis was born 1581, in Barnstable, Devonshire, England, and resided at Hingham, Norfolk, England, where he was a substantial yeoman.  In company with Rev. peter Hobart and his congregation, who sought religious freedom in the New World, he sailed in June, 1635, and settled at Hingham, Massachusetts, where he was present at the first division of land in that year and subscribed to the freemen's oath March 3, following.  He subsequently received several grants of land and was among the most substantial citizens of the town, filling various town offices.  His homestead was on Otis Hill in the southwestern part of the town, where his buildings were burned March 15, 1646, and he removed, about 1655, to Weymouth, Massachusetts.  His will, dated May 3, 1657, is recorded in the first volume of the Suffolk Registry of Probate, and was proved July 28, following.  He was accompanied on his arrival in Massachusetts by his wife, Margaret, who died in Hingham, June 28, 1653.  His second wife bore the name of Elizabeth, but her family name is not preserved.  He died in Weymouth, May 31, 1657.  Children;  1. John, of whom further.  2. Richard.  3. Margaret.  4. Hannah.  5. Ann.  6. Alice.

          (II) John (3), eldest son of John (1) Otis, was born in Barnstable, Devonshire, England, in 1620.  He came to New England with his parents and lived on Otis Hill, Hingham.  He held land in Hingham, 1668-69.  In 1661 John Otis removed to Scituate, where John Otis was buried May 8, 1641.  It seems likely that John Otis who died there, and of whom all record is lacking, may be father of John Otis (1) and grandfather of John Otis (2), who twenty years later went to Scituate to live.  He probably had land there.  He bought a house of Deacon Thomas Robinson, south of Coleman's Hill.  Otis also bought of John Hatherly twenty-three shares of the Conihasset partnership of forty shares.  This Conihasset tract was three miles square and included parts of the present towns of Hanover and Abington. He was admitted a freeman in Hingham, 1662, and at Barnstable in 1678.  He settled in Barnstable, on the Otis farm, opposite Hinkley lane near the marshes in the West Parish.  He left his son John there, and returned to Scituate, where he died January

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16, 1683.  There is a stone on his grave in the old burying ground in the meeting house land a mile south of the harbor, but the inscription is not legible.  He married (second) Mary, daughter of Nicholas Jacob, who came over in 1633. His children were:  1. Mary, baptized 1653.  2. Elizabeth.  3. John, born in Hingham, 1657.  4. Hannah, probably born 1660.  5. Stephen, 1661.  7. James, 1662.  8. Joseph, of whom further,  9. Job, 1667.

          (III) Joseph, son of John (2) Otis, was born in 1663.  He settled in Scituate and held various offices of trust and honor; was judge of court of common pleas of Plymouth County, 1703-14; and deputy to general court in 1713.  ”He was a gentleman of great integrity, a judicious and useful citizen."  "He was a Christian upon principle, a public spirited and useful man, distinguished by talent of the solid, judicial and useful, rather than the brilliant and showy kind.  He was of large stature; his countenance solemn and serene; frank and open in his manners, of ready wit and sound understanding.  As a private individual he had the union of simple dignity and benevolent courtesy which mark the gentleman."  He removed to New London, now Montville, 1721, whither his sons and some of his daughters had preceded him.  In 1714 he bought of Captain Samuel Gilbert a farm of two hundred and thirty acres in the east part of Colchester, for seven hundred and seventy pounds; afterwards he gave it to his son Nathaniel.  He bought six hundred and fifty acres of James Harris in the North Parish, "adjoining the pond called Obplinthsok," now Gardner's Lake.  He was a moderator of the town meeting at North Parish, and was on the parish and church committee.  He married, November 20, 1688, Dorothy, who died February 18, 1755, daughter of Nathaniel Thomas, of Marshfield.  The Thomas family owned the estate where afterward Daniel Webster lived.  Children, born at Scituate:  1. Nathaniel, January 30, 1690.  2. James, of whom further.  3. Deborah, April 24, 1694.  4. Mary, March 20, 1695-96.  5. Dorothy, April 24, 1698.  6. Elizabeth, September 2, 1700.  7. Ann, September 21, 1702.  8. Bethia, November 20, 1703.  9. Delight, December 19, 1706.  10, Hannah, December 10, 1709.  11. Joseph, October 1, 1712.  12. Rachel, December 1, 1713. 

          (IV) James, son of Joseph Otis, was born in Scituate, January, 1693, died at Saybrook, Connecticut, 1754.  He lived at Montville and Saybrook.  He married Sarah Tudor, of New York, who died at Colchester, February 15, 1788, aged ninety-one years.  Children:  1. James, born 1714.  2. Elizabeth.  3. Stephen, of whom further. 

          (V) Stephen, son of James and Sarah (Tudor) Otis, was born September 30, 1738, in Scituate, died in Halifax, Vermont, November 20,1831, aged ninety-three years and fifty-one days.  He resided in Colchester, Connecticut, where all of his children were born; subscribed to the oath of fidelity in 1781, and was made a freeman in 1782.  He was a soldier in the old French War under General Putnam; was at Fort Stanwix, New York, and at the taking of Montreal; subsequently he was a soldier of the Revolution and witnessed the burning of New London.  He married, in 1762, Lucy Chandler, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, born 1738, died March 4, 1837, nearly one hundred years old.  Children:  1. Araunah, born January 6, 1763, died at Rutland, New York, in 1833.  2. Caroline, December 18, 1764.  3. Calvin, October 16, 1766, was a carpenter in New York, where he died in 1834.  4. Elce, September 12, 1768.  5. Chandler, April 18, 1770, was a farmer in Leyden, new York.  6. Lucy, January 4, 1773.  7. Stephen, of whom further.  8. Seth, June 24, 1777, was a merchant at Watertown, New York, where he served as high sheriff and official capacities, and subsequently lived in Chicago.  9. Nathaniel, November 26, 1778, was for more then forty years a Baptist clergyman, residing successively at Smithfield, new York, and Beloit, Wisconsin.  10. James, November 5, 1780, lived at Sullivan, Madison County, New York.  11. Joseph, February, 5, 1782, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and settled at Bristol Wisconsin. 

          (VI) Stephen (2), fourth son of Stephen (1) and Lucy (chandler) Otis, was born December 20, 1774, in Colchester, Connecticut.  He settled in Halifax, Vermont where he was a prominent citizen, widely known for his public spirit and liberal tendencies.  He was a well informed man; served for many years as justice of the peace, and served four terms as a member of the state legislature, and his counsel was often sought. 

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in political, financial and private matters.  He married, February 27, 1797, Phoebe Glynn, born in Dunstable, New Hampshire, July 10, 1768.  Among his six children were:  1. Chandler, born 1803.  2. Samuel, 1805.  3. Laura.  4. Elisha Graves, mentioned below.  After a residence of almost fifty years in Halifax, Mr. and Mrs. Otis removed to Arkwright, New York, where they lived with their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Baldwin, until their deaths.  They were faithful members of the Baptist Church. 

          (VII) Elisha Graves, youngest child of Stephen (2) and Phoebe (Glynn) Otis, was born August 3, 1811, in the town of Halifax, Windham County, Vermont, on a farm about one mile south of the point on the Green River known as Harris Corners, located on the road leading to Halifax Center.  He worked on his father's farm, but having no taste for that occupation he asked for his time firm his father, before becoming of age, which was granted.  He engaged in building operations for several years in Troy, New York, after which he began teaming between Troy, New York, and Brattlesboro, Vermont, which occupation he followed for a brief period.  In 1838 he returned to Vermont, acquired some property, constructed a large dam on the Green River, and built a residence with a grist mill, run by water power, attached.  The mill not proving remunerative, he began manufacturing fine carriages, which occupation he followed for about seven years, until the region around about was supplied, when he undertook to transform his place into a saw mill, but becoming financially embarrassed, and his health failing, he was forced to abandon his project.  On recovery he went to Albany, New York, where he secured employment as a master mechanic in the bedstead factory of O. Tingley & Company.  He remained there about three years, during which period he invented and put into use several labor-saving machines, one of which was for the turning of the round rails which formed the connecting sides and ends between the four corner posts of the bedstead of that period.  These rails were about three and one-half inches in diameter, of maple, and had previously been turned in a wood-turner's ordinary lathe, on which not more than ten or twelve sets, forty or forty-eight pieces, a day could have been done by an ordinary wood-turner.  Mr. Otis conceived the idea of constructing a machine which would turn and finish these rails semi-automatically, requiring only an ordinary laborer to tend it.  The proprietors of the establishment readily made a contract with Mr. Otis to construct a machine to turn out fifty sets, two hundred pieces, a day, for the sum of five hundred dollars.  This machine was designed and constructed after Mr. Otis' usual method of perfecting his inventions with all of their proportions, in his head seldom or never resorting to the later method of making a scale drawing before starting on the work.  The machine was completed in due time, set up and connected with the power.  Mr. Otis ran it himself for a day without a hitch or the delay of a single moment from the start easily turning out the two hundred rails required by his contract.  The machine continued to do its work satisfactorily for many years, during the entire period of the existence of that firm.

          The bedstead factory was located in a village called Tivoli, at the north end of Albany, upon stream known as Patroon's Creek, which descended from the west and flowed into the Hudson.  This village and its surroundings belonged tot he Van Rensselaer Estate, of which Stephen Van Rensselaer was the proprietor at that time.  About a quarter of a mile up the stream from the bedstead factory was a small brick building with water power, which Mr. Otis leased.  Here he invented and put ina turbine wheel, erected a two-story addition to the building, began the business of manufacturing machinery of various kinds, and carrying on a general jobbing business in which e was very successful for a time.  About two years later, the city of Albany took possession of this stream for supplying the city with water, thus depriving Mr. Otis of his power, destroying his prospect fo success, and leaving him considerably in debt and greatly disheartened.  The firm of O. Tingley & Company, consisting of Otis Tingley and Josiah Maize, had previously dissolved.  Mr. Maize had gone to Bergen, New Jersey, and started a bedstead and furniture business, having contracted with Mr. Otis for a rail-turning and for other ma-

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chines to be placed in his factory there.  These machines had been constructed and delivered.  At the same time, Mr. Maize offered Mr. Otis employment as master mechanic in his factory in Bergen, Mr. Otis accepted the position, and moved to Bergen in the fall of 1851. 

          Besides having charge of the machinery, Mr. Otis spent much of his time during the following winter in inventing and making models of a suspended bridge to convey trains across the river from Greenbush to Albany, there being no permanent bridge at that point then, and owing to the opposition of Troy it was practically impossible for many years to secure the legislation necessary to build one. Mr. Otis also invented and made models of a railway train having safety brakes under the control of the engineer, with an automatic arrangement for stopping the train almost instantly in case of danger.  During this winter, 1851-52- Mr. Maize formed a partnership consisting of Benjamin Newhouse, Reuben Barnes and himself, Mr. Newhouse was the owner of a large property fronting on the Hudson at Yonkers, New York, which he wished to improve.  On it at that time was a saw mill.  The partnership with Maize and Barnes was for the purpose of moving Mr. Maize's business from Bergen, New Jersey to Yonkers, and greatly enlarging it.  In 1852 a large factory was built on the river front at the foot of Vary Street, on the site nor occupied by the Federal Sugar Refinery.  Mr. Otis moved to Yonkers and was set to work to organize this factory and install the machinery.  In so doing he constructed and erected  therein the first elevator known as a safety elevator, having safety appliances that  worked automatically in case of the breaking of the lifting chain or rope. This elevator, with the other machinery needed in the factory, was constructed in accordance with Mr. Otis' views of what it should be in order to accomplish the desired end in the beat possible way, and in the case of the elevator, with special regard for the safety of those who should risk their lives in its use.  

          At the time, Mr. Otis had in contemplation a removal to California as soon as he had completed the organization of this factory, and would probably have gone there had not an accident occurred with an elevator in the furniture factory of Mr., Newhouse, located at 275 Hudson Street, New York City, in which the elevator fell several stories, and two were either killed or very seriously injured.  This resulted in Mr. Newhouse giving Mr. Otis an order for two elevators to replace those of another make previously in use, which latter were provided with safety appliances dependent upon the presence of mind of the operator, who in case of danger could throw the safety appliances into action by the simple movement, either upward or downward, of a lever, and prevent an accident.  These safety appliances were not automatic, and the operator at the moment of danger becoming confused, failed to do the right thing, and serious consequences followed.  At the same time Messrs. Searls and Williams, neighbors of Mr. Newhouse, had built a factory for the manufacture of picture frames, and gave Mr. Otis an order for a safety elevator.  These three elevators were duly constructed and installed.  This was in 1854, and may be said to constitute the beginning of the elevator business.

          The bedstead company enterprises later proving unsuccessful, the company failed.  When the bedstead works shut down, Mr. Otis was obliged to add a small, three horse-power, portable engine and boiler which he purchased of Charles Mann, of Troy, New York, to run the small machine shop, consisting of a couple of lathes, a drill press, a forge, and two or three vises, which he had got together.  The cost of these necessary appliances, together with the money required in purchasing materials, and paying his help, put a heavy strain upon his, at the time, very limited means; but he was gifted with considerable fertility of resource under stress, and managed to pull successfully through this and many other trying periods. 

          In 1854, Mr. Otis put a working model of his machine in the Exhibition in what was known as the Crystal Palace erected in Reservoir Square ion sixth Avenue between Forty-first and Forty-second Streets, New York City.  This model was in a conspicuous place.  Its platform was sufficiently large for him to stand upon and work the machine, which had a vertical movement probably of from thirty to forty feet.  Dur-

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ing this Exhibition, Mr. Otis stood upon the platform, ran the machine up to a considerable height, then cut the rope, his safety appliances preventing the platform from falling, thus demonstrating the value of his invention, and making his exhibit one of the most interesting and attractive in the Fair.  This was a very effective method of advertising, and resulted in his receiving orders for elevators from several different parts of the country, the first of which was received by his older son, then in charge of his shop at Yonkers, from Alfred Wilde, manager of the Harmony Cotton Mill at Cohoes, New York.  Mr. Wilde called at the door and left his address, saying that he wished an elevator put into the above named mills.  This order was immediately secured.  Also, about the same time, an order came for one from Charleston, South Carolina.  Others followed for Field, Fowler & Company, Linseed oil manufacturers in Boston.  From this time on, the business gradually extended, Mr. Otis giving his entire time and energy to it.  Among other machines erected was one in 1856 for E. V. Haughwout & Company, dealers in French glass and glassware, and placed in a large new five story store at the northeast corner of Broome Street and Broadway, New York City.  The car of this machine was enclosed and provided with his safety appliances.  It was used as a passenger elevator for many years, and it is believed was the first passenger elevator ever erected in New York. 

          Later, in 1857, Otis Tufts, of Boston, a manufacturer of sugar machinery for the south, failed in the panic of that year.  Looking around for business, Mr. Tufts happened to see the elevators which Mr. Otis had put in for Field, Fowler & Company, in Boston.  He became interested, and finally persuaded a Mr. Eno to give him a "go as you please" order to construct an elevator for the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Twenty-third Street and Fifth

Avenue, New York City.  This elevator had a large vertical screw of so steep a pitch of thread as to require what was called a retarder to prevent it from becoming dangerous wen descending.  The elevator cost $25,000, and was very slow in operation.  This and one other for the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia, were the only ones of that design ever built.  The one in Philadelphia met with an accident to the retarder, and descended to the bottom with such rapidity as to seriously injure a lady passenger.  The foregoing regarding Mr. Tufts was mentioned for the reason that it has gone abroad and that Mr. Tufts was the first maker of a passenger elevator.

          The elevator previously erected by Mr. Otis in the Haughwout store did good service for many years, and was never the occasion of injury or accident to any of the thousands who used it.  In the course of nine years in which Mr. Otis gave his time and energy almost exclusively to the manufacture and introduction of his elevators, chiefly for freight in factories and stores, he had acquired a reputation extending well over the eastern part of the country as "Otis, the Safety Elevator man," his manufacturing occupying the principal part of the first floor of the brick building previously erected by the Bedstead Company.  At the time of his death in 1861, he had a plant valued at about $5,000, and employed from eight to ten men.

          In the spring of 1861, at the breaking out of the war with the south, a great diphtheria epidemic swept over the country.  Mr. Otis contracted the disease and died April 8^th, four days previous to the bombardment of Fort Sumter.

          He possessed no ordinary genius as an inventor, as is proved by the fact that he could invent, design, and construct a perfect working machine or improve almost anything to which he gave his mind, without resource to any of the modern drafting room methods.  He needed no assistance, asked no advice, consulted with no one and never made much use of pen or pencil in designing the various machines--many of which have not been mentioned--of which he was the inventor.  In short, he exemplified the reverse of a remark attributed to Edison who defined American genius as "Two per cent inspiration, and ninety-eight per cent perspiration."  The trend of his inventive genius was mainly in the line of machinery and when either in his ordinary pursuits or in reading or conversation his mine was led to a needed advance in almost any form of mechanism for the attainment of improved methods or ends, the desired result was reached by him more as an in-

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spiration than by a process of slow, laborious reasoning and experiment.  He also had extraordinary ability and genius, not only for designing, but for proportioning all of the parts of the machine he was about to construct, in such manner as that they were thoroughly adapted in strength and fitness for withstanding the wear, tear and strain to which they were to be subjected, and was never known to make a mistake in this respect and have to alter, remodel or rebuild the machine after it was once constructed and put into use, though by no means lacking in ability to improve upon a previous production. 

          Moreover, he was an ardent patriot, took a great interest in the general well-being of his country, and was prominent and active in local public affairs.  He was a man of determined purpose, an earnest temperance worker, an old-school Abolitionist, very active and energetic, throwing his whole soul into everything he undertook.      

          He married (first), June 2, 1834, Susan A. Houghton, of Halifax, Vermont, who died February 25, 1842, leaving two sons, Charles R. and Norton P., of whom further.  In august, 1846, he married (second) Mrs. Betsy A. Boyd. 

          (VIII) Charles Rollin, senior son of Elisha G. and Susan A. (Houghton) Otis, was born April 29, 1835, in Troy, New York.  He attended the public schools at Halifax and Albany.  Like his father he early developed a fondness for machinery and machine work, and at the age of thirteen entered the factory with his father, learning thoroughly the trade of machinist and remained in the business until its sale in 1882.  At the age of sixteen he became infatuated with steam engines, and secured the position of engineer in the manufactory superintended by his father at Hudson city, then Bergen, New Jersey.  From the windows of this factory he observed European and other steamers going and coming and was soon possessed of a desire to become chief engineer on one of these vessels.  This purpose continued wit him for several months and he spent much time in study and preparation for what he then intended should be the business of his life.  Upon the removal of the family to Yonkers, this ambition was gradually abandoned and he became identified with the development of the elevator business.  He believed in the future and argued strongly the abandonment of all other lines of business for the special manufacture of safety elevators, there being at this time no one in the world, so far as known, engaged in this particular line as a specialty.  At this time, from 1854 to 1858, his father was doing a small business, employing from five to fifteen men of whom the son had charge as foreman.  About 1859-60 the necessity for an independent engine for the control of elevators was felt and the father designed, constructed and patented such an engine, consisting of two connected reversible oscillating cylinders very compactly arranged, and this hoisting engine marked the beginning of the system of steam elevators now in extensive use throughout the world and without which it would be practically impossible to carry on the enormous building operations and other business of the country within the space allotted to it. This engine proved somewhat defective in operations and in 1861 Charles R. Otis invented and patented an important improvement which effectively remedied its most troublesome defect and for many years this hoisting engine continued to be the standard machine in its line.  The outbreak of the Civil War caused a period of financial depression and the elevator business was prostrated and at the death of its founder was in a very unfortunate condition.  The son at this time was twenty-six years of age and had accumulated about fifteen hundred dollars and his brother had also a few hundred dollars, and they decided to attempt a resuscitation of the business as a specialty, and to attempt the formation of a permanent industry.  Other lines were dispensed with and the Otis brothers devoted their time and energy solely to the designing and manufacture of elevator machinery to meet the requirement in that line.  In 1861062 the gradual revival in trade incident to the demands of the government for war materials began to be felt and elevators came in for a shore in the improvement of business.  The first two orders of the firm amounted to seventy dollars.  At this time, and in earlier and later years, Mr. Otis worked almost incessantly and sometimes during the entire

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night.  Many improvements were made and wrought out, chiefly in the direction of securing safety and greater speed in the use of elevator apparatus and a large number of patents were secured at various times as the business progressed.  More than fifteen of these were the invention of the senior brother, while the junior also originated and patented many valuable devices.  In 1862 the business of the firm did not exceed fifteen thousand dollars, but it gradually increased until in 1865 it amounted to eighty thousand dollars.  In 1868 the total business amounted to one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars which was almost trebled in the next four years.  In 1881 it had reached six hundred thousand dollars, and when the brothers retired in June, 1882, the business was firmly established upon a basis approaching one million dollars per annum.  Early in the year 1882 Mr. Otis was so seriously affected by his long continued industry and lack of rest and recreation that he was seized with insomnia which continued for several months.  In consequence of this he decided to give up business which was accomplished by its sale, June 1, 1882.  The business had continued under a partnership until 1867, when it was organized as a stock company, in which the brothers held a large majority.  They afterward purchased what was outstanding so that at the time of retirement they were the sole owners.  On the organization of the company Charles R. Otis was chosen president and remained in that capacity until the close of his connection with the business. 

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