Otis (James) is born in West Barnstable.

James Otis graduates from Harvard College, practices law initially in Plymouth, then moves to Boston in 1760, where he lives near today’s 31 School Street. He becomes an accomplished orator, delivering a particularly memorable speech in 1761,* and, with Samuel Adams, one of the most ardent protesters against British rule and leading advocates for the American Revolution. Otis serves in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1762-69), but begins to display signs of mental illness, which worsen after he is beaten in a fight in a tavern in 1769.* Otis retires from public life, and dies in unusual circumstances in Andover on May 23, 1783.* He is buried in the Granary Burying Ground.