GEORGE K. OTIS
1844 - 1908
“George K. Otis was born on a farm in Sugar Creek township,
Wayne county, Ohio, March 11, 1844, and died at his home in Hicksville, Ohio,
December 16, 1908, aged 64 years, 9 months, and 5 days.
He was the son and second child of Merrill and Margaret
Saltzman Otis, who removed from Wayne county to Milford township, Defiance
county, about the year 1848, and both of whom died on the old homestead on
which they settled at that time.
The family of Merrill Otis consisted of nine children, five
of whom survive the deceased and three of whom were survived by him. Those living are Dr. William D. Otis of Ft.
Morgan, Colorado; Mrs. Eliza Gruber, of Montgomery, Ill.; Mrs. Mary Blackman of
Montgomery, Ill.; Mrs. Ida M. Hawkins, of Hicksville, Ohio and Miss Triphena
Otis, of Hicksville.
The deceased spent his boyhood days on the farm and in the
public schools of Milford township. At
the age of 18 years, Mr. Otis and his brother, William, enlisted in the service
of their country, joining Co. F, 111th O. V. I. and entering the
command of Gen. Rosecrans in his Kentucky campaign against Gen. Bragg. After a short military service on the field,
following the battle of Franklin, Ky., because of ill health, he was compelled
to retire from the service and was appointed post-master at Park Barracks, Ky.,
by Gen. Gilmore, in December 1862, where he served for several months, again
joining his company on the field and again being compelled to retire because of
sickness. He received an honorable
discharge from the army June 11, 1863, after a service of less than one year
and returned to his home in Milford township.
Shortly thereafter, he entered a business college at
Cleveland, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1865, after which, for a short
time, he engaged in teaching school in Adams township, this county. March 19, 1867, Mr. Otis was married to Sarah
Hilbert, a daughter of Peter Hilbert, one of the pioneers of the county. Their wedded life ended after 16 years by the
death of Mrs. Otis, which occurred in the year 1883. To this union were born two children, Judson
D. Otis and Mary Della Otis Comparette, both of whom are living.
April 2, 1885, Mr. Otis was joined in wedlock to Minnie M.
Cowhick, who survives him and with whom he lived happily until his death. To this union were born two children, Vera C.,
Otis Purdy and Loyd Melville Otis, both of whom survive. Of his immediate family, deceased is survived
by one brother, four sisters, the widow, four children and five grandchildren.
With the exception of about five years in which he lived in
Kansas, the whole mature life of Mr. Otis was spent in the two townships of
Milford and Hicksville, and there was not a man in either township, perhaps,
who had a larger personal acquaintance than he, nor one who had a larger circle
of personal, political, and business friends.
He was a man of remarkable business activity, covering many
lines of trade and endeavor, including that of farming, the drug business,
agricultural implements, general merchandise, real estate and other lines, at
various periods of his business career.
He was never idle, but always engaged in some honorable field of
business endeavor. In business, he was
not always successful, but, he was of that hopeful and optimistic disposition
that would not permit him to be crushed by business reverses, but when failure
overtook him, he was ready to begin over with renewed vigor and determination
for success.
In his latter days, his heart turned toward the farm, the
scene of his early associations, and he told the writer only a few weeks ago,
that one of the happiest seasons of his life was that spent last year on his
farm in Milford township, in which he personally engaged in tilling the soil
and enjoyed the privacy and quiet of his rural surroundings.
In the many years of his residence in Hicksville, he was
honored time after time by his fellow citizens by election to political office,
having at different times held the offices of clerk, treasurer and trustee of
the township and various offices in the village, all of which he filled with
honor to himself and profit to the people.
In 1894, he was appointed to the post-mastership of Hicksville by
President Cleveland and held the office
for the full term of four years, being recognized both by the government and
the people as efficient to the highest degree.
The most signal honor and preferment paid to the deceased
was conferred upon him by Gov. Bushnell, who was a business and personal
friend, and who in 1898, appointed him a member of the Ohio Centennial Commission,
which was to have had charge of the Ohio Centennial celebration proposed to be
held by the state in the year 1903.
After serving in this capacity for a time, the proposed celebration was
abandoned by the state and with it, the offices of the commissioners.
From his youth up, Mr. Otis was a devoted and consecrated
member of the Presbyterian church, and through all the vicissitudes of the
church at Hicksville, he was one of its substantial supporters and faithful
adherents. Through the different projects
of rebuilding, refurnishing and enlarging the church building, he was one of
the most active of the little band of faithful worshipers and gave much of his
time and means to the cause of the church which lay so close to his heart. For many years before his death, he was
continuously a member of the official family of both the church and the Sunday
school and his many deeds of Christian activity and words of Godly precepts
have added benediction and blessing to the lives with which he came in contact.
In society and in his going in and coming out among his
fellow men, he was of that kindly, hopeful, cheerful and encouraging
disposition that made his presence a
source of dispelling gloom and darkness and doubt and leaving in their stead,
good cheer and hope and comfort, and it was these qualities that drew to him so
many staunch friendships…”
Source: Obituaries: Pioneers of Northwest Ohio, Volume
1. Carma Rowe Estate (Johnson Memorial
Library). No date. Copies available at Defiance Public Library
and Hicksville and Sherwood branch libraries.
 |
| Forest Home Cemetery, Hicksville, Ohio |
 |
| Engraved on the side of the tombstone of George's parents, Merrill and Margaret Otis |
No comments:
Post a Comment