Wednesday, December 11, 2013
John E. Otis, 1st Mayor of the Town of West New York, New Jersey, 1898-1902.
John E. Otis served as the first Mayor of the Town of West New York, New Jersey. He served as Mayor during the Spanish American War (1898), The Boxer Rebellion (1900) and the Philippine Insurrection 1898-1902). The Town of West New York was Incorporated as a Town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on July 8th, 1898 replacing Union Township.
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Hey Anthony, you may be interested to know that Mayor Otis was born to Irish immigrants, Patrick Henry Oates and Margaret Gillorly of County Wexford. He was born September 20, 1853 in New York City.He moved back and forth between Philadelphia and Jersey City were his father worked in the liqueur business. He also worked in Maryland and Georgia before settling back in New Jersey, He married Emma Hopplesberg of Guttenberg on October 16, 1883, in St. Michael's church in West Hoboken, now Union City and they had several children while living in West New York, Henry, Charles, John, Walter, Cecelia and Emma who was born while Otis was in office.Prior to being Mayor, he was on the Board of Council for the former town of Union and the acting Chief of Police. when elected in 1898 he was not only Mayor but Chief of Police and Treasurer of the Fireman's Relief Associations and foreman of the first fire company in WNY, the Empire Hook and Ladder Co. According to the 1900 census his occupation is listed as a hardware dealer. He also worked as an inspector for the West Shore Railroad company. The Otis family lived at two places in WNY, in 1900 at 224 Bergenline Ave and then in 1910 & 1920 he lived at 635 Tyler Place. He died in 1923.
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