Published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society at the Charge of the Robert Henry Eddy Memorial Rooms at the Charge of the Eddy Town-Record Fund.

Boston, Mass., 1941

  THIS publication is issued under the authority of a vote passed by the NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, November 6, 1901, as follows:
  Voted: That the sum of $20,000, from the bequest of the late Robert Henry  Eddy, be set aside as a special fund to be called the Eddy Town-Record  Fund, for the sole purpose of publishing the Vital Records of the towns of Massachusetts, and that the Council be authorized and instructed to make such  arrangements as may be necessary for such publication. And the treasurer is hereby instructed to honor such drafts as shall be authorized by the Council for this purpose. 

Florence Conant Howes, in charge of Vital Records.

Haverhill, Mass.
Recording Publishing Co.

THE  TOWN OF OTIS, Berkshire County, was estab lished February 27, 1773, as "Loudun" from a tract of common  land called "Tyringham Equivalent."
  June 19, 1809, Loudon and the District of Bethlehem were united as the town of Loudon. (June 24, 1789, the District of Bethlehem had been established from the North Eleven Thousand Acres.)
  March  1, 1810, the Act of June 19, 1809, went into effect, and a part of Loudon (Bethlehem District) was annexed to Becket.
  June 13, 1810, the name of Loudon was changed to Otis.
  April 9, 1838, a part of the common lands called East Eleven Thousand  Acres was annexed to Otis.

      Population by Census :   1776 (Prov.), 200;
      1790  (U.S.),  605;      1800 (U.S.), 1102;
      1810  (U.S.), 1111;      1820 (U.S.),  981;
      1830  (U.S.), 1012;      1840 (U.S.), 1177;
      1850  (U.S.), 1224;      1855 (State),1018;
      1860  (U.S.),  998;      1865 (State), 956;
      1870  (U.S.),  960;      1875 (State), 855;
      1880  (U.S.),  785;      1885 (State), 703;
      1890  (U.S.),  583;      1895 (State), 518;
      1900  (U.S.),  476;      1905 (State), 534;
      1910  (U.S.),  494;      1915 (State), 442;
      1920 (U.S.),   361;      1925 (State), 395;
      1930 (U.S.),   367;      1935 (State), 415;
      1940 (U.S.),   364.

EXPLANATIONS.
  1. The  fact that a birth, marriage, or death is recorded in Otis does not prove that it occurred there, unless it is so stated in the record. When  places other than Otis and Massachusetts are named in the orginal records they are given as they appear there; but when Otis is named, the initial letter only is used, except in unusual phrases.
  2. In all items from town  records the original spelling is followed, and no attempt is made to correct errors appearing in the records.
  3. A baptism is not printed, if it occurs within one year after the recorded date of birth of a child of the same name  and parents or if it is clear that the child baptized is identical with the child of the birth record; but  variations found in the baptismal record are added to the birth record.
  4. The  birth of a married woman   is recorded under  her maiden name, if it is known. But if the maiden name cannot be determined, the entry appears under the husband's name, with a dash enclosed in brackets, i.e., [---], to signify that the maiden name  is unknown.  If it is not known whether the surname  is that of a married or unmarried woman, "?m." is placed in brackets after the Christian name.
  5. Marriages and intentions of marriage are printed under the names of  both parties. When both the marriage and intention of marriage are recorded, only the marriage record is printed; and  where a marriage appears without the intention being recorded, it is designated with an asterisk.
  6. Additional information  which  does not  appear in the original text of an item, i.e., any explanation, query, inference, or difference shown in other entries of the record, is bracketed. Parentheses are used to show  variations in the spelling of a name  in the same entry, to indicate the maiden name of a wife, to enclose an imperfect portion of the original text, and to separate clauses in the original text.

ABBREVIATIONS.
a. - age
abt. - about
b. - born
bp. - baptized
bur. - buried
cert. - certificate (see pub.)
ch. - child
chn. - children
C.R.1. - church record, St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Society
C.R.2. - church record, Congregational Church in Otis, constituted by the union of the  churches of  Loudon and Bethlehem, June  5, 1810
Co. -  County
d. - daughter; day; died
Dea. - deacon
dec'd - deceased
dup. - duplicate entry
Eld. - Elder
Ens. - Ensign
G.R.1. - gravestone record, Otis Center Cemetery
G.R.2. - gravestone record, Otis West Center Cemetery
G.R.3. - gravestone record, West Otis Cemetery
G.R.4.. - gravestone record, Norton or Old East Otis Cemetery, about one mile west of East Otis
G.R.5.-gravestone  record, New East Otis Cemetery
G.R.6. - gravestone record, Gulf Bridge Cemetery, near the Otis-Tolland line, in the southeast part of Otis
G.R.7. - gravestone record, Watson  Cemetery, on  the Otis-Blanford line, east of Haley Pond, in  the field of the Edward K. Lincoln estate
h. - hours; husband
inf. - infant
int. - publishment of intention of marriage
Jr. - junior
Lt. - Lieutenant
m. - marriage; married; month
min. - minutes
O. -  Otis
P.R.1. - private record, from the Haskell family Bibles of three generations, in the possession (1934) of Miss Nellie E. Haskell of Otis
P.R.2. - private record, from the Samuel Hunter family Bible, in the possession (1934) of Mrs. L. A. Norton of Chicago.
P.R.3. - private record, from the Reuben Daniels family Bible, in the possession (1934) of Mrs. W. S. Perry of Roseville, Calif.
P.R.4. - private record, from the Elam Potter Norton  family Bible, in the possession (1934) of Elam  V. Norton of Winsted, Conn.
pub. - publishment;  Adonijah  Jones, Jr., town clerk of Otis used the following form:. . . "their intention of marriage was entered in the Clerks office August 29th 1805 and published as the Law directs and certificate given out Septr.18th 1805 by me"
q.v. - which see; whom  see
rec. - recorded
s. - son
Sr. -  Senior
w. -  week; wife
wid. - widow
widr. - widower
y. -  year