When John Henry Otis was born on 19 May 1843, in Kingston, Ulster, New York, United States, his father, John W Otis, was 52 and his mother, Charlotte D Thurston, was 42. He married Harriet A. Carson on 16 January 1867. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. He lived in Franklin, New York, United States in 1900 and Kingston, Ulster, New York Colony, British Colonial America for about 15 years. He died in November 1914, in Keene, Keene, Essex, New York, United States, at the age of 71, and was buried in Central Cemetery, Jay, Essex, New York, United States.