Major Otey farmed using enslaved labor as well as represented Bedford County in the Virginia House of Delegates (part-time) for many terms beginning (1798-1804, 1805–1812),[5] before attaining his military rank in the War of 1812.

[6] In 1807, Major Isaac Otey purchased Fancy Farm (including a distillery and grist mill) from the estate of Andrew Donald, a Scottish merchant who had built that plantation but died before his sons reached legal age.

[8] His son Isaac Otey Jr. would also operate plantations and serve five terms in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Bedford County.

[16] Fervently interested in Christian education, Otey helped organize schools at Ashwood, Jackson and Columbia, Tennessee, the later with the Rev.

Bishop Otey's 30-year dream for a "Literary and Theological Seminary" for the region were realized when the University of the South at Sewanee, in southeastern Tennessee, was established in 1857.

[17] He had opposed coercion as the Civil War began, and declined to attend the organizational meetings of the Confederate Episcopal Church.