USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 30
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jority on the boards of trustees of the church, the bank and the academy. General O'Hara's knowledge of French and the Indian languages was of great service to him.
After the Revolution, General James O'Hara married Mary, daughter of Wil- liam Carson, of Philadelphia. To their residence in Pittsburgh all were welcome, from the countryman who came for rest and refreshment to his guests of honor, Louis Philippe, General Moreau and other French officers. James O'Hara and his wife (who survived him until 1834) had four sons, William Carson, who mar- ried his cousin, Mary Carson; Charles, died when a child; James, married the daughter of Presley Neville; Richard Butler married Mary Boyd Fitzimmons, and their daughter was the late Mrs. William M. Darlington (a full account of William M. Darlington and wife appear- ing elsewhere in this work). The older sons died without children before their father. General O'Hara's two daughters, Elizabeth Febiger O'Hara (Mrs. Harmar Denny), Mary O'Hara (Mrs. William Croghan) and his son Richard Butler O'Hara survived him. General O'Hara's sister married, in Ireland, William O'Hara, who was not related to her; on her husband's death she and her two daughters came to live in Pittsburgh, her descendants are well known in Pennsyl- vania.
General James O'Hara died at his home on the bank of the Monongahela river, December 21, 1819, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was very popular, and his integrity and honor were never doubted. He was deeply regretted and esteemed as many writers have testified.
(The genealogy of General James O'Hara is from O'Hart's "Irish Pedi- grees" and personal letters from Mr. O'Hart to Mrs. M. C. Darlington (Mrs.
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William M. Darlington) also from infor- mation obtained by William M. Darling- ton in London. Authority for the life of James O'Hara was found in letters and documents in possession of the Denny estate, some of these letters were pub- lished in "Fort Pitt and Letters from the Frontier," Pennsylvania Archives, Colo- nial Records, etc).
ONG, Finley K., Prominent Business Man.
Pittsburgh numbers among her citizens many representatives of that valuable class of solidly aggressive business men who, wherever found, constitute the bone and sinew of their communities. Promi- nent among those who to-day compose this class in the metropolis, is Finley Kirk Ong, secretary and director of the Dil- worth Brothers Company, one of the widely known organizations of its kind in the Pittsburgh district. For more than forty years Mr. Ong has been a resident of Pittsburgh, and during that time has always been loyally devoted to the pro- motion of her most essential interests.
The Ong family is of English origin, and records prove its existence in the county of Suffolk as early as the thir- teenth century when, it is said, the use of family names first became general in Eng- land.
wife being Frances, and they were the parents of three sons: Simon, Jacob and Isaac, mentioned below. In 1636, Frances Ong, the widow of the immigrant, appears as a "proprietor" in Watertown, Massa- chusetts, where she died aged fifty-five and was buried November 12, 1638.
(II) Isaac, son of Francis and Frances Ong, resided in Watertown, Massachu- setts, at least until 1670, but shortly after made his way to New Jersey, settling in Burlington county some time prior to 1688. He married, May 18, 1670, Mary, daughter of Joseph Underwood, and evi- dently contracted a second union as in his will he refers to his wife as "Sarah." His children were: Jacob, mentioned be- low; Jeremiah; Isaac; Sarah, who mar- ried, February 8, 1694, Edward Andrews; and Elizabeth, who married some one of the name of Ridgeway. Isaac Ong, the father, died June 13, 1696, in Mansfield township, Burlington county, New Jersey. (III) Jacob, son of Isaac and Mary (Underwood) Ong, was a farmer of Mansfield township, Burlington county, New Jersey. He married, and his chil- dren were: Jacob, mentioned below; Isaac; Phoebe, married, July 22, 1731, James Laing, of Middletown ; and Esther, married, in 1737, Joseph Duckworth, of Burlington county, New Jersey.
(IV) Jacob (2), son of Jacob (1) Ong, was born about 1702, in Burlington county, New Jersey, and the records show Spragg, and their children were: Jere- miah, mentioned below; Isaac; Rachel, married Elias Brass, of Burlington, New Jersey; and Susannah, married Thomas Pettit, of Monmouth, New York.
Francis Ong, the progenitor of the American branch of the family, was of . that he was a farmer. He married Mary Lavenham, Suffolk, and on December I, 1630, embarked in the ship "Lyon," from Bristol, England, for the town of Boston, in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He landed on February 5, 1631, after a long and dangerous voyage, and did not live (V) Jeremiah, son of Jacob (2) and Mary (Spragg) Ong, was born in Bur- lington county, New Jersey, and lived, during the Revolutionary War, in Eastern Pennsylvania. Soon after the war he re- long to enjoy the privileges for which he had given up so much, dying within five years after his arrival at Boston. He married in England, the name of his
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moved to Fayette county, settling near Cookstown, now Fayette City. He was a farmer and a member of the Society of Friends. The name of his wife was Chris- tianna and their children were: Jacob, mentioned below; Jesse; Mary, married Enoch Watson; and Jeremiah.
(VI) Jacob (3), son of Jeremiah and Christianna Ong, was born January 24, 1760, and during the early part of the Revolutionary War carried the mail and also messages between Philadelphia and Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. Later he joined the ranks of the Continentals, and served until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge. From Menallen, Adams county, Pennsylvania, he moved to Frederick county, and in 1812 migrated to Jefferson county, Ohio, settling on a farm on Cross Creek, Cross township, near Skelly's Station. From this place he made a final removal to Piney Fork, Smithfield township, Jeffer- son county, where he purchased a farm which has been known for a hundred years as the old Ong homestead. Jacob Ong was a carpenter and cabinetmaker and also the architect and builder of the Friends' Meeting House near Richmond, Ohio, and the large and commodious Friends' Yearly Meeting House at Mount Pleasant, Ohio. That he was a soldier of the Revolution there is no doubt, and that at the close of the conflict he was honor- ably discharged does not admit of ques- tion, but, being a Friend, he never applied for a pension. He was an acknowledged minister of the Society. Jacob Ong mar- ried, September 25, 1784, at Menallen, Adams county, Pennsylvania, Mary, daughter of James and Dina McGrew, and their children were: Rebecca; Fin- ley, mentioned below; Jacob; Isaac ; Dinah; Nathan McGrew ; John McGrew ; Mary; and James Mifflin. Jacob Ong, the father, died at the venerable age of
ninety-seven and was interred in the Friends' Burial Ground at Smithfield, Ohio.
(VII) Finley, son of Jacob (3) and Mary (McGrew) Ong, was born Febru- ary 19, 1787, in Martinsburg, Virginia, and lived as a farmer in Jefferson county, Ohio. He was a man of prominence in his neighborhood, and a member of the Society of Friends. He married, Decem- ber 30, 1805, Ann, daughter of Moses and Mary Blackburn, and their children were : Jacob Finley; Mary; Moses Harlan; Matilda; Lewis; Rebecca; Mifflin, men- tioned below; Eliza Ann; Emily; and Rachel Ann. Mr. Ong was eighty-seven years old at the time of his death.
(VIII) Mifflin, son of Finley and Ann (Blackburn) Ong, was born July 6, 1820, at Smithfield, Ohio, and grew up on his father's farm, receiving his education in the district school and at Scott's Acad- emy, Steubenville, Ohio, an institution of local celebrity. He always remained on the homestead, cultivating his ancestral acres and was a life-long member of the Society of Friends. Mr. Ong married Elizabeth Kirk, and their children were: Finley Kirk, mentioned below; William B., formerly of Canfield, North Dakota, died May 3, 1906; Martha A., of Pitts- burgh; and Oliver, also of Pittsburgh. The death of Mr. Ong occurred April 4, 1869.
(IX) Finley Kirk, son of Mifflin and Elizabeth (Kirk) Ong, was born Janu- ary 7, 1848, at Smithfield, Ohio, and re- ceived his preparatory education in local schools, afterward studying at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. In 1871 he came to Pittsburgh and entered the serv- ice of Joseph Horne and Company as bookkeeper, retaining the position for three years and a half. At the end of that time Mr. Ong became bookkeeper for the John S. Dilworth Company, remaining five years, and adding to the reputation
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for ability, industry and fidelity which he had already acquired in his former posi- tion. In 1883 he associated himself as office salesman and buyer with the firm of Dilworth Brothers. The concern later dissolved, and in 1901 was incorporated as the Dilworth Brothers Company, Mr. Ong becoming secretary and director. These positions he still retains, his busi- ness talent and weight of character hav- ing made him a forceful factor in com- mercial circles.
The political allegiance of Mr. Ong is given to the Republican party, and while he takes no active share in the affairs of the organization, he is never found want- ing in a laudable degree of public spirit. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum, the Heptasophs, the Loyal Addition and other associations.
Any attempt to describe the personality and appearance of a man who has, for nearly half a century, been identified witn the various elements of the life of the metropolis, would certainly be regarded as superfluous by his old friends and neighbors and their children and grand- children.
Mr. Ong married, May 20, 1875, Emma, daughter of James and Maria (Wight- man) Ing, of Pittsburgh, and they are the parents of two daughters and a son : Clara Emma, who died July 27, 1890; Florence Kirk, wife of Roy Brocton McKee, whose biography appears on another page of this work; and Edwin Mifflin, born Sep- tember 26, 1885, attended Pittsburgh schools and Shady Side Academy, gradu- ated at Princeton University, class of 1908, as Master of Arts, and is now assis- tant buyer of the Dilworth Brothers Com- pany. This is one of the large wholesale grocery firms of Pittsburgh. Mr. Ong is a member of the University Club.
Finley Kirk Ong is what each of his ancestors was in his own day and genera- tion-a useful and patriotic citizen.
NICHOLSON, Harry Schuyler, Prominent Physician.
Among those Pittsburgh physicians who have been for the last twenty years identified with the profession is Dr. Harry Schuyler Nicholson, one of the city's well- known general practitioners. By right of ancestry though not by accident of birth, Dr. Nicholson is a Pittsburgher and has ever been an advocate and upholder of the best interests of the metropolis.
Dr. Harry Schuyler Nicholson was born June 20, 1869, in Burkeville, Cumberland county, Kentucky, and is a son of the late John Nicholson, Jr., and Mary Elizabeth (Cheek) Nicholson. A biography of Mr. Nicholson, with full ancestral record, appears elsewhere in this work. Harry Schuyler Nicholson received his prepara- tory education in the public schools and high school of Pittsburgh, afterward at- tending the Western University of Penn- sylvania, now the University of Pitts- burgh. He was fitted for his profession at the Hahnemann Medical College, Phil- adelphia, graduating from that institution in 1896, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After one year's experience in the Homoeopathic Hospital of Pittsburgh, Dr. Nicholson began the general practice of his profession in that city and has ever since been continuously active, acquiring a large clientele and building up an honor- able reputation. He is a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, the State Homoeopathic Association, in which, in 1913, he held the office of presi- dent, and the Allegheny County Homoeo- pathic Medical Society, having been form- erly president of this organization also. He belongs to the East End Doctors' Club. Dr. Nicholson has contributed various articles to medical journals and the manner in which these have been re- ceived has proved that his pen has been employed to good purpose. In politics
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Dr. Nicholson is an Independent Republi- can, voting always with a view to the betterment of conditions in his commu- nity. He is a member of the Sixth Pres- byterian Church. Any reference to his appearance and manner would be out of place here, inasmuch as nearly a score of years of successful practice and good citizenship have made them thoroughly familiar to a large number of Pitts- burghers.
Dr. Nicholson married, July 7, 1908, Hallie Belle, daughter of William and Mary McKown, of Pittsburgh, and they are the parents of one child, Janet Schuy- ler Nicholson. Mrs. Nicholson is a woman of winning personality and both she and her husband are extremely popu- lar in Pittsburgh society.
Dr. Nicholson's line of ancestry has, in the successive generations, been honor- ably identified with the world of business. It has remained for him to worthily asso- ciate the name with the profession of medicine.
HAYMAKER, Hon. John C., Lawyer, Jurist.
In every position of public and private trust, the Hon. John Carothers Hay- maker, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, judge of Common Pleas Court, has shown his possessions of those qualities of head and heart, which are essential to the wise per- formance of the responsible duties which have devolved upon him. The best tradi- tions of the old school have been applied by him to the conditions of modern life, with the changes made necessary by the modern standard of living. Liberal in his ideas, he has advanced the prosperity of the community in which he has been an active and important factor by his wise decisions. The Haymaker family is one of the pioneer families of Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, and its record is intimately interwoven with the history of the state.
(I) Christophel Haymaker, the Ameri- can progenitor, was a native of Germany, who came to the United States about the time of the Revolutionary War, and set- tled in Pennsylvania. His death occurred in 1788, and he was buried at the mouth of Plum Creek, on the site of the village of Verona.
(II) Jacob, son of Christophel Hay- maker, was one of the earliest residents in Franklin township, Westmoreland county. He gained prestige there for the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office as a justice of the peace, and was justly popular throughout the section of the country in which he lived. His three sons all acquired wealth as farmers, and occupied prominent positions in the community. They were named: John, see forward; George; Michael.
(III) John, son of Jacob Haymaker, made his home near Murrysville, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He married Anna Newlen, and among their thirteen children were: William N., see forward; George; Michael; John; Frank Laird; Mary, married Rev. A. Mc- Elwain, D. D .; Nancy, married Dr. Mur- ray Service; Keziah, married William Chambers; Elizabeth, married J. W. Har- vey.
(IV) William N., son of John and Anna (Newlen) Haymaker, was born in Franklin township, Westmoreland county, and was a farmer by occupation. He fol- lowed the same pursuit in Patton town- ship for a period of forty years, then re- moved to Turtle Creek, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until the time of his death. As a public-spirited citizen he achieved prominence in Turtle Creek, serving one term as burgess, and two terms as justice of the peace for Pat-
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ton township. He served three years in the Civil War as lieutenant of his com- pany and later as quartermaster of the Sixty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Vol- unteers. In religious affairs he was also well-known, and was a member of the Presbyterian church. William N. Hay- maker married Mary, daughter of Joseph
and Sarah (- -) Simpson, of Patton township, and they had children : Joseph ; Anna; Virginia ; Seward ; John Carothers, see forward; Ida; William, and Laura.
(V) Hon. john Carothers, son of Wil- liam N. and Mary (Simpson) Haymaker, was born in Patton township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1853. The public schools furnished his elemen- tary education, and this was supplemented by attendance at the Laird Institute, Murrysville, Pennsylvania. He read law under the preceptorship of Joseph S. Hay- maker, and registered as a law student, July 19, 1872. On the motion of Samuel A. McClung, he was admitted to the bar of Allegheny county, July 17, 1875. He was elected assistant district attorney of Allegheny county in 1887, for a term of three years, and was twice thereafter re- elected, serving until June, 1894, when he resigned from office. In that year he was elected to fill the office of district at- torney, for a term expiring 1897. He was twice reelected after this to succeed him- self, his last term expiring in 1904. On January 29, 1908, he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, No. 2, by Governor Edwin S. Stuart, to serve until the first Monday of January, 1909. At the General Election of 1908 he was elected to succeed himself for the term of ten years from the first Monday of Janu- ary, 1909, of which office he is the incum- bent at the present time. He has always been a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and has been consis- tent in expressing his opinions and fur-
thering the interests of the party to which he gives his adherence. His club affilia- tions are not numerous, being confined to membership in the Pittsburgh Golf Club, the Americus and Crucible clubs of Pitts- burgh.
Judge Haymaker married, November 18, 1878, Anna M., daughter of John Mc- Knight, of Pittsburgh, and they had chil- dren: Marguerite McKnight, married J. A. Fronheiser, of Johnstown, Pennsylva- nia; Mary S., married F. O. Bennett, of New York; and Louise B., married Charles Reisfar. Mrs. Haymaker passed away January 21, 1915.
Judge Haymaker has demonstrated his public-spirit in many instances, and has earned the esteem of the entire commu- nity. The consistency and uprightness of his conduct in the most difficult and try- ing conditions have endeared him to the masses, and won him a place in the hearts of all his fellow-citizens.
TREES, Joseph C., Leading Oil and Gas Operator.
Oil and gas-these are two of the mightiest sources of Pittsburgh's phe- nomenal wealth and world-wide renown -and even as it was Pittsburgh men who developed the first oil fields in Pennsyl- vania and made the first oil markets, so it is now citizens of the industrial me- tropolis who guide, control and annually increase the colossal force of this greatest of American financial hierarchies. Promi- nent among these oil magnates of the present day is Joseph Clifton Trees, presi- dent of several large corporations operat- ing in the southwest, and also vice-presi- dent of the Benedum-Trees Oil Company. Mr. Trees is intimately identified with the leading interests of his home city and his name is a synonym for philanthropy and public spirit.
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Joseph Clifton Trees was born Novem- ber 10, 1869, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Isaac T. and Lucy A. Trees. He received a liberal education, graduating in 1892 from the Indiana Normal School, and in 1895 from the University of Pittsburgh. then the Western University of Pennsylvania.
Early in his career Mr. Trees gave proof of his possession of that faculty so essen- tial to a successful business man-the faculty of looking far ahead and discern- ing in advance the course of events. Recognizing the vast possibilities of the oil and gas resources of the State of Louisiana, he decided, in association with a number of fellow Pittsburghers, to enter that field, with the result that he be- came a pioneer in the producing business in that region, and by his rare judgment and acute discernment was instrumental in making the State one of the nation's leading oil and gas producing territories.
In the vast Pittsburgh district which leads the world in oil and gas production, Mr. Trees is a power and his influence ex- tends not only over a large portion of the United States but makes itself felt in Mexico. He is president of the Arkansas Natural Gas Company, the Arkansas Fuel Oil Company, the J. C. Trees Oil Com- pany, the Penn Mex Oil Company, the Wabash Gas Company and the Regal Oil Company, and vice-president of the Bene- dum-Trees Oil Company. He seems to possess the touch of Midas, oil and gas, under his skillful manipulation, being transmuted into gold.
Intensely public-spirited, Mr. Trees has been prominently connected with a num- ber of movements tending to promote the interests of Pittsburgh and in a notable way he has acted the part of a benefactor. No good work done in the name of char- ity or religion seeks his cooperation in vain, but so quietly are his donations be-
stowed that their full number will, in all probability, never be known to the world. He belongs to the Pittsburgh Press, Pitts- burgh Country, Duquesne and Oakmont Country clubs and the Pittsburgh Ath- letic Association.
One of the leading characteristics of Mr. Trees is love for his alma mater and he has devoted large sums of money to the enlargement and embellishment of this institution. Chief among his benefactions is the noble Trees gymnasium and ath- letic stadium. His bounty, however, to the university, has not been limited to these gifts, munificent as they are.
The personality of Mr. Trees is that of a man of a many-sided mental equipment endowed with the imagination necessary to take a large view of large affairs, and withal possessing an energy and an en- thusiasm which make him a tireless and a most effective worker in a wide and diver- sified field of endeavor. His countenance bears the imprint of these characteristics. It is an intellectual face and a resolute one. Invincible determination looks out of the dark eyes and the finely moulded features, accentuated by a dark mous- tache, are those of a man of purpose. He is at once a thinker and a doer, and withal the face wears a genial aspect and shows a kindliness of disposition which account . for the well-known fact that no man in Pittsburgh has a larger number of de- voted friends. Ardent and loyal in his attachments and possessing a chivalrous sense of honor, he is loved by many and trusted by all.
Mr. Trees married, December 20, 1894, Claudine V. Willison, daughter of An- drew Willison, and they are the parents of one son: Joseph Graham Trees, born August 5, 1896.
The commanding position which Mr. Trees, by well trained talent and force of character, has made for himself in the
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business world, is one which many men would regard as the acme of the ambition of a life-time, but there are greater heights to be scaled and the motto of a man like Joseph Clifton Trees is and ever will be "Excelsior !"
HARVEY, Laning, Financier, State Official.
In 1772, Benjamin Harvey, born in Lyme, Connecticut, settled in the town of Plymouth, in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. From his coming until the present, Harveys have been prominent in public, business and professional life in the valley.
Laning Harvey, of Wilkes-Barre, is of the eighth generation of his family in America, and of the sixth generation in the Wyoming Valley. Although one of Wilkes-Barre's young business men, he has attained prominence in the public service, and has been honored by the chief executives of his State by appointment to responsible positions. He is a young man of pleasing personality, well-known not only in his own city but far beyond. He is a son of William Jameson Harvey, with whom he was closely associated until the latter's death in 1907, one of the most eminent of the sons of Wyoming. The line of descent from Thomas Harvey, born in Somersetshire, England, the founder of the family in America, to Laning Harvey, a leading twentieth century descendant of the eighth generation is thus traced by Dr. Hayden.
Thomas Harvey came to New England in 1636, settling first in Dorchester, Mas- sachusetts, later going to Taunton, where he died in 1651. He married Elizabeth Andrews, and had issue. His youngest son, John, married and had a son, John (2), who also married and reared a family. This John (2) Harvey was the father of
Benjamin Harvey, born in Lyme, Con- necticut, July 28, 1722, in the Wyoming Valley. He died at Plymouth, Pennsyl- vania, November 27, 1795, having been twice married, and leaving a son, Elisha, who, with his sister, Lois, were the only children of a large family to survive their father.
Elisha, youngest son of Benjamin Har- vey, "the founder", and his first wife, Elizabeth Pelton, was born in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1758 and at the age of fourteen years came to the Wyoming Valley with his parents. He was a soldier of the Revolution, served under General Sullivan in his memorable Indian cam- paign of 1779, was captured by British and Indians in December, 1780, and taken to Montreal, Canada. He was held a prisoner by the Indians until late in 1781, then was bought by a Scotch trader, and late in the summer of 1782 was exchanged and allowed to return to his home in Plymouth. He suffered with the other Connecticut settlers during the "Penna- mite" wars, and took a prominent part in the exciting events of that period. He married, November 27, 1786, Rosanna, daughter of Robert and Agnes (Dixon) Jameson, and had a large family. Elisha Harvey died March 4, 1800.
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