Oliver
O’Hara’s father’s name was John. John O’Hara died while he was young
leaving two sons, Oliver and Charles. Oliver was a natural gentleman, with the
old country definition, fond of all kinds of sport and a good athlete
especially in running and jumping. Like all the inhabitants of the British
Isles, he was a great walker, an exercise which he kept up all his life. He
could outrun almost any young man after he was seventy years old. In Ireland
there is a fair held each week at every place of consequence. These fairs are
held on different days at different places, giving an opportunity to those so
disposed to be at a fair every day in the week. The fair is not an exhibition
but a general market, with horse racing and other sports thrown in by way of
variety. Oliver always had to go once a week to a fair, and sometimes found it
necessary to go oftener. After the crops were gathered in the fall, all hands
turned out to play golf or shinny. He was in great demand for this game, as he
never could be caught when he once had the ball. The golf sticks were used
freely, as the name implies, but he could dodge them by jumping. His quick and
excitable nature sometimes brought him into difficulty, but he never got hurt.
He was restless and roving in disposition and this coupled with a stomach
difficulty which was a serious matter at times and always troublesome, made
him devote more of his time in his early days to leisure than would seem
consistent to a man in his financial circumstances with a large family. His
brother Charles was of an entirely different make-up. He was quiet and
hard-working. Still he had the O’Hara restlessness which carried him to
Australia about as far from his brother as he could get in this world.
(His
mother’s name was Jane McBennoir and she was very religious.) After
Oliver’s father died, his mother married a man by the name of Brown to whom
were born two children Hugh and Margaret. Oliver was brought up by a rich aunt
named McBennoir who lived in Bogue’s Town, Parish Skerry. She brought him up
in old folk’s style to do as he pleased with the usual result, which was
aggravated by his impetuous, excitable temperament. He had all the horses and
etc. he wanted. He was smart and bright so he must needs be petted and
spoiled. She and her family gave him the right to his holding in Bogue’s
Town and one hundred pounds in money. He immediately proceeded to run through
the greater part of this. He never hated to put off work for a good chance to
have some sport. He regarded it as a rare treat to break his cousin’s
horses, after they were four or five years old and had never known the weight
of a strap upon them in any form. All his relations were gentlemen, but some
one of his immediate ancestors had the misfortune not to be the oldest in the
family. His father had been provided for by a government position. The
O’Hara’s had been in Ireland for many years. Two or three generations
before, a Scotchman had married a certain Lady O’Hara and had taken his
name. There was a general in the British army, Marmaduke O’Hara, a
great-uncle of Oliver’s. As the children grew up and found it necessary to
add something to the family, they worked for rich families, Wiley’s,
Craig’s and Irvings, which they would not have done according to the custom
of that country unless they had been related. Only the very poorest classes
would work for any one that would employ them. Oliver was also related to the
Montgomery family, also rich. His cousin Henry O’Hara was a landlord and had
a preserve for hunting. There was always a gamekeeper whose business it was to
catch any and all who should attempt to kill or carry away any of the game.
This consisted for the most part of hares with occasional grouse. None of his
tenants might kill any animal which could be used as game even on his own
land. The penalty for violating the game laws was transportation to Van
Dieman’s Land near Australia. Once a minister, Montgomery, his cousin, came
to him and desired to catch a few hares in Henry O’Hara’s close, without
permission, which could easily have been obtained, but out of the spirit of
dare deviltry, they killed one or two hares and aroused the keeper. This was
the only one of numerous poaching expeditions when he had any fear of being
caught. Not for his own sake however, for he did not doubt his ability to get
away, but his clerical friend was not a fast runner. Quick as a flash he hid
his friend and gave him instructions to get away as soon as he could do so
safely. Then he succeeded in diverting the attention of the keeper away from
his friend and to himself and after a pretty chase of four or five miles he
escaped. These keepers would never recognize a man before they caught him
although he was their nearest neighbor, but would exert themselves to the
utmost to catch him. Oliver had a shotgun which he cut off so that he could
hide it under his coat. After shooting the game he would leave it until night
or send some of the children to get it, never touching it himself by daylight.
Sometimes he would present his cousin with game caught on his own land right
under the nose of the keeper to the chagrin of that gentleman and the delight
of the owner. His wife was very conscientious and hated to use the game thus
illegally obtained. Rather than to have it wasted, however, she would prepare
it for the table.
Oliver
O’Hara’s wife, Mary McIver, came from a Scotch family. Her grandmother
Jennie Lind came from Scotland into Ireland. Her family was rich and educated,
but rather than live in wealth and luxury with some one her family proposed,
she married Alexander Jameson, the man of her choice, poor, but of strong
Christian character. The Linds lived near Glasgow and were very wealthy.
Jameson was a comfortable farmer. His wife Jennie had never done a stroke of
work before her marriage. An occasion came which put his religion to the test.
Crops failed one year, but as it happened Jameson had a plenty. His family
wanted him to keep all they had so as to be sure of enough for themselves to
eat and to plant. He gave away half and used only half as much grain for seed
as usual and the eyes of the potatoes. The crop was a grand success. Until the
time of the new crop many of the neighbors had been starving. They had but one
child, a daughter, Mary. She married Alexander Hamilton McIver. He had one
sister, Mary. She never was married and lived her last days with Oliver
O’Hara. The McIvers came from Kilmarnock near Glasgow. Alexander McIver had
a very large farm in Ireland, near Bogue’s Town. While he was lifting on an
eight bushel sack of grain to assist a neighbor in putting it on his horse’s
back, he broke a blood vessel and died shortly after. He was forty nine and
his wife was sixty. She died in six months after his death. They had been
married thirty years. Alexander McIver was light complected, blue eyed, six
feet tall, and called very fine-looking. Mary Jameson McIver was short, dark
complected with black eyes and hair with a large nose and plain looking. As a
child she had been remarkably well educated for a girl in those days. Being an
only child, she was educated at home by a governess. She was very careful that
her sons should be educated, but overlooked the fact that daughters needed
education just as much.
Alexander
McIver was a very pious man. It is related that while a neighbor, a Catholic
was dying, and the house was filled with relations and friends after the
manner of that people, the dying man requested that Alexander McIver be sent
for to pray with him. This was very much against the wishes of most present.
At last one went to Alexander McIver’s and asked him to come as the dying
man had asked. Of course he knew the danger but said he would go if the house
were full of devils. He went and prayed, much to the dying man’s comfort and
got away safely. He was a wealthy farmer and always had a plenty and to spare.
His farm was a very large one, but after his death things were not managed
very well and the property run down and became a pasture. Finally everything
was sold and the proceeds divided among the children. It appears that each one
had a comfortable share. Alexander McIver and his wife died about the year
1820. They left eight children, Thomas, Samuel, Mary, Elisabeth, Sarah,
Robert, James and Alexander. Thomas moved to Derby, Vt. and six or eight
children were born to him there. Samuel had two children a boy and a girl, he
lived in Ireland. His first wife died and he had two daughters by a second
wife. Elisabeth never married. Sarah married Robert Taggart. She had two sons
John & Robert. They lived in Ireland where they doubtless are to this day.
James was never married. He was an invalid and mentally weak. He came to this
country with Oliver and Mary O’Hara and afterwards strayed off to find some
relatives in Canada and probably died there. The family would not have been
complete without an Alexander. This name was given to the youngest son who
died not more than three years of age. This was a great blow to the family.
The mother was an invalid for many years having the old fashioned consumption.
For this reason the father was more of a favorite among the children.
Oliver
O’Hara and Mary McIver were married about the year 1815. As is frequently
the case, they were as near opposites as could well be imagined. He was a
quick excitable person, with generous streaks at times when he would willingly
give all he had to assist anyone in difficulty, but without any thought of the
result to himself or family. She possessed an even temperament and was always
the same to all people. While she would never turn a beggar away empty handed,
she was one of the canny Scotch, and managed carefully and wisely for the best
interest of the family. She was intensely religious both in precept and
example. It was said of her that no one could talk five minutes with her
without disclosing his position with regard to personal Christianity. Yet this
was done with so much tact that no one ever was offended by it. He was
religious in a general way. Living as he did among the strict Presbyterians in
his younger days, he had a great reverence for religion in all its forms, and
even until he was seventy five he would put on his best, walk straight as an
Indian and attend divine worship although he was obliged to walk nearly two
miles to do this. Never said much on religious subjects. In one respect they
were alike. They were each five feet seven inches in height. He was very
light, sandy haired, with red whiskers and blue eyes. He was very white. His
hair curled and this was his delight. He flushed easily. She was dark with
hazel eyes, would almost never flush. She was very modest, was not afraid of
dirt that could be washed off with soap and water. She never got excited and
never seemed astonished at anything, would forgive and forget. She cried
easily, something occurring almost every day that would bring tears to her
eyes. He never cried and never showed signs of grief or pain. The only way any
one ever knew him to be ill was by his paleness or inability to get about, he
would never say he was sick. He had a tenacious memory and never forgot or
really forgave an injury. To his friends he was devoted to a fault. He always
stuttered more or less and this was most noticeable whenever his wrath was
excited, which could be done quickly and easily. This would be accompanied by
some incoherent low land Scotch, which was usually described by those that
heard him as a yell, sometimes loud and furious. He never was able to talk in
America without a strong suggestion of a brogue. She acquired the use of the
Vermont dialect so well that no one would have suspected her of being
something but a native. He preferred to work alone. Her family did not belong
to the straight Presbyterian church in Ireland, but to the Union
Presbyterians. She was converted while quite young in a Methodist meeting near
her home and she always had a strong attachment to that church, regarding it
the nearest her ideal of the true Christian church. Once she had her name
taken from the roll of the Congregational church at Glover, but owing to the
pleading of her oldest son, Alexander, he had it replaced where it still
remains. She was always a fine singer. While religious songs were her
preference, she would sometimes sing lighter music to her chagrin when it was
shown to her. Her favorite hymn was “There is a fountain filled with
blood.” She discontinued reading novels. because she believed them to be a
great hinderment to spiritual growth.
When
they were first married they had a fine farm in Bogue’s Town. This was in
Town, Lough Conley, Parish Skerry - Country Antrim; Province of Ulster. This
was twenty miles from Belfast, but the miles are longer than in this country
as there are 21 feet to the rod. It is a mountainous country. There are
valleys that run in among the hills that are fairly level, but crooked.
Bogue’s Town is not far from the sea but there is a mountain between. Lough
Neagh is to be seen from a hill near by. Oliver O’Hara by signing with
friends and poor management, lost considerable money and was obliged to move
to a smaller and poorer farm. His wife’s aunt who had left them considerable
money and had some in her own right in all two hundred and fifty pounds it is
said. Oliver also had, it is said, one hundred pounds, so that they started
out in life well off. At the time they took the smaller farm, they were
comfortably poor. There were twenty acres or so in the field with a right to
pasture in the common on a mountain side. The field was divided into eight
fields by stone walls five feet and a half high. The land was so rich that it
kept the family and a good stock and furnished pasture for six cows at least.
The houses are all built together, and away from the farms. They are placed in
the form of a square with trees all around and a common in the centre of the
group. Fuel is cut from the peat bogs which resemble muck beds in this
country. The peat is cut in pieces a foot and a half long and four inches
square. These chunks dry to about half that size and become hard and tough.
The peat beds are often eight or ten feet deep. Where the peat is taken away
they make good pasture. The mountains near by where the sheep were pastured in
common was called Knoughchoram. Fences were made on the wet ground by digging
ditches or by peat laid up. Horses and dogs went over all these
obstructions-without hesitation in hunting. The ploughs used were made of wood
with an iron nose. The ground was not so warm as in this country, but it never
froze. There were many winters when no snow ever fell and sheep always were in
the pasture all winter. Severe snow storms would occasionally destroy whole
herds. Crops required two months more time to mature than in this country but
never lodged. There many relics of savage times near by. There were two large
artificial caverns within a mile. These had low approaches underground and
were then found to be made of a chid stone many feet underground. These were
several hundred feet long and would hold a great many people and were
doubtless intended to shelter the inhabitants of the neighboring town from
being carried away captives by some invading enemy. No one there, however,
knew from tradition or other source why or by whom they were made. They paid
five pounds rent and as much more for taxes. Oliver bred horses from the old
English Eclipse which his cousin Henry O’Hara had bought after the horse had
left the race track. Cattle were not used to work on the farms. Each one
usually owns a horse, and they change work with each other to get work done
that needs two horses.
Eleven
children were born to them. Alexander Hamilton, Ann, Mary, John, Sarah,
Margaret, Henry, James, Oliver, Elizabeth and Nancy, all in Ireland.
Grandmother had a brother Thomas who had emigrated to America. Her oldest son
Alexander went to join his uncle and made his brother John promise that he
would come as soon as he could get money enough. The parents saw that their
children would come to America one by one and that they would be left alone.
So they determined to come all together. Grandfather left one hundred pounds
or so to support his mother and sold his farm or the right to it, they packed
their personal effects with many mementos of home and friends in Irelands and
went to Belfast expecting to take passage in the Independence, an American
clipper. The ship had sailed and they, with some two hundred in similar
circumstances, had to take up with the best that could be had. They embarked
on the Exito of Sunderland, an old lumber ship fitted up for the purpose. The
ship was big and clumsy and a wretched sailer. The voyage required six weeks
and three days. When about two thirds of the way across, they encountered a
storm that drove them back two or three hundred miles. They finally landed at
Quebec, July 17, 1842. The next morning they took a steamboat to Montreal and
at LePrairie took the cars for St. John’s, from which point they moved most
of the family and the baggage to Derby Line the father and John walking. There
they visited for a time with Thomas McIver, and then moved into a house on the
farm owned by a Mr. Mansur. This was in Stanstead. Here they remained through
hasting and harvesting and the next winter. Then they moved to Holland and
lived on the farm owned by I.L. Jenness in the central part of the town as it
is given on the map of Holland in Beer’s Atlas of Orleans and Lamoille
counties. From this place the family became scattered within a year. Mary to
Glover and worked with her brother Alexander, Ann worked for the Lathrop
Chamberlain family at Brownington village, a very fine family who are buried
in a tomb there. Sarah went to Concord, N.H. and worked several years in the
family of Franklin Pierce. Margaret went to Concord before Sarah and worked in
the family of Judge Nathaniel Upham a friend of Franklin Pierce. John worked
at Stanstead Plain for a fine farmer, Spellman Field, where he stayed two
years. After that he went to Medford near Boston and was in that vicinity
until his injury. James got work in the vicinity for two years or so. He went
down country with a drover and that was the last the family knew of him for
twelve years. Henry stayed on the farm and helped what he could. Oliver,
although young, did small jobs for Portus Baxter at Derby Line. (Henry was of
a military turn of mind.) Henry went to Boston to get work and was swindled
out of his money the first night he was there. Being without friends or money,
he enlisted in the U.S. army and started to Mexico where the Mexican war was
in progress. He died at Vera Cruz July 2, 1847, from the effect of the hot
climate and malaria air. He is buried in the soldiers’ burial field at Vera
Cruz The two youngest, Eliza and Nancy remained at home. None of the children
, had been to school much. In Ireland there were free government schools which
were also supplied with books which were principally bibles. The children had
to work so much over there, that they had but little time to attend school. In
this country it was much the same only worse. Mother remembers going to school
when she was three years old. In 1849, John bought a farm in Glover, southeast
of Stone’s Pond. The farm contained eighty two acres well cleared, in good
cultivation, and was worth nearly a thousand dollars, but it was bought on a
mortgage for about four hundred and fifty dollars. The buildings are there
now, very much the sane as when the family moved to the farm. While on the
Glover farm, in 1863, he came home from Boston an almost hopeless cripple. He
was at work near Arlington, Mass, drawing ice from Spy Pond to an icehouse
which had a spur of railroad track for the purpose of carring the ice. While
he was standing on a platform waiting for his load of ice to be disposed of
leaning against a bar which some one had laid up carelessly he fell backwards
to the track a distance of 10 feet and struck on the back of his neck and
shoulders. His whole body was paralyzed. He had physicians from Harvard
Medical College and they saved his life by staroning him. After several weeks
he regained the use of some muscles, particularly those of the right side. The
left improved more slowly. He has been able to get about after a fashion all
his life and to do considerable work, but his helplessness has given him many
falls, several severe ones each year. And he now suffers more from these than
the original one. James drifted from one job to another until he found work on
the railroad. While a mere boy he was a railroad boss in construction. Helped
build the road from Malone to Ogdensburgh. Afterwards he fired an engine three
months and then had an engine. He was witty courageous and versatile.
Candidates for office would get him to stump the town or county, which he
would do at a moment’s notice. He once pitched a Catholic priest who had
come to take money from the poor workmen, over the dump, against the odds of a
hundred to four or five. The persuasions of revolvers settled the angry
feelings of the mob and in a few days they came in a body to thank him. Like
his father he was afraid of nothing. Would strike straight from the shoulder,
but never was damaged much. His mother waited all those twelve long years for
his return and had the pleasure of seeing him come back at last. He made only
a short visit and went back to the railroad taking his brother Oliver with
him. Oliver fired one year and could have had an engine to run, but went to
the shops instead to learn more. There he went on the road to run. He was very
conscientious and did not want the responsibility upon himself of sending any
one to eternity. James said they must look out for themselves, he had to.
Oliver had the best trains, on the road. Once while the man in charge of the
Niagara Suspension Bridge went to England for two years, he was placed in
charge of the trains across the bridge, receiving 2½ dollars for each train.
1. Alexander married Betsy Alfreda Clark and had one son Ezra 0. died 8 yr.
6.
2. Ann married Daniel Irvine of Salem Derby. Their children’s names are
Amaser, Margaret Henrietta, Abby, John, Mary, Oliver, Sarah, Henry, Eddie,
Betsy Alfreda, Myra, Jennie, Martha, James.
3. Mary married Edward Arnold. There were four children three girls and a
boy Edward. The family went to Ponca City, Nebraska, and it is not known now
what became of them. They went west about ‘68. John never married.
After
he came back from Boston he took charge of affairs. In 60 he bought a farm in
Sheffield, now used as the town poor farm. It contains 266 acres and has good
fields and a large sugar orchard. He lived here 26 years and cared for his
father and mother until they died. Eliza also lived with them. Moved to
Sheffield Hollow where they now are. Adopted Bessie Gray.
Sarah
married Baxter Pratt and lived on Gilbert Square. Plainfield, Sheffield
Hollow, where she died. Had two daughters Nancy and Ettee. Adopted a boy,
Lincoln.
Margaret
married John O’Brien. Children, Sammy, John, Annie, Frances and Kate. They
have lived in Glenville Conn. a factory town, John was killed by a piematun
blast in a well at which his father’s hairs turned white in a few months.
Henry died at Vera Cruz, Mex.
James
married Sophia Laurison, an excellent woman. They had four children. Addie
Alice, Walter Wingfield, Grace, Gertrude. Boy died.
James
kept a hotel in Canada. Afterwards went west and became lost to the family.
Address? Walkerton, Bruce Co. Ontario.
Oliver
married Martha __________. They no children that lived. He died opposite
Detroit near by where he had worked. He was an engineer on the Grand Trunk.
Elizabeth
never married. She always lived with her father and mother and now keeps house
for John.
Nancy
married Aaron Willey of Sutton Vt. She taught fifteen terms of school, one
after marriage. There are seven children in family, Clarence Henry, Zaida
Edith, Vieva Maude, Erwin Aaron, May Delle, Carlyle Verne, Clyde Carroll.
