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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
A Standard History of
THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OF
OHIO
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with the Extended
Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development
Vol. II
ILLUSTRATED
Publishers - The Lewis Publishing Company
1916
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WILLIAM O'KEEFE.
It has been within the compass of the ambition and powers of
Mr. O'Keefe to gain secure status as one of the
representative business men of his native City of Ironton, the
metropolis and county seat of Lawrence County, and he is a scion
of a family whose name has been worthily identified with the
history of the Hanging Rock Iron Region for more than sixty
years. He was formerly associated with his brother
James in the undertaking business that is now conducted
successfully under his personal direction, the widow of his
brother still retaining an interest in the business and her son
Charles being the valued assistant to his uncle, whose
name initiates this paragraph. With the best of modern
facilities and equipment, the establishment of Mr. O'Keefe
is one of the best in the City of Ironton in the affording of
effective and seemly service in the directing of funerals with
unfailing sympathy and kindly consideration.
Mr. O'Keefe was born in Ironton on the 21st of
October, 1856, at which time this now thriving industrial city
was a mere village. He is a son of John and Mary
(O'Hare) O'Keefe, both natives of Ireland - the father
having been born in County Cork and the mother in County Clare
and both having been reared in their native land, where their
marriage was solemnized. John O'Keefe, born in the
year 1805, was sixty-nine years of age at the time of his death,
which occurred at his old homestead in Ironton, in 1874.
His widow survived him by nearly fifteen years and was
sixty-five years of age at the time when she was summoned to the
life eternal, in 1888, her birth having occurred in 1823.
Concerning the children of this union the following brief record
is consistently entered: Catherine is the widow of
Daniel Boyce and maintains her home in Ironton; James,
who died in the year 1902, as senior member of the firm of
O'Keefe & Hanichen, was one of the founders of the
substantial undertaking business now conducted by his brother
William, the enterprise dating its inception back to the
year 1878 and being thus one of the pioneer business concerns of
the city; Miss Margaret still resides in Ironton, and
presides over the old family homestead, with her brother
William, of this review, who likewise has remained
unwed; Thomas is a resident of Newport, Kentucky;
Susan died as a child. John O'Keefe, the
honored father, immigrated to the United States in 1846 and
after remaining for a time in the Dominion of Canada he removed
to Pennsylvania, from which state he came to Lawrence County,
Ohio, in 1852, here to pass the residue of his life, which was
one of unostentatious worth and consecutive industry. He
was well known and held in high esteem in Lawrence County and
served many years as street commissioner of Ironton. He
was a democrat in his political proclivities and both he and his
wife were zealous communicants of the Catholic Church, in
which they early became members of the Ironton parish of St.
Lawrence.
William Keefe continued to attend the schools of
Lawrence County, parochial and public, until he had attained to
the age of seventeen years, his educational discipline having
been received principally in Ironton, though he attended school
for a time at Kelley 's Mills, where the family resided
for a comparatively brief period. At the age noted he
obtained employment in the Star Mill, in Ironton, and in this
manufactory of nails and other iron and steel products he served
in the department devoted to the blueing of nails. After
being identified with this line of enterprise for a period of
five years Mr. O'Keefe became an assistant in the
undertaking establishment of O'Keefe & Hanichen,
and after the death of Mr. Hanichen, in 1887, he
purchased the latter's interest from the widow and became his
brother's partner in the business, this mutually grateful
alliance continuing until the death of James O'Keefe, in
1902, since which time the enterprise has been continued by the
latter's widow and brother, William having the direct
management of the business with which he has been long
identified and in connection with which he has become one of the
substantial and influential business men of his native city.
Essentially progressive and loyal as a citizen, Mr.
O'Keefe has had no predeliction for the honors or
emoluments of public office and in politics he maintains an
independent attitude, his support being given to the men and
measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is an
earnest communicant of the Catholic Church, as a member of St.
Lawrence Church, and he is a member of the board of trustees of
Sacred Heart Cemetery. Mr. O'Keefe is the
owner of valuable residence property in Ironton, including the
old homestead of his parents, on Lawrence Street. He is
affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Ancient Order of
Hibernians. His life has been guided by earnest principles
and worthy ideals, so that he well merits the high esteem that
is accorded to him in the county that has always represented his
home.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 691 |
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OLIVER U. ONEILL, M.D.
Well fortified in technical skill
and in unfaltering devotion to his exacting and humane
profession, Dr. O'Neill holds place as one of the
representative physicians and surgeons engaged in practice in
the city of Ironton, the capital and metropolis of Lawrence
County. There is distinctive satisfaction in noting his
professional and civic status by reason of his being a native
son of an old and honored family of this section of the State.
Dr. O'Neill was born in Mason Township, Lawrence
County, Ohio, on the 1st of March, 1870, and is a son of
William and Rhuama (Wymer) O'Neill, the former of whom was
born in Monroe County, this State, in 1825, a member of a
family, of Irish lineage, that was founded in this commonwealth
in the pioneer days, and the latter of whom was born in Morgan
County, on the 3d of March, 1834; she is one of the venerable
and loved pioneer women of Lawrence County and still resides on
the old homestead farm in Mason Township, where her husband died
in his eightieth year, secure in the high esteem of all who knew
him. William O'Neill devoted virtually his entire
active career to the basic industry of agriculture, of which he
was long a prosperous and representative exponent in Lawrence
County, and to him was due also the honor of having served as a
defender of the Union in the Civil War. He enlisted as a
private in Company F, One Hundred and Seventy-third Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and his term of service comprised about
fifteen months, at the expiration of which he received his
honorable discharge, his continued interest in his old comrades
having been indicated in later years by his affiliation with the
Grand Army of the Republic. William and Rhuama (Wymer)
O'Neill became the parents of six children, the names of
whom are here entered, in the respective order of birth:
John W., George W., Enola A., Elmer, Nelson W. and
Oliver U. Of the number Enola A., Elmer and
Nelson W. are deceased.
To the public schools of his native county Dr.
O'Neill is indebted for his early educational training, and
he had the good fortune or wisdom to make proper preliminary
provision for the responsibilities and intellectual demands that
were to be placed upon him in the profession of his choice, for
he did not neglect that all important feature of adequate
academic training as a prerequisite of that of technical order.
After a course in the Ohio Northern Normal University, at Ada,
Hardin County, the Doctor devoted four years to successful
teaching in the public schools of his native State, and in
preparation for his chosen profession he was matriculated in the
medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in
which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897 and from
which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, his
assiduity and ambition as a student having been on a parity with
those that he has exemplified in the active work of his
profession.
The professional novitiate of
Dr. O'Neill was served in his native township, where he
established himself in practice with residence headquarters in
the village of Wilgus. He soon emerged from the ranks of
the tyros of his chosen calling and developed a substantial
practice, to which he continued to devote his attention for
three years. For three months thereafter he was located at
Valley View, Madison County, Kentucky, and he then returned to
Lawrence County and passed nine months in practice at Aid.
In 1903 he transferred his residence and professional
headquarters to the city of Ironton, and here he has lived up
most fully to the larger and more exacting duties devolving upon
him both as a physician and as a progressive and public-spirited
citizen. He has served as coroner of his county for four
years and was re-elected in 1914 for another two years in that
office. He has a substantial and representative practice,
and its scope and importance best vouch for his ability and
personal popularity in the county that has always represented
his home.
Dr. O'Neill is
actively identified with the Lawrence County Medical Society,
the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association. He is serving at the present time not only as
county collector but also as secretary of the Lawrence County
Board of United States Pension Examining Surgeons. The
Doctor is aligned as a loyal supporter of the principles of the
republican party, both he and his wife are zealous members of
the Pine Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is affiliated
with the local organization of the knights of Pythias, Knights
of the Golden Eagle, and Junior Order of United American
Mechanics. His attractive residence, at the corner of
South Third and Walnut Streets, is owned by the Doctor, and he
owns another residence property, on Fourth Street, as well as a
block devoted to business and residence apartments, on South
Third Street. He is a director of the South Side Building,
Loan & Savings Company.
On the 22d of December, 1898, was solemnized the
marriage of Dr. O'Neill to Miss Ida Mae Ruth,
daughter of George and Maria Ruth, of Portsmouth, Scioto
county, both parents being now deceased. Dr. and Mrs.
O'Neill became the parents of three children, the first born
having been Collis W., who died in childhood.
Ruth and Stanley P. remain at the parental home and add to
its attractions as a center of gracious hospitality.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 733 |
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JOSEPH E. OWREY.
One of the important interests of any thriving community is that
which has to do with its plumbing and steam fitting work, and a
worthy representative of this line of business at Ironton is
found in the person of Joseph E. Owrey who for nearly
thirty years has been known to the citizens of this locality as
a thorough-going, progressive and reliable plumber. Mr.
Owrey, whose place of business is at No. 133 Adams Street,
has established a reputation for good workmanship and fidelity
to engagements, and has built up a good business alone and
unaided. He was born at Wheeling, West Virginia, Nov. 25,
1862, and is a son of Adam and Clara (Gibson) Owrey.
Adam Owrey was born at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, in
1831, there grew to manhood and became connected with the iron
industry, and in 1863 came to Ironton and was made manager of
the Belfont Iron Works, which important position he held for a
period of more than forty-five years. He lived retired
from active life for many years, having accumulated a handsome
competence, and died Mar. 29, 1915, in Ironton. Mrs.
Owrey, who was born at Alleghany, Pennsylvania, died in
1881. and Mr. Owrey was married a second time to Miss Jennie
Gibbons, who died in 1897. Mr. Owrey's third
marriage was to Miss Katie Chatfield, who still survives.
There were no children by the second or third unions, but by his
first wife Mr. Owrey became the father of five children,
namely: William, Ida, Charles, Joseph E. and Leah.
Joseph E. Owrey attended the public and high
schools of Ironton, to which city he had been brought as an
infant by his parents, and at the age of eighteen years
completed his studies and began to learn the trade of plumber.
After completing his apprenticeship he began to work as a
journeyman and was thus employed until 1885, in which year he
began business on his own account. He has built up a
business estimated to be worth as much as $40,000 a year, and
his work is to be found all over Ironton and into the
surrounding county, in such buildings as the Central School
Building, the Campbell School Building, the Spencer Church, the
independent Order of Odd Fellows Hall at Ironton, the
Cattlesburg School, and numerous of the leading residences in
and outside of the city. Mr. Owrey accredits his
success to his honest methods and his fair treatment of
customers, which he deems his main assets in business. He
carries a complete stock of fixtures and appurtenances for
high-class work, and is thoroughly conversant with the most
up-to-date methods.
In 1886 Mr. Owrey was married to Miss
Ida Bartley, who died in 1896, having been the mother
of four children: Ethel, who is now Mrs.
Townsend of Anderson, Indiana; Jennie, who is single
and lives in California; Adam, who is deceased; and
Cyrus, residing at home. Mr. Owrey was
married the second time to Miss Estella Bailey
of Ironton, Dec. 16, 1897, and they have five children: Norma,
Leola, Ralph and Ernest and Ernestine,
twins. Mr. and Mrs. Owrey and their children reside
in their own pleasant home at Ironton and are members of the
First Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a republican in
his views, but has not been a seeker after political office,
preferring to give his time and attention to his business.
However, he takes an interest in the welfare of his city and is
an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. A lover of
out-of-door sports, when he can get away for vacations he takes
hunting and fishing trips, and is a frequent attendant at ball
games, being an enthusiast in regard to the national game.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 1213 |
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