Ora L. Hays and Harriet M. "Hattie" Loots

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Husband Ora L. Hays ¹

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           Born: 4 Jul 1880 - Oakland Twp, Venango Co, PA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 1950
         Buried:  - Grove Hill Cemetery, Oil City, Venango Co, PA

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         Father: Hugh M. Hays (1849-1907) 1 2 3 4 5
         Mother: Eleanor "Ella" Riddle (1850-1945) 1 2 3 4 5

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       Marriage: 1909 - ? Venango Co, PA 6

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Wife Harriet M. "Hattie" Loots ^{6 7}

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           Born: 1880
     Christened: 
           Died: 1918
         Buried:  - Grove Hill Cemetery, Oil City, Venango Co, PA

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         Father: William H. Loots (1841/1843-1931) 7
         Mother: Sarah G. Downing (1846-1922) 7

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - Ora L. Hays

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He was born on the paternal farm in Oakland Township, Venango County, PA, and was educated in the public schools of that neighborhood and at Slippery Rock State Normal School. After 1898 he was at Oil City. He was engaged in the drafting department of the National Transit Company from that year until 1902, when he and his brother Frank started a plant on Main Street for the retailing of milk and other dairy products, removing the next year to a location at the head of Center Street. It was operated by Hays Brothers for some years until Frank R. Hays withdrew to give more attention to a bakery which he was running, Ora L. Hays becoming the sole proprietor of the milk business. He was never engaged in the production of milk, handling the output of a number of producers from a wide local territory, and his trade extended so that he kept three delivery wagons busy constantly. He and his brother still had large oil interests in common, being among the partners of Jerome J. VanDresser, in the Clintonville oil fields in Venango County, one of the largest operators in the region. The Hays brothers had the controlling interest in an extensive lease at Clintonville, upon which about seventy wells were in operation, with a much higher average of production than is usual in that territory. Twenty of these, sunk by themselves, yielded very satisfactorily, proving their good judgment in the selection of terri­tory. They also had holdings in the Breedstown territory which were paying well, and made profitable investments in Butler County coal properties which amply justified faith in their worth.
He was well known fraternally, being an Odd Fellow and a thirty-second-degree Mason. He belonged to the commandery at Oil City. [CAB, 647]

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General Notes: Wife - Harriet M. "Hattie" Loots

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She was reared and educated in Oil City, Venango County, PA.

1 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 647.

2 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 978.

3 Joseph Riesenman, Jr., History of Northwestern Pennsylvania, Vol. III (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1943), Pg 310.

4 Helen M. Snyder, Genealogy of Robert Beatty 1760-1823 (Franklin, PA: Self-published.), Pg 72.

5 Alan R. Jones, Threads of Venango (Indiana, PA: A. G. Halldin Publishing Co., 1984), Pg 100.

6 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 648.

7 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 874.