Henry W. Oliver and Edith A. Cassidy

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Husband Henry W. Oliver ^{1 2}

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           Born: 25 Feb 1840 - Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 8 Feb 1904 4
         Buried: 

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         Father: Henry W. Oliver, Sr. (      -1888) 1 5 6
         Mother: Margaret Brown (      -1900) 1 5 6

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       Marriage: 1862 4

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Wife Edith A. Cassidy ⁴

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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Children

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1 F Edith Oliver ^{2 4}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Henry Robinson Rea (      -      ) 2 4

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General Notes: Husband - Henry W. Oliver

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He was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, and was two years of age when his parents came to America. He was educated at the public schools and at Newell's Academy. At the age of thirteen years he began his business career as messenger boy for the National Telegraph Company, in the city of Pittsburgh, which was by no means the Greater Pittsburgh of the twentieth century. Two years later, having filled well his position, he was called to the employ of Clark and Thaw, then general forwarding agents, and remained with them seven years. In 1859 he was made the shipping clerk for the iron manufacturers, Graff, Bennett and Company, with whom he remained until the first call by President Lincoln for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, April, 1861, when he enlisted in the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment of Volunteers, and served his term of three months. Later in the war, when the Confederate General Lee sought to invade Pennsylvania, he again enlisted in an emergency regiment. January 1, 1863, he organized the firm of Lewis, Oliver and Philips, and began the making of nuts and bolts on rather a small scale. In 1866 his two brothers were admitted to the firm, which continued to operate until 1880, when the firm was changed to Oliver Brothers and Philips. In the meantime the business had grown to gigantic proportions and they were rated as leaders in bar iron and specialties in the markets of the world. In 1888 the works were incorporated under the title of the Oliver Iron and Steel Company. Mr. Oliver was the chairman of the board of directors of the new company. He had also become identified with other large industries and connected with the building of railroads, the great need of which, in the business in which he was engaged, he saw the need of securing for Pittsburgh. First he became interested in the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, the first line to really compete with the Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio railroads for freight and tonnage at Pittsburgh. He was one of the original proprietors of the road and one of its largest stockholders after it was established. He was also interested in the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad, and from 1889 to 1894 was its president. He then desired better freight facilities between Pittsburgh and Chicago and promoted the Akron and Chicago Junction road, connecting the Pittsburgh and Western with the Baltimore and Ohio system. As a railroad man he introduced many improvements, including the steel cars, in which he was largely interested. His mining interests in Pennsylvania, his coal lands, his copper mines in the far away Arizona country, together with his vast interests in the iron ore product of the Minnesota district were among his most valuable holdings. He was one of the pioneers in the Meseba ore district, and organized the Oliver Iron Mining Company, in which later he interested the Carnegie Steel Company in the famous Lake Superior country. Of later years his vast accumulation of wealth was invested in Pittsburgh property, both in improved and unimproved realty. He purchased many tracts of land within the present city limits and erected fine business structures on them with the view of the future needs of the place, in which he always had great faith.
Upon the formation of the Republican party, in 1856, Mr. Oliver with enthusiasm adopted its principles and ever continued to uphold and defend them. He was known as an able and successful advocate of the great and progressive measures of his party. From 1879 to 1882 he was president of the common council of Pittsburgh. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1872, 1876, 1888 and 1892. In I880 he was the presidential elector-at-large from his state. In 1882 he was selected by President Chester A. Arthur to represent the iron and steel interests of the country on the commission which was appointed to draw up and submit a new tariff to congress, and it was largely through his work in this commission that the metal schedule of the tariff of 1883 was so shaped as to mainly satisfy the manufacturing and industrial interests of the country. January 1, 1881, he was nominated by the Republican legislative caucus for the office of United States Senator, but on account of a division in the party in Pennsylvania, he failed of election.

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General Notes: Wife - Edith A. Cassidy

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from Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA

1 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 1.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. IV (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 223.

3 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 2.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. III (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 3.

5 Editor, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 238.

6 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 2.