George Tener Oliver and Mary D. Kountze
Husband George Tener Oliver 1
Born: 26 Jan 1848 - Donaghmore, County Tyrone, Ireland 1 Christened: Died: 22 Jan 1919 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 2 Buried:
Father: Henry W. Oliver, Sr. ( - ) 1 3 Mother: Margaret Brown ( - ) 1 3
Marriage: 19 Dec 1871 4
Wife Mary D. Kountze 4
Born: Christened: Died: 23 May 1917 4 Buried:
Father: Christian Kountze ( - ) 4 Mother: Margaret Zerbe ( - ) 4
Children
1 F Margaret K. Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: John P. Young ( - ) 4
2 F Mary D. Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Dr. Alexander C. Blair ( - ) 4
3 M George S. Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
4 M Augustus K. Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
5 M William B. Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Bef 1926 Buried:
6 F Jean Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Edward McCauley, Jr. ( - ) 4
7 M Bennett Oliver 4
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - George Tener Oliver
He was born in Donaghmore, County Tyrone, Ireland, during a visit of his parents to the old home which they had left some years before for a residence in the United States and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His earliest education was received in the public schools of Allegheny, for he was little more than an infant when his parents brought him from Ireland, and he afterward studied at Pleasant Hill Academy, West Middletown, Pennsylvania, before entering Bethany College, West Virginia, where he was graduated with the class of 1868. In later life he was for many years a trustee of this college and much interested in its work and progress. After leaving college he was for a short time an instructor in the Peebles Township School, the section later known as Hazelwood, meanwhile keeping steadily in view his ultimate goal, namely, an admission to the bar. On October 1, 1867, he registered as a law student, and on March 18, 1871, on motion of Jacob F. Slagle, was admitted to the Allegheny County bar, Hill Burgwin, in whose office he studied, having been his preceptor.
In association with William B. Rogers, Mr. Oliver, for the ensuing ten years, engaged successfully in the practice of his profession, all the conditions seeming to promise a future of more than ordinary distinction. During this time Mr. Oliver was counsel for the Dollar Savings Bank. The reputation which he built up for himself while a member of the bar was recognized in 1912 by Lafayette College, which in that year conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
Inherited instincts for a business career, together with the desire for an extensive field of action, prompted Mr. Oliver in 1881 to withdraw from the legal arena to accept the offer of vice-presidency of the Oliver Wire Company. Succeeding in the course of time to the presidency, he retained that office until 1889, when the concern sold its plants. In that year he became president of the Hainesworth Steel Company, which in 1897 was merged with the Oliver & Snyder Steel Company, Mr. Oliver succeeding to the presidency of the new corporation. During his years as a business man he proved most conclusively that his record would have lacked one of its most brilliant chapters had he not decided to enter the world of affairs. In 1901 he disposed of his manufacturing interests, retiring after twenty years of exceptional success. In later years, as a trustee of the Henry W. Oliver Estate, Mr. Oliver was a director of the Oliver Iron and Steel Company and chairman of the board of directors of the Oliver & Snyder Steel Company. Other directorships which he held at the time of his death were in the Newspaper Printing Company, the corporation which publishes the “Gazette Times,” and the “Chronicle Telegraph,” the Pittsburgh Coal Company, and the National Union Fire Insurance Company.
Most gratifying are the testimonies which show Mr. Oliver to have been during his years of business a model for employers. In him the faithful workman ever found a friend, and the friendships which he then formed with the men who worked for him continued to his death, ripening with the years. There were many periods when his plants were kept running to give employment to the men, even though the operation was not a source of profit. At the time of Mr. Oliver's retirement from business his attention had been directed to a new sphere of activity. In June, 1900, he purchased the “Pittsburgh Gazette,” the oldest newspaper west of the Alleghenies, and for many years he was in active control of this journal, as well as of the “Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph,” the oldest evening paper in Allegheny County. The papers testify to Mr. Oliver's success in the field of journalism.
In politics Mr. Oliver was a staunch Republican, and after reaching maturity he was almost continuously active in the public service, especially in connection with reorganization of the city under a new charter and its change of form consequent upon the annexation of Allegheny and several adjacent boroughs. From 1881 to 1884 he was president of the Central Board of Education of Pittsburgh, and in 1884 he served as presidential elector. Political ambition was, however, foreign to Mr. Oliver's nature, and in April, 1900, when he was asked to become a candidate for Republican nomination for Congressman-at-large, he declined, despite the fact that his success was assured prior to the meeting of the convention. In the autumn of that year he was absorbed in the campaign, not only for the second election of William McKinley to the presidency, but for the election of a Legislature which would favor the return of Matthew Stanley Quay to the United States Senate, the Legislature of 1899 having adjourned in a deadlock. Senator Quay was reelected by the Legislature of 1901, and in 1902, during the gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Oliver came forward as a champion of the candidacy of Judge Samuel W. Pennypacker, of Philadelphia. The result speaks for itself. Judge Pennypacker was elected by an overwhelming majority.
In 1904 occurred the death of Senator Quay, and the appointment of United States Senator was offered by Governor Pennypacker to Mr. Oliver, who declined the honor, wishing to be able to give his personal attention to his newspaper work and other enterprises. The same year Mr. Oliver served as delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention which nominated Theodore Roosevelt for President, and in the Republican State Convention of 1906 he played a part in the nomination of Edwin S. Stuart for Governor. In 1908 he supported the candidacy of William H. Taft, and was his faithful adherent in the losing contest of 1912. The election of Mr. Taft brought with it another call for Mr. Oliver to enter public life, and in March, 1909, he consented to serve the unexpired term of the Hon. Philander C. Knox, who resigned his seat in the Senate to become Secretary of State. During his term of office, Senator Oliver rigidly adhered to one principle; consideration of the tariff. At the time he took his seat Congress was in special session for the revision of the tariff, and in the ensuing discussion, covering a period of three months, his opportunity came, and he took advantage of it with marked credit to himself and very great benefit to his constituents. A close observer has thus described him at this point in his career:
George T. Oliver employs language only when he thinks it to be necessary. He was steady, attentive, silent for five or six weeks. Then one morning some lawyers from the corn and wheat region of the middle west began a discourse on iron-pig and scrap. After that to the end, Oliver stood up when he had a mind to and lifted the fog with the laconicism and knowledge which at once made him both dangerous and conspicuous.
The Pennsylvania Legislature certainly had reason to congratulate itself on having paid Mr. Oliver, the compliment of giving him the almost solid Republican vote. The above is the barest outline of the inception of his political career, with the exception of the fact that in 1890 he served as supervisor of the Federal census for his district. On January 18, 1911, Senator Oliver was reelected for a full term of six years, retiring from the Senate on March 4, 1917, after eight years of service for his State and Country. His retirement was voluntary, representative Republicans from all parts of the State having in vain entreated him to reconsider his announcement that he would not seek reelection. To his official duties the Senator gave the closest attention, surrounding himself with a competent office force and making it a rule that at the close of each day the business of that day, must be, as far as possible, completed. A letter to Senator Oliver, no matter how trivial, always elicited a prompt response. Not infrequently he travelled from Pittsburgh and even from his summer home in Cobourg, Canada, to Washington, to aid some constituent in a departmental matter, and no problem presented to him for consideration was neglected, however small the matter or humble the petitioner. During his prominence in politics, Senator Oliver took an active part in the five mayoralty elections in Pittsburgh since 1900. In two, the candidates he supported were defeated and three they were elected. Ever a staunch champion of his home city, her growth and prosperity were causes which he had ever at heart, and any movement which he believed would further those ends was invariably sure of his cooperation and support.
Always was Senator Oliver an ardent patriot. His last work in Congress was to fight for the bill giving the President authority to arm American merchant vessels to meet the German submarine menace. When it was seen that the bill was to fail, Senator Oliver and several of his colleagues prepared a manifesto which was signed by twenty Republicans and forty-six Democrats and entered on the record of the Senate. After war was declared, Senator Oliver gave counsel and assistance to various local war activities, continuing the work until impaired health imperatively forbade him to do so.
In the Masonic fraternity Senator Oliver was a conspicuous figure. The thiry-third degree was to have been conferred upon him in Boston, in September, 1918, but illness prevented his attendance. His clubs were the Duquesne, Pittsburgh, University, Allegheny County, Oakmont Country, Pittsburgh Golf, Pittsburgh Athletic, Press, Americus Republican, and Young Men's Republican Tariff-all of Pittsburgh; the Union League of Philadelphia, the Union and University clubs of New York; the Metropolitan and National Press clubs of Washington, and the Cobourg Golf Club. From 1907 to 1909 he was president of the Duquesne Club. He belonged to the Pennsylvania Society of New York and the Pittsburgh and United States Chambers of Commerce. He was a member of the East End Christian Church, but in him all religious bodies found a friend. His charities were constant and generous, but in regard to them he permitted no publicity. In addition to all Senator Oliver's other responsibilities was one imposed upon him by the death of his brother, Henry W. Oliver, whose large estate he was called upon to administer in association with Henry R. Rea and the Union Trust Company. In the latter years of his life, Henry W. Oliver had been an extensive purchaser of downtown real estate and had made plans for its improvement. Among these works which were executed by Senator Oliver and his associates were the Henry W. Oliver, the McCreery & Company, the Kaufman & Baer Company and the Meyer Jonassen & Company buildings, with other important improvements in Liberty and Oliver avenues. Another building operation managed by the trustees was the erection of the South Side Baths, South Tenth and Bingham streets. From November, 1905, to the time of his death, Senator Oliver was a trustee of the estate of his brother, James B. Oliver. The last extensive building project which engaged the attention of Senator Oliver was the erection of the Chamber of Commerce building. It was finished in the spring of 1917 and was his own property. Under his direction the new home of the “Gazette Times” and the “Chronicle Telegraph” was erected. It was occupied in February, 1915, and it was the most modern newspaper plant in Pennsylvania.
Throughout Senator Oliver's career, Pittsburgh always remained his home. During his congressional service, he maintained a house in Washington, and a number of years before his death he purchased a farm at Cobourg, Canada, and made it his summer retreat, but the permanent residence of the family was never removed from Pittsburgh. He loved his city, and when the time drew near for his retirement from national politics he said: “When I am in Washington I sometimes regret that I am leaving the Senate, but when I get back to Pittsburgh for a day I have a feeling that I am glad that I am soon coming home to stay.”
1 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 2.
2 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 5.
3 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 238.
4
George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 4.
Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This Web Site was Created 15 Apr 2023 with Legacy 9.0 from Millennia