Colusa
County
Biographies
MICHAEL
O’HAIR
MICHAEL
O’HAIR. The family represented by this well-known
agriculturist of Colusa county traces its lineage to the kings of Ireland and
is connected by close ties of ancestry with the famous Carrolls
of Carrolton. The first of this
immediate branch to settle in the United States was John O’Hair, a native of
County Armagh, Ireland, who crossed the ocean with his
wife and children, and after six months in New York City settled in Utica, N.
Y., but two years later removed to Jackson county,
Mich. After another two years he went to
Illinois and settled on a farm in Winnebago county. At the expiration of a similar period he went
further west and secured a large tract of land in Floyd county,
Iowa, where he improved what is now known as the Spring valley farm. By his marriage to Rose Ann Murphy, who was
born in County Armagh, Ireland, and died in Chico,
Cal., he had eight sons and two daughters, all of whom are now living except
three of the sons. Four sons took part
in the Civil war, namely: Michael, the subject of this article; John, who was a
member of Company K, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and now resides in San Francisco;
Philip, a member of the Thirteenth United States Regiment, and now living at
Vallejo, Cal.; and James, a soldier in the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, and who
died at Charles City, Floyd county, Iowa.
During the temporary residence of
his parents at Glasgow, Scotland, Michael O’Hair was born October 10, 1845, and
as a boy he accompanied his parents in their various removals, receiving his
education principally in Iowa country schools.
In February, 1863, he enlisted in Company K, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and
was mustered into the Union service at Camp McClellan, Davenport. Ordered to the plains to subdue the Indians,
his regiment was the first expedition that ever crossed the bad
lands, and they had many engagements with the savages, notably the
battle of Grindstone and the three days’ battle at Deer hill. With others in the regiment he relieved
Captain Fisk and his train of emigrants.
While in the west he saw the first steamboat that ascended the
Yellowstone. Under his commanding
officer he helped to lay out Fort Durosh at Sioux
Falls, Iowa, and Fort Firesteel, S. Dak., on the James river. The war having closed, in June of 1865 he was
mustered out at Sioux City by general order.
After one year at his old home Mr.
O’Hair secured employment in the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad,
and thus gradually worked his way west, arriving in California in the spring of
1869. When the golden spike was driven
he had reached Sacramento. After
spending a short time in San Francisco, he found employment on the sailing
vessel Oreola, bound for Puget Sound. He spent the first season there in the lumber
camps and then returned to California, where he was employed in chopping wood
for two years, in what is now Glenn county, after
which he rented a farm there and engaged in grain-raising. At the expiration of three years he and a
brother, William, bought thirty-six hundred acres on the line of Tehama and
Glenn counties and engaged in raising grain in partnership. By giving the right of way to the Southern
Pacific Railroad he secured a station named Malton,
on the ranch. While this was still a
part of Colusa county he was chosen a member of the
county board of supervisors and during his term of service the question of
county division was agitated, but received no support from him, as he opposed
it by reason of increased taxation.
After more than twenty years on his farm at the county line he removed
further south in 1896 and bought nine hundred acres two miles southwest of
Colusa on the road to Williams, the farm having been known in former years as
the Jerry Powell place. The renting of
an adjacent tract of eight hundred acres gives him the supervision of seventeen
hundred acres, which is utilized for the raising of general farm crops and for
the stock business, in which he makes a specialty of Shorthorns and Durhams.
The marriage of Mr. O’Hair united
him with Miss Hattie Hunter, who was born in California and is a daughter of
Mrs. Pallas Love. They are the parents
of one son, William Hunter O’Hair. While
serving in the army Mr. O’Hair cast his first presidential ballot for Gen.
George B. McClellan and has since continued to support the candidates and
principles of the Democratic party. In the John F. Miller Post at Colusa, as well
as in the post at Orland, he has officiated as commander. At Orland he was made a Mason and served as
master several terms, but now holds membership with Colusa Lodge No. 240, F.
& A. M., and Colusa Chapter No. 60, R. A. M. Other orders with which he holds or has held
membership are the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Independent Order of
Foresters, the Order of the Eastern Star (to which his wife also belongs), the
Independent Order of Good Templars, and the Patrons
of Husbandry during the existence of the latter organization. He was instrumental in organizing the first
irrigation district in the Sacramento valley, called the Orland district, under
the Wright law.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source:
“History of the State of California and
Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California” by J.
M. Guinn. Pages
605-606. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2017 Doralisa Palomares.
Golden Nugget Library's Colusa County Biographies