Los
Angeles County
Biographies
THOMAS ARTHUR O’DONNELL
Among the corporations of Los
Angeles, is the California Star Oil Company, which is controlled by Thomas A.
O’Donnell, who has won national prominence as one of the leading representatives
of the petroleum industry in America.
Early thrown upon his own resources, Mr.
O’Donnell owes his rise in the business world to untiring effort, coupled with
the ability to meet and master situations and has worthily earned the distinct
title of “self-made man.” He was born in
the Erie County, Pennsylvania, oil fields on the 26th of June, 1870,
a son of Thomas and Myra (Parsons) O’Donnell, the former a member of a New York
family, while the latter’s parents were early settlers of Michigan. The maternal grandfather of Thomas A.
O’Donnell came to California with the gold seekers of 1849 and spent three
years in the state, returning to his home in Pennsylvania at the end of that
time.
When Mr. O’Donnell was a small lad
his father died, leaving the family in straitened circumstances and at the
tender age of six the boy sold papers on the streets of Bradford, Pennsylvania,
thus contributing to the support of his mother and a younger sister. At the age of ten he came west to Colorado
and obtained employment in a coal mine.
Between the ages of twelve and sixteen he worked in a grocery
store. Meanwhile he devoted his spare
time to study, gleaning as much knowledge as he could from books. In 1890 he came to California and secured
work with the Union Oil Company, doing field work in Ventura County.
On the discovery of oil in Los
Angeles by Edward L. Doheny and Charles A. Canfield in the fall of 1893, Mr.
O’Donnell came here to work for Mr. Doheny.
A few months later, in partnership with Max H. Whittier, he sought
contracts for well digging. In this
undertaking the partners were so successful that they afterwards drilled wells
and produced oil for themselves in the old Los Angeles oil fields. In 1901 Mr. O’Donnell was a pioneer in the
Coalinga field in California. He was a
moving spirit in the organization of the American Petroleum Corporation and
directed its operations for some time.
Later he formed the American Oil Fields Company, whose activities were
largely in the Midway field. He was one
of the organizers and for many years president and general manager of the
California Petroleum Corporation, operating in most of the oil fields of that
state, and was chairman of the board when the business was taken over by the
Texas Corporation. Mr. O’Donnell became
a member of the board of directors of that corporation and served for a
time. He was called to Washington, D.
C., and aided the government in straightening out the difficulties that arose
through President Taft’s withdrawal of oil lands, which resulted in the
enactment of the present oil leasing law.
At one time he was a director of several corporations operating in the
Republic of Mexico.
When America joined the allies in
the conflict against Germany, Mr. O’Donnell resigned from the boards of all
operating companies and during the war was director of production of the oil
division of the United States Fuel Administration, serving as a “dollar-a-year
man.” Following the signing of the Armistice
he resumed his duties as chairman of the board of the California Petroleum Corporation. Appointed a delegate to the gathering of
international interests in Paris, where he was one of the founders of the
International Chamber of Commerce, he was elected to its directorate and still
retains his membership in the organization.
He has also been a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce for a
number of years. He was one of the
founders and the first president of the American Petroleum Institute,
continuing at its head for five terms.
With others he organized the Independent Oil Producers Agency of
California, which he long represented as a director. Experience and study have made him thoroughly
conversant with every phase of the oil business, a subject on which he is a
recognized authority. In 1928 when
President Coolidge appointed a committee of nine to cooperate with the
government in the effort to bring about the conservation of the oil resources
of the United States, Mr. O’Donnell was one of three men selected by the
petroleum operators to act with the three selected by the American Bar
Association, and Herbert Hoover was one of the other three that comprised the
committee of nine. Upon its organization
in 1915, Mr. O’Donnell was elected president of the California Star Oil Company
of Los Angeles, and still controls its destiny but laid aside the actual
management in 1928, when he retired from active business.
In 1896 Mr. O’Donnell was married to
Miss Lillie Wood, a native of California and they became the parents of two
daughters: Ruth O’Donnell Tompkins and
Doris Connolly. Mr. O’Donnell’s second
marriage occurred in 1925, uniting him with Dr. Winifred Jenny, a native of New
York. Mr. O’Donnell maintains a summer
home at Long Beach, California and in the winter resides at Palm Springs, one
of the finest resorts in this part of the country. Mr. O’Donnell is a Mason and has membership
in the various bodies and in the Shrine.
His social connections are with the California Club and several country
clubs. In his earlier years he sowed
wisely and well and is now reaping the rich harvest of his labors. His success has never represented another’s
loss but has resulted from the wise use of the talents with which nature has
endowed him and from the recognition of opportunities,
needs and possibilities.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 467-469, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES