Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Richard Butler O'HARA
Richard Butler O'Hara, son of Captain James and Mary (Carson) O'Hara, was born in Pittsburgh, where he died while still a young man. He was always of a delicate state of health and never actively engaged in business or public life. He married Mary Boyd. Their children were: James O'Hara, deceased; Elizabeth O'Hara, unmarried; Mary Carson O'Hara (Mrs. William M. Darlington). Mary Carson, daughter of Richard Butler and Mary (Boyd) O'Hara, was born at "Guyasuta," Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where she has resided all her life. She was educated at Edgeworth (now Braddock) Seminary, and Miss McLeod's School for Young Ladies, Staten Island, New York. She is an accomplished linguist, speaking, reading and writing with fluency, French, German and Spanish. She married William M. Darlington, who was an author of repute, to whom she was of the greatest assistance in translating and copying from original documents, which were largely French and Spanish in language. Mrs. Darlington has devoted a great deal of her life to genealogical research and historical writing. Her "Fort Pitt" (her only published volume) is a standard authority and widely quoted. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, and an honorary member of Pittsburgh Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The children of William M. and Mary Carson (O'Hara) Darlington are: O'Hara Darlington, unmarried; Hilborn, died in 1862; Mary O'Hara Darlington, and Edith (Mrs. Samuel A. Ammon). William McCullough Darlington was a son of Benjamin and Agnes (McCullough) Darlington, a grandson of Amos and Elizabeth (Powell) Darlington, and a descendant of the English emigrant Abraham Darlington, who came to Pennsylvania about 1711. His grandfather Amos was a farmer of Chester county, Pennsylvania; his father, Benjamin, was a successful merchant of Pittsburgh, where he died February 15, 1856. William M. Darlington was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May, 1815, and died at "Guyasuta," Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1889. He was by profession a lawyer but for several years before his death devoted himself exclusively to literary work and historical research. Owing to his knowledge of property and local history he was an authority often consulted by judges and leading attorneys of Allegheny county. In 1888, on the completion of the new court house, he received the keys from the county commissioners as being the oldest member of the county bar, though not the oldest man. His library, which he was collecting all through his life, number 11,000 volumes, being one of the best in quality and largest in quantity of any private collection in the State. He was a member of several historical societies,--a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and was considered an authority on American history, especially that of Western Pennsylvania, and the Ohio Valley. He compiled and published "Illustrative Notes to Journal of Colonel John May, of Boston, 1788-89"; "Christopher Gist's Journal, Notes and Biographies"; "An Appendix of Illustrative Notes to Colonel Smith's Narrative of Captivity with the Indians, 1755-59." He also prepared a great number of historical papers and genealogical sketches which were published by others in various publications. Edith, daughter of William H. and Mary Carson (O'Hara) Darlington, was born at "Guyasuta", Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. She was educated at the Pittsburgh Female College and the School of Design. In 1891 she married Samuel A. Ammon, born in Pittsburgh, son of August Ammon, who was the first of his family to come to the United States. He was a native of Germany. Mr. Ammon is a lawyer practicing in Pittsburgh. In patriotic lines Mrs. Ammon works through the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and has been Regent of the Pittsburgh chapter ten years, 1899 to 1909. The Pittsburgh Chapter has always been a working body and has accomplished a great deal in the way of arousing public patriotic spirit, in preserving historical landmarks, and retaining them as permanent monuments of the "days of yore". Perhaps the most notable of all their achievements was the purchase of the old historic "Block House" at the Point, after its doom had been pronounced by man. To do this they were compelled to become an incorporated body, but the "Block House" was saved. In all this work Mrs. Ammon has borne an important part. In Church connection, she is a member of Calvary Episcopal Church, East End, Pittsburgh.
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