__NOTOC__ George Tener Oliver (January 26, 1848January 22, 1919) was an American lawyer, publisher, and Republican party politician from

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He represented

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

from 1909 until 1917.

Early life, education, and career

He was born in

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, while his parents were visiting there. After graduating from Bethany College,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

(

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, 1868;

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

,1873) he studied law in an office in Pittsburgh, where he practiced from 1871 to 1881. He then engaged in the iron and steel industry, accumulating a large fortune. In 1900 Oliver separately purchased two Pittsburgh newspapers, the morning '' Commercial Gazette'' and evening ''Chronicle Telegraph'', the former of which he merged six years later with ''

The Pittsburg Times ''The Pittsburg Times'' was a morning daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1880 to 1906. It was a predecessor of ''The Gazette Times'', which in turn was succeeded by the present-day ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''. History T ...

'' to form ''The Gazette Times''.

U.S. Senate

In 1909, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

to the U.S. Senate to serve out the term of

Philander C. Knox Philander Chase Knox (May 6, 1853October 12, 1921) was an American lawyer, bank director and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Knox served in the Cabinet of three different presidents and represented Pennsylvania in the United States ...

, who had resigned to become Secretary of State under

President Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

. Oliver was reelected to a full six-year term starting in 1911. As senator, he focused on tariff matters affecting the iron and steel industry, the chief employer in Pittsburgh. In 1911, he helped reverse the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

decision to spell the

name of Pittsburgh The name of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has a complicated history. Pittsburgh is one of the few U.S. cities or towns to be spelled with an ''h'' at the end of a ''burg'' suffix, although the spelling ''Pittsburg'' was acceptable for many ...

without the final ''h''.

Death and memorial

George T. Oliver died at his home in Pittsburgh on January 22, 1919, just 4 days shy of his 71st birthday. He owned a summer estate named Dungannon Hall in Hamilton Twp, Ontario, just north of

Cobourg Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...

. The sideroad south of the estate was named Oliver's Lane in memory. Although Dungannon Hall was lost to fire in the mid 20th century, the gates to the estate still stand at the western end of Oliver's Lane next to Ontario Street.

References

External links

* * 1848 births 1919 deaths People from County Tyrone Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Oliver, George Tener American industrialists Oliver, George Tener Republican Party United States senators from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Republicans Bethany College (West Virginia) alumni Pittsburgh Post-Gazette people Burials at Allegheny Cemetery 19th-century American politicians Journalists from Pennsylvania Lawyers from Pittsburgh 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American businesspeople {{Pennsylvania-politician-stub