Oliver Beirne (March 26, 1811 - April 21, 1888) was a landowner from West Virginia, one of the owner of the

Old Sweet Springs Sweet Springs Resort and spa was founded in Sweet Springs, West Virginia, United States in 1792. Once known as Old Sweet Springs, this historic resort hotel is currently undergoing renovation by the nonprofit Sweet Springs Resort Park Foundatio ...

resort, and sole heir to plantation millionaire John Burnside, of whom he was a longtime friend.

Early life

Oliver Beirne was born on March 26, 1811, the son of Andrew Beirne (1771–1845) and Eleanor "Ellen" Grey Keenan (1779–1824).

Career

Beirne partnered with

John Burnside John Burnside FRSL FRSE (born 19 March 1955) is a Scottish writer. He is one of only three poets (the others being Ted Hughes and Sean O'Brien) to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same book (''Black C ...

in a mercantile business established in New Orleans in 1837. Beirne retired from the mercantile business in 1847 and Burnside became a wealthy merchant, later owner of

The Houmas The Houmas, also known as Burnside Plantation and currently known as Houmas House Plantation and Gardens, is a historic plantation complex and house museum in Burnside, Louisiana. The plantation was established in the late 1700s, with the curre ...

plantation and another dozen plantations in Louisiana.New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 30, 1881; New York Times, July 12, 15, 16, 1881; Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography (1900) Sweet Springs Resort - Main Building

Back in West Virginia, Oliver Beirne became a landowner and postmaster of Sweet Springs, West Virginia, where he owned the

resort. Aside from the resort at Sweet Springs, all other properties still belong to his heirs.

Personal life

Oliver Beirne married Margaret Melinda Caperton (1812–1844) on August 2, 1831. His children were: John, Jane E., Elizabeth "Bettie" Miles (1835–1874) (who married

William Porcher Miles William Porcher Miles (July 4, 1822 – May 11, 1899) was an American politician who was among the ardent states' rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the " Fire-Eaters." He is notable for h ...

), Andrew, Susan Robinson (1840–1871) (married Major Henry Robinson), Nancy (married first Samuel B. Parkman, killed at Antietam, second Emil von Ahlefeldt) and Alice. John Burnside, his longtime friend from the time when they worked together in New Orleans, was a lifelong bachelor, and when he died on June 29, 1881, he left his entire estate, estimated 5 or 6 million dollars, to Oliver Beirne. When Beirne died Houmas House and the other plantations went to William Porcher Miles, Beirne's son-in-law.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beirne, Oliver 1811 births 1888 deaths 19th-century American landowners West Virginia postmasters 19th-century American businesspeople People from Monroe County, West Virginia American hoteliers Businesspeople from West Virginia 19th-century American merchants American people of Irish descent Burials in West Virginia