William Armitage Ong (28 December 1902 - November 1979)

William A. Ong, known to all as Bill, was one of the first Ongs I heard anything about as a child, of course excluding my immediate family, my Ong grandparents and various other uncles and aunts.  We knew of him as the "Ong Airlines" man, since indeed that was one of his many ventures.  It was amusing to us that our obscure family name had an airline named after it, even if Ong Airlines was not exactly a household name.  My father had somehow procured a timetable which he had tucked into one of his copies of "Ong Family of America.

Much later I acquired two of his books and learned more about his fascinating career in and around airplanes, especially in his memoir, "Ride The High Wind - An Adventure Story of Flying in the 1920's" (1979, Pilot News Press).

Bill Ong was born in Lacon, Illinois on 28 December 1902, the child of Judson W. Ong, Jr and Mercedes E. Armitage Ong.  He was apparently named after his maternal grandfather William Armitage.  Here is his "About the Author" biography from the dust jacket of his WWII study "Target Luftwaffe - The Tragedy and the Triumph of the World War II Air Victory" (1981, The Lowell Press):

"Following his first solo flight in 1927, Ong won recognition by barnstorming and air racing throughout the Midwest.  From 1929 through 1936, he held the position of sales manager for Rearwin, Inland, Waco and Beech, all manufacturers of civil aircraft.  Charter member of the Professional Racing Pilots Association, he flew in six Thompson Trophy Races during the '30s , and in 1946 returned to Cleveland to win a trophy in a P-51D.

"In 1937, Ong founded his own company, Ong Aircraft Corporation.  When World War II began, Ong, a Captain in the Army Air Corps Reserve, was operating flight schools at seven Kansas and Missouri locations under the Civilian Pilot Training Program.  By war's end, his company had trained approximately 10,000 Army, Navy and Air Force students without a fatality.

"In 1940, Ong was the principal founder and first president of the National Aviation Trades Association, general aviation's most respected voice in Washington.

"After the war, Ong was elected to the presidency of virtually every aviation-oriented organization in the Kansas City area and helped to found the national organization, Silver Wings Fraternity.  In 1960, he was designated "Aviation Man of the Year" by the Midwest Region of the Air Transport Association.  He then became active at the national and international levels, serving as U.S representative to the Federation Aeronatique Internationale, and as Vice-President, received its Paul Tissandier Diploma.

"Ong's love of speed, which took him into dirt track racing in the early '20s, surfaced again in the middle '50s when. his air racing days completed, took up sports car racing.  Winning numerous trophies, he was elected Regional Executive of the Sports Car Club of America, Kansas City Region.

"Ong served two years as President of the National Aeronaticcs Assocaition and two years as Board Chairman, during which time he edited and published National Aeronatics magazine.  He served on both the Collier Trophy Committee and was appointed to the College of Elder Statesmen of Aeronautics.

"During this time, he continued to operate Ong Aircraft Corporation, founded Ong Airlines, a Chicago-based feeder line, and turned his attention increasingly to writing.  He became Associate Editor of the prestigious Flight Magazine and in 1963 was made a member of the Aviation/Space Writers Association.  a prolific reviewer of aviation books, he also served as Contributing Editor to Pilot News, where his "Prop Wash" column appeared regularly.  The Kansas City Star frequently carried his articles on many subjects.  His account of flying in the '20s, Ride the High Wind, was published in 1979.

"In May of 1975, Ong was inducted in the Aviation Hall of Fame at Hammondsport, New York, as a outstanding aviation pioneer, statesman, and author."

The NATA, which now stands for the National Air Transportation Association and is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, honors the memory of its co-founder and first president through the annual granting of the "William A. "Bill" Ong Memorial Award" for extraordinary achievement and extended meritorious service to the general aviation industry.  A list of recipients can be found here: http://nata.aero/Awards/Ong-Memorial-Award.aspx.

Bill was married for over 57 years to Esther Louise Hunter Ong, of whom he wrote:

"I do not think any other woman would have shared my erratic life with her understanding, her gentle consideration, and her unselfish devotion to me.  She hated airplanes; well she might, for one of them took the life of one of her two sons.

"Yet never once did she protest or complain although dread uncertainty was a heavy cross for her small body.

"I have never won anything of importance in aviation, or in motor racing which I was doing in dirt track cars at country fairs when we met in Illinois.  But no man has won a greater prize than her assent to marry me that hot summer day of August 18, 1921."

Bill and Esther's son Donald Hunter Ong also became in turn a prominent Kansas City businessman and many descendants of this branch of the family tree still live in the area.

Another website on aviation pioneers has a page on Bill Ong found here: http://petersonfield.org/people/ong_wa/index.php

Albert R. Ong, M.D. (9 October 1846 - 22 September 1906)

Ong Family History is once again grateful to our London correspondent for sharing some of his recent discoveries.  Below are letters to the editors of two English newspapers which Albert R. Ong, M.D. (1846-1906), the author of "The Ong Family of America" (published posthumously in 1906), wrote in November 1905.  The timing is interesting:  The grand Ong Family Reunion had just been held in Smithfield, Ohio in August 1905, and presumably it was the culmination of many years of research and outreach to various branches of the extended American Ong family, the results of which are found in his book with its 201 biographical entries.

Dr. Ong must have been inspired by that event to start or intensify an effort to find out more about the family on the other side of the ocean.  So he turned to writing newspaper editors in the hope that they would publish his letters and stimulate a response from any English cousins.  He succeeded to a great extent, and here are these two instances:

Our correspondent observes that it is interesting that Dr. Ong cites "Thomas", incorrectly, as the American Ong forebear. He also relates a family story that his great-grandfather Ong had received a letter from an American named "Arthur Robert Ong" seeking relations in England.  This was undoubtedly Albert, the name mis-remembered.

We do know that between that time and his death in September 1906 Dr. Ong collected a lot of material.  He summarizes his English research in his preface to his book, which mentions his newspaper outreach:


"After this discovery [of early family records in Boston, Mass. showing that Ongs immigrated from England -Ed.], I determined to make another effort to locate the Ongs of England.  This time I appealed to the press of England, and wrote to several editors of leading newspapers asking their assistance.  At the hands of these gentlemen I received the most courteous and liberal treatment.  The Pall Mall Gazette, of London, kindly published my letter, with liberal comments, and asked other papers to copy.  This effort was successful.  Letters written by persons bearing the name of "Ong" were received from different parts of the Kingdom, one mail bringing me as many as ten letters, so that I soon found myself in correspondence with half a hundred persons in England, who bore the name, or were the descendants, of an "Ong."  ("Ong Family of America", page 11)


How much harder it was to build family trees before the internet!

It was tragic that Dr. Ong passed away amidst all this research and before he could finish the final editing his book, although his brothers and other family members made sure it was completed and published soon after his death.  The dedication at the beginning of the volume is as follows;

IN MEMORIAM

On the morning of the 22nd day of September, 1906, Dr. Albert R. Ong, editor and compiler of this book, died.  Dr. Ong was seemingly in the very best of health up to within an hour of his death. While his decease was sudden, those who knew him and were familiar with his upright life felt that he was thoroughly prepared to meet his maker.

The principal facts of Dr. Ong's active and very successful life appear in their proper place in this volume.

He was a devoted husband and father. As a public-spirited person he was all that could be desired. In his profession he stood high. As a Christian and scholarly gentleman Dr. Albert R. Ong has the well merited respect and admiration of all who knew him. 

Dr. Ong's entry in "Ong Family America" (pp 67-68):


Dr. Albert R. Ong was born on the 9th day of October, 1846, near Smithfield, Ohio.  He was educated at Richmond College, Richmond, Ohio, and Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania.  From the latter college he received the degree of A.B. in the spring of 1872.  During his year he was elected Vice President of Richmond College, in which institute he filled the chair of Mathematics and Astronomy for three years.  (His cousin, Lemuel W. Ong, was the college's President.  -Ed.)  In 1875 he entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1877 graduated from Columbus Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, as the first honor man.  After graduating he entered the practice of his chosen profession in Smithfield, Ohio.  In 1882 he located in Martins Ferry, Ohio, where he resided until the time of his death and enjoyed a lucrative practice.  He was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church, a member of the Board of City School Examiners, and held numerous other positions of honor an trust for eighteen years.

The following estimate of Dr. Ong's character and standing in the community in which he lived is taken from an article which appeared in "The Weekly Times" of Martins Ferry, Ohio on September 27th, 1906:

"In the death of Dr. Ong, Martins Ferry and vicinity sustain a distinct loss.  It was one of his characteristics to hew the line, let the chips fly where they would, and this, in itself served to mark him as a man among men.  True to himself, at all times, he could not be false to others, and the friends he attracted to himself and who knew him best will consider themselves honored, for all time, in having been intimately acquainted with him.  He will be missed more perhaps than any other citizen of Martins Ferry.  To say nothing of the place in the home which can never be filled, he will be missed in the fire department, so near and dear to him, on the various boards he served so faithfully, and in the hundreds of homes in which he was a trusted adviser.  Dr. Ong was a clean, polished, courteous, courageous Christian gentleman, more than which may be said of no man."

In 1884 he was married to Mary Kathryn Anderson, daughter of James and Fannie E. Anderson, who survives him.

John McGrew Ong (1799-1877) (?)

Here are two interesting old photos shared by a cousin-in-law (the wife of my fifth cousin once removed to be precise!):

This one is marked "great-grandfather Ong" and given the provenance we are guessing they are both photos of John McGrew Ong (1799-1877), one of the sons of Rev Jacob and Mary McGrew Ong, and the husband of Mary Jane Cuppy (1797-1877).  (And he is also my great-great-great-great-great uncle!)  The other seems to be the same person, marked "an Ong":

John McGrew Ong was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, just a few years before the family of Jacob and Mary Ong moved to Ohio.  John and Mary (Cuppy) Ong raised their family in/around the Ong homestead in Jefferson County, Ohio but moved to LaSalle County, Illinois sometime in the 1850s.

Thanks for sharing the photos!