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.