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!

A visit to Watertown, Massachusetts

Last weekend, while your Editor was starting a long weekend's holiday in Maine, one of my Ong cousins sent me a message saying he was visiting Watertown, Mass, the original home of the Ongs in America, and asking if I knew if any Ongs were buried there, and where the oldest Ong grave marker might be.  I knew that one of the oldest family records cites that "Francis Onge widow", whom we usually cite as Frances Onge, was buried at Watertown on 12 November 1638, "55 years old".  But where exactly she was buried, and whether there was a headstone or other marker I didn't know, although I was pretty sure there wasn't one since it would have long since come to my attention.

I was frustrated that I could not immediately answer the question fully, so at the end of the long weekend when seeing that my car's navigation system on the trip home to Connecticut was sending me into central Boston to avoid congestion on the I-495 ring-road, I decided to take a lunch break in Watertown and do some quick exploring.

First some equally quick history:  Watertown, which lies on the north bank of the Charles River immediately to the west of Cambridge, is one of several towns founded as part of the original Massachusetts Bay Colony when a fleet of 15 ships led by Governor John Winthrop carrying around 1000 passengers arrived from England in the late spring of 1630, considered the start of the Great (Puritan) Migration.  (The others were Boston, Dorchester and Roxbury.  Salem (1624) and Charlestown (1629) had been founded under the Bay Colony's auspices prior to Winthrop's arrival.)  The Onge family of Lavenham, Suffolk, arrived in Boston in February 1631 (1630 Old Style) on the Lyon, a voyage primarily devoted to winter supplies (the colony already had severe food shortages) but which also carried a few families.

The evidence suggests that the Onge party consisted of Frances Onge, widow of Edmond Onge (1568-1630) of Lavenham who died the previous summer, accompanied by several of her children as well as her late husband's cousin, Francis Onge (1605-1666), presumably accompanied by his wife Susan Onge, nee Chandler (b. 1608), as we have evidence that Francis' oldest son, also Francis (1632-1657), was later cited as "born in New England" when he was admitted in 1644 to Colchester (Essex) Grammar School, at a time when Francis (who also attended Cambridge and ordained a priest in 1638) was Minister at Great Parndon, then Peldon, both in Essex, England.

For reasons we can only guess at (possibly personal connections to one of the 1630 founders), the Onges were assigned to Watertown, and "Francis Onge" (whether this refers to Widow Frances or her cousin-in-law Francis is a matter of debate) appears in the earliest records as the holder of three parcels, showing that he or she held a "proprietary share" in the town.  The custom at the founding of Watertown is that the original proprietors received several free lots, which varied in size according to the size and standing of the family.  One lot would be a "homestall" to include the main residence, which were all originally located at the eastern end of the current town,  Other (non-contiguous) lots were allocated for plowlands and for livestock.

As soon as I exited the Mass Pike and pulled into the town I parked and googled "old cemetery Watertown" and discovered that there was an "Old Burying Place", aka the Arlington Street Cemetery, on the corner of Mount Auburn and Arlington Street so I immediately made my way there.

View of Watertown Old Burying Place gateway from across Arlington Street

Entering through the gate there was a plaque with historical information and the location of notable monuments:

Based on this information it seems certain that this cemetery is the final resting place of Frances Onge, but the location of the grave is unknown.  There were a couple of 20th century monuments set by descendants of other Watertown founders to honor their earliest American ancestors:

I wonder if they would allow an Ong monument some day?

Anyway life in early Massachusetts was mobile, and available records show all of Frances Onge's known adult children died in other towns, so hers is the only known Watertown burial.

Satisfied that I had the answer to my cousin's question, I went to the Watertown Free Library to check out the local history section.  (While the library is "free", parking was not!)  The Library had an extensive genealogical and local history room, and I could have spent a few days there, but only had 30 minutes of so before I needed to hit the road.  I did manage to find a copy of an early allotment map which showed several Onge plots, generally assigned to "S. Onge", referring to Frances' son Simon Onge (1619-1678).  I understand that these lots are not the same as the Francis Onge lots, which to a certain extent ended up in possession of Simon's very likely brother-in-law Justinian Holden, who is generally believed to have married Frances' daughter Elizabeth (1616-1673).  This map was part of Henry Bond's "Genealogies of the families and descendants of the early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts":

I subsequently found a better copy on the internet:

The "homestall" of Simon Onge, appeared to be on what is now Mount Auburn Street:

This is at the corner of what is now Mount Auburn and Belmont Streets, at the eastern apex of what was the Meeting House Common and across the street from the Northwest corner of what is now Mount Auburn Cemetery.  So I decided to leave the library and take a last look at what may have been one of the early family homesteads:

As you can see it is now a Star Market!  And one of the "T" transit lines also runs through it.  Anyway the neighborhood - and much else - has changed quite a bit since the 1630s!  I look forward to a return visit to dig around a little more.

Ongs in the American Civil War

4th West Virginia Monument at Vicksburg, citing officers killed in battle, including Lt. Finley D. Ong

Off and on over the years I have taken notes about family members who served in the Civil War (1861-1865).  Growing up I was very aware of my branch of the family keeping alive the memory of Finley Ong, one of my great-great-grandfather's older brothers, who served in the 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and died of his wounds in a Confederate field hospital during the Battle of the Wilderness in Virgina (May 1864).  The 1906 "Ong Family of America" book also mentions several members who served, including the three cousins and their uncle (the officer mentioned on the monument above) who made the supreme sacrifice. 

Thanks to the age of the internet we can more easily find many military records, and I include here a list of all those I can see who served with the last name Ong, noting their unit, and I have also tried to group them by family linkages.  Note there are a few I have not put in their proper place but will seek to do so.  (All help welcome!)

The main take-away from all this is that the Ong family certainly made a substantial contribution to the Union cause, especially for a family which was historically Quaker (and therefore doctrinally pacifist).  The list below includes over 35 young men from 10 states, all descended from a single set great (or great-great) grandparents (Jeremiah & Christiana Ong) who lived on the Pennsylvania frontier only a century earlier.  But like many families who settled in part in the border states (in our case, Virginia/West Virginia), we had divided loyalties and were represented on both sides of the conflict.

I have left in brackets information about wartime service mentioned in the 1906 book which I cannot yet confirm from another source.


UNITED STATES ("UNION") ARMY

Grandsons of Jacob Ong (1760-1849)

1^st Lt. Finley Davis Ong, Co. F, 4th West Virginia. Vol. Infantry mortally wounded Vicksburg 22 May 1863 (son of Jacob Ong)

Theodore W. Ong, Corporal, Co I, 37th Indiana Infantry died 1864 of complications from wound in 1863) (brother to Finley D.)

Jacob Ong, Battery G, 1^st Illinois Light Artillery (brother to Finley D. & Theodore)

Jacob B. Ong, M.D., Co K, 69^th Ohio Vol Inf; Surgeon 14th (TN) then 18th (MO) Reg US Colored Infantry (son of Isaac Ong)

Abraham C. Ong, Co H, 157^th Ohio Vol. Infantry (Son of John McGrew Ong)

[John Lewis Ong, (OFH “Captain of a company of government scouts”) (brother to Abraham)]

[(OFH: Capt?)  Isaac A. Ong (Union Reg.  Lived in TN) (brother to Abraham & John Lewis)]

Great-Grandsons of Jacob Ong

Finley M. Ong, Co. K, 8^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry (son of Jacob Finley Ong, grandson of Finley Ong)

John Irvine Ong, Corporal, Co. L, 6^th U.S. Cavalry (brother to Finley M.). Enlisted 20 Mar 1861. Discharged due to disability 20 Nov 1862.

Finley Ong, Co. H, 126^th Ohio Vol. Infantry, mortally wounded Battle of the Wilderness 6 May 1864 (son of Moses Harlan Ong, grandson of Finley Ong)

Lindley H. Ong, 40^th Ohio Vol. Infantry died of illness in service 8 Jul 1862 (son of Lewis H. Ong, grandson of Finley Ong)

Finley J. Ong, Corporal Co F 4^th West Virginia Infantry died 1863 (son of Nathan Ong, grandson of Jacob Ong)

William C. Ong, Co F., 4^th West Virginia Infantry (brother of Finley J.)

Albert J. Ong, Co U, 5^th Ohio Cavalry (son of Dr Jacob B. Ong (above), grandson of Isaac Ong) (permanently wounded?)

Oliver M. Ong, Co H, 157^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (son of James Alfred Ong, grandson of Isaac Ong)

Plummer Young (son of Eliza Ong Young, grandson of Isaac Ong)

2^nd Lt. Oliver C. Ong 2nd West Virginia Cavalry (son of Reason Ong, grandson of Nathan M. Ong)

Nathan King Ong, Co K, 9^th Ohio Cavalry (brother to Oliver C.)

Grandsons of Jesse Ong (1762-1857): 

John D. Ong, 1^st Indiana Heavy Artillery (b 1838. son of James Ong b 1809)

Great-grandsons of Jesse Ong:

First Lt. David McK. Ong (1829-1872), Co G, 2nd Kentucky Infantry& 2^nd Missouri Cavalry (son of Jesse Ong (1804-1874))

William J. Ong (1835-1904), Co B, 14th Illinois Cavalry (brother of David McK. Ong)

Grandsons of Jeremiah Ong (1766(79?)-1850):

Wilson Ong, 44^th Illinois Vol Infantry (son of John Ong)

Nathan Ong, 44^th Illinois Vol Infantry (brother to Wilson)

Benjamin Ong, 4^th New Jersey Infantry (son of Isaac Ong)

Ira Connell Ong, 129^th, Illinois Vol Infantry (son of William G. Ong)

Benjamin W. Ong, Co H, 104^th Illinois Infantry (brother to Ira C.)

Jesse R. Ong, Co H, 104^th Illinois Infantry (brother to Ira C. and Benjamin W.)

Roger John Ong, Co B, 77^th Illinois Infantry (brother to Ira C, Benjamin W and Jesse R.)

John Ong, Co E 155^th Pennsylvania Infantry (son of Zadoc Alexander Ong)

William Ong, Co C 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry (brother to John)

William W. Ong, Co G, 139th Illinois Infantry (son of Thomas O. Ong)

Great-grandsons of Jeremiah Ong

Joseph Eli Ong, 44^th Illinois Vol Infantry (son of Wilson Ong)

Identity/descendancy unclear

William Ong, Co G, 12^th Penn. Infantry (from website)

Ernest M. Ong, 13^th West Virginia Infantry

Jacob Ong, 81^st Pennsylvania Infantry

Jesse Ong, 52^nd Indiana Infantry

John Ong, 2^nd Colorado Cavalry

CONFEDERATE ARMY

John Gardiner Ong, Co H, Crescent Regiment, Louisiana (Great-grandson of Jesse Ong)

Isaac Ong Co E 8^th Virginia Cavalry (Sgt., died May 1861) (descendacy unclear)

John W. Ong, 8th Virginia Cavalry (son of Isaac)

Ong Origins

At long last I have figured out how to share my slide show from last year's Mini-Reunion!  Enjoy, and let me know if any comments or questions!  -The Editor

Ong Family 2015 Year-end Newsletter

Dear Ong Family and Friends,

New Year’s greetings to you all!  I write today (also my son Finley’s birthday) from my family’s farm in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, not far from where the American branch of the Ong family lived in a Quaker farming settlement in the 1790’s.  There are still cousins living in the vicinity, making this region the one with the longest period of uninterrupted settlement by American Ongs – over 220 years!  Although given that there are English family records going back to the year 1280, no doubt we have cousins “across the pond” who can boast far deeper local roots.

As you know, I started my blog after the “Mini-Reunion” which my father and I organized in August 2014 around the Bicentennial celebrations of the Quaker Yearly Meeting House in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, built under the leadership of my ancestor Jacob Ong (1760-1849).  At that time we reached out to various random cousins around the country for whom we had contact details, both known and unknown to us.  But we had a very positive response from about 60 cousins, of whom over 40 were able to attend, and we had an enjoyable time in each other’s company for two days.  The unanimous conclusion of the cousins who attended the reunion, was “Let’s keep in touch and do this again!”

The success of the gathering inspired me to continue the family community-building process through the means of sharing some historical materials on a new blog and its accompanying Facebook page (facebook.com/ongfamilyhistory).  Since family history is my 3^rd or maybe even 4^th hobby, I have managed to write only 16 posts on the blog (one a month on average), as well as a few other minor posts on the FB page.  But while I still have a lot of unfinished post ideas which time has not permitted me to complete, the venture has been very successful in expanding the network of Ong cousins.  The OFH page on Facebook now has almost 100 followers, and almost all of these cousins and friends are also personal Facebook “Friends” of mine.  So when I log in on the train home from work most days, I have the treat of following the interests and exploits of various Ongs around the globe.  (This includes Ongs who adopted the name through marriage, and I continue to give all of you special thanks for taking this name by choice!)  It has been a true joy to have connected with so many of you over the last 16 months and I look forward to sharing your “Friendship” – if not real friendship – in the years ahead.  Most of my FB contacts are from five different “clusters” of the US family tree, mostly unknown to each other until now, and I have also been delighted to see how direct communication between members of these clusters has flourished over the past year.

Because of the length of the family’s history and breadth of the family tree, many of us are quite distantly related, though we might share a last name.  Among the American Ongs, some of the younger of us are as distant as ninth cousins to each other – in other words our closest common ancestors are among the three Ong families living in SW Pennsylvania 220 years ago or their parents, Jeremiah & Christiana Ong.  And the relationships between English and American Ongs are more distant still, since our common ancestors were born in the 1500’s or earlier, making the younger of us at least 15^th cousins to each other! 

As a result the profile of our family is very diverse and reflects in many respects the variety of our society as a whole, and this is something which is quite striking from my perspective.  Within the larger American side of the family, we live in all corners of the country, we are in all walks of life, observe many forms of belief and unbelief, are inclined in all directions of political opinion, and live in the widest range of personal and professional circumstances one can imagine.  Of course in our “melting pot” on this continent, the Ongs as a whole long ago ceased to be of only British ancestry, and now we are no longer of only European ancestry.  That's America!

The main “news” in this newsletter is that I repeat our intention to hold a grand family reunion in St. Louis in 2018, exact date tbd.  The Ong Reunion in Smithfield, Ohio in 1905 reportedly had 400 Ongs in attendance and 1000 guests in total, and my ambition is to match this.  It would require some commitment and resolve on all of our parts to make the effort to congregate, but St. Louis is conveniently located in the center of the country, and we have over two years to plan and organize ourselves.  I really don’t know how many cousins reside in America, but I know for certain it is far larger than my 100 Ong Facebook friends!  I also know that many of you already have traditions of regular Ong family reunions within your “cluster”, so I would appreciate your consideration in incorporating that into this grand scheme for 2018!   Also if you are reading this and have not previously been in touch with me, I would appreciate hearing from you by email at ongfamilyhistory@gmail.com or via Facebook.

In the meanwhile, I will continue to post articles of interest relating to our family’s history.  I have also reserved a website with a view that it will act as a host for the blog and as a way to share other related materials, including in time my version of the family tree.  (There is more than one interpretation of some of the areas where the evidence is fuzzy to say the least!)

As an amateur genealogist, I must say the modern trends in family life create some challenges in family tree building.  Multiple marriages are now common, and the tradition of passing down the family name from the paternal line is no longer universally observed.  In fact we have some cousins who have taken the Ong name from their mothers, which helps to offset some of those who have voluntarily surrendered the family name for whatever reason.  It all makes one aware that the use of a last name is a somewhat arbitrary thing, and I am very conscious that in addition to being an Ong we are all members of a vast number of other families, some of whom have married into one another on several occasions.  But a last name does signal connection, and our interest in connecting with unknown cousins I believe comes from a natural desire to belong something greater than the immediate family.  And when one begins to appreciate how large our family connections are, you become also more conscious of how related the entire human family is to one another, and our responsibility to bear that in mind in our dealings with the world.

In conclusion, whether or not you use the Ong name, whether you were born an Ong or married an Ong, or have an Ong mother or only an Ong great-great-great grandmother, or none of the above, I appreciate your interest, friendship and/or kinship, whatever the case may be.  Meet Me in St. Louis in 2018, if not before!

Your cousin,

John F.H. Ong

30 December 2015
  

IN MEMORIAM

Beale Hibbs Ong, M.D. 1932-2015

David Eugene Ong, Ph.D. 1943-2015

Maps of Ong Family Records in England

Cousin B. Nelson Ong sent me some maps last year showing various views of the historical distribution of the Ong family in England last year which I am very (very!) overdue in sharing.  These were made by Howard Mathieson (maps@surnameorigins.ca).  I cannot attest to the completeness of the underlying data, but it still shows a clear picture of where the family was living both before and after the Reformation and the emigration of the American Ongs in 1630/1.  Enjoy!

Earliest Onge Records in Blackburn Hundred (NW Suffolk)

16th Century Onge Marriages

16th Century Onge Christenings (Baptisms at birth) in England

Same map scoped out.  London is near lower left corner.

Onge Christenings in England 1600 to 1650

Ong Christenings in England 1650 - 1700

Ong Christenings in England 1700 - 1750

Distribution of Ongs in 1881 UK Census

Key to Maps

Beale Hibbs Ong, M.D. (7 July 1932 - 30 August 2015)

Another distinguished cousin has passed away.  RIP

Beale Hibbs Ong, M.D. of St. Michaels, Maryland, died peacefully at his home on Sunday, August 30, 2015.

A 4th generation Washingtonian, born July 7, 1932, Dr. Ong graduated from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, George Washington University, and George Washington University Medical School before completing his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Ong trained in pediatrics and neurology and practiced pediatric medicine for 45 years. During his early medical career, he served as a captain in the United States Army. He contributed to the advancement of pediatrics by serving in various professional organizations including the Medical Staff for Washington Children’s Hospital and the Emeritus Board of Children’s National Medical Center. Dr. Ong was also a published author. Devoted to his patients and the art of medicine, he loved every minute of his medical career.

Dr. Ong had a strong belief in the enjoyment of life. In addition to his love of medicine, he thoroughly delighted in fishing, sailing, and tennis. He cherished his family and wonderful friendships.

Dr. Ong was preceded in death by his parents, Harry Alfred Ong, M.D. and Eleanor Homiller Ong, his brother Harry Alfred Ong, Jr. and sister, Eleanor O. Chatfield-Taylor. He is survived by his beloved wife of 54 years, Linn Whitelaw Ong, his children, Beale Hibbs Opsahl-Ong, John Whitelaw Ong and Carter Ong Smith and seven loving grandchildren, to whom he will always be “Poppa Doc” He will long be remembered for the joy he brought to so many.

Services will be held at Christ Episcopal Church 301 South Talbot Street, St. Michaels, Maryland at 2:00PM on Saturday September 12, 2015.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Dr. Ong’s name to Children’s National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Ave, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20010 or to Talbot Hospice Foundation 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601.

Arrangements are by the Ostrowski Funeral Home P.A. St. Michaels, MD. (www.ostrowskifh.com) 

Source: http://www.ostrowskifh.com/obits/obituary.php?act=entertrib&id=567286