Source:Fleming-romance
George T. Fleming. "Name brings up tale of old romance: Schenley story is of runaway marriage that made British soldier rich: Bits of biography." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Jan. 30, 1916, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85897237.
BELLEFIELD, like many other names of local subdivisions has indefinite boundaries. For the purposes of this article we can consider its eastern line at Craig street; its western, Oakland avenue, and that it includes the territory between Schenley Park and Center avenue.
From these boundaries one can readily conclude that Bellefield is Schenley and Schenley is Bellefield, which is to say that Bellefield includes Schenley Park and the Schenley Hotel and Farms, while we often hear of the "Schenley Library"—a positive misnomer. It is the Carnegie Library and Museum, and the name, Schenley applied to the library is the shortening of the designation, "The Schenley Park Library."
Schenley and libraries are not akin and the connection between them is only that the central, or main library, of Mr. Carnegie's foundation is on part of the tract donated by Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley to the city of Pittsburgh for park purposes.
Mrs. Schenley, nee Croghan, came from good Colonial stock. Her grandfathers were born in Ireland, the paternal, Maj. William Croghan; the maternal, Gen. James O'Hara. Both served with distinction during the Revolution.
Mrs. Schanley's [sic] Family.
She was the grand-niece of Gen. George Rogers Clarke and Gen. William Clarke, and the niece of Gen. George Croghan, U. S. A. Quite a military lineage with some history back of distinguished names.
She was not related to George Croghan, the famous Indian trader at Fort Pitt.
The Schenley holdings in Bellefield came to Mrs. Schenley through inheritance. Her married name has been applied to everything commemorating her in Pittsburgh and it likewise commemorates her husband.
Were it not for O'Hara avenue from Lothrop street to Craig, the old general who did so much for Pittsburgh in its early days would be without honor. Yet there were once two O'Hara streets in the community, one on the North Side, now part of Spring Garden avenue of which it is a continuation, or [rather?] the beginning.
The other O'Hara street is now, and since 1868, Twelfth street from Liberty to the Allegheny River. Originally it extended across Liberty to the hillside, but this was before the Pennsylvania Railroad came.
In the Shadyside district the name O'Hara was later applied to the street now called Maryland avenue, between South Negley, formerly Roup street, and College avenues.
In the Schenley Farms the name O'Hara is eminently proper; as proper as though that tract was called the O'Hara Farms.
Naturally something concerning Gen. O'Hara, Maj. Croghan and Capt. Schenley is in order. They were soldiers three, but not cotemperaneous [sic] in wars; and did not fight under the same standard.
Two were hostile to the banner of St. George under which "our" Schenley—we use the pronoun guardedly—won his military fame.
Some Early History.
His patronymic is a smooth flowing word. Much more so than the presumed pure Gaelic, Croghan, and the unmistakably Irish, O'Hara, and it is not English as we usually deem it.
Croghan is usually pronounced as though it were spelled Krawn. One historion [sic], Charles A. Hanna, says to pronounce it Krown, but as dog and bog are sounded as spelled most folks says Crog-han, and Croghan Park would be quite harsh, while O'Hara is too remote from the giver to give proper credit to the donor.
Again, Mary Croghan Schenley would be much too long a name—so there was nothing to it but Schenley—and Schenley took hold. The captain was not so bad a fellow, and he was a real soldier, as will be seen from his biography published at his death in 1878.
James O'Hara came to America at an early age. We are not informed when he was born. Before the revolution he was engaged in trade with the Indians, having come to Fort Pitt in 1773.
Many persons have failed to find Gen. O'Hara's military record in the Pennsylvania archives—and for a good reason it is not contained therein. His service was in the Virginia line.
He entered the Continental army as a private and was soon a captain in the Ninth Virginia Regiment.
Virginia, it must be rembered [sic], not only claimed jurisdiction over the region about the Forks of the Ohio, but maintained it by force of arms.
James O'Hara was a man of superior business qualifications. It was natural, then, for him to find a place in the quartermaster's department in which he served for some years as assistant quartermaster.
After the war Gen. O'Hara was actively engaged in business, filling large contracts for the government here for supplying the Western armies warring against the Indians on the frontiers, and also acting as agent for the purchase of Indian supplies.
O'Hara's Early Holdings.
When Pittsburgh was lyaid [sic] out in 1784, Gen. O'Hara made large purchases of land. He also bought on the North Side, then known as the Reserve tract, opposite the town of Pittsburgh. The land in peninsular Pittsburgh came from the Penns, part of the Penns' Manor, the Allegheny—or as we say now, the North Side, property came from the commonwealth. Both parties sold at exceedingly low prices.
Much of Gen. O'Hara's original purchases of land are yet included in the Schenley estate holdings in Pittsburgh and much of it is little credit to the city in the way of appearance, at least.
The Schenley estate was a foreign estate—is yet—and Pittsburgh money has been going across the sea ever since the Captain and Mary Elizaabeth [sic] eloped. Much of this money was from ground rents and it was a steady stream.
Gen. O'Hara secured large tracts of land in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In his journeys he was often attended with extreme peril.
The Western Indians were attached to the British interests, made so by the efforts of the Girtys, Elliott McKee and other notorious renegades and Tories.
The good Moravians at Schoenbrunn, on the Tuscarawas, discovered a plot to murder O'Hara and gave him safe conduct by night through the forest with a trusty guide. Schoenbrunn was one of the towns destroyed by the borderers under Col. Williamson and the Christian Indians massacred.
O'Hara and his guide avoided the trail to Fort Pitt and came through safely, although pursued by 11 Indians of the Huron tribe (Wyandotts [sic]).
Prominent In Politics. [sic]
Gen. O'Hara was prominent in our early politics. He was a presidential elector for Pennsylvania in 1788 at the first presidential election and voted for Washington. In 1792 he was appointed by Washington quartermaster general of the United States army.
During the Whisky Insurrection of 1794 O'Hara served in this capacity. Hence his title as general and the usual reference in history to him as Gen. O'Hara.
Again, in 1795, Gen. O'Hara was in active service, and as quartermaster general. This time with Anthony Wayne in the memorable campaign which put an end to Indian hostilities along the Pennsylvania and Virginia borders and in Ohio and Kentucky.
Returning from Wayne's campaign, Gen. O'Hara formed a partnership with Maj. Isaac Craig and erected the first glasshouse in Pittsburgh, on ground not then within the corporate limits. The site of this historic venture is now occupied by the former power house of the West End trolley lines at the southwest end of the Point Bridge, on Carson street. The glass factory was built of stone.
William Eichbaum—a name long prominent in Pittsburgh—was brought from the East to superintend the glass making. Many of the old boys of the Hill district in the Civil War period will remember Mr. Eichbaum, who then resided with his daughter, Mrs. Watson, on Wylie avenue, next to Abel's drug store at Washington street. At the time he was city treasurer of Pittsburgh.
The story of James O'Hara as a Pittsburgh pioneer, apart from his Revolutionary and other records, is too expansive for these columns today. He was distinctly a pioneer here, both as a merchant and manufacturer.
His first glass-making was confined to green bottles. Among his papers, only found after his death, was the notation:
"Today we made the first bottle at a cost of $30,000."
Active In City Life.
The story of Gen. O'Hara's business ventures and successes is a story of activity and honor.
"He was as enterprising as Astor or Girard and as magnanimous as Abraham Lincoln," says one biographer.
Gen. O'Hara's home was on Water street, near Ferry, and it is so marked on the map of Pittsburgh of 1795. Here his children were born. These were Elizabeth, who became the wife of Harmar Denny; Mary, who married William Croghan, Jr., the parents of Mrs. Schenley; James O'Hara, Jr., and Mrs. William Darlington of Sharpsburg.
Gen. O'Hara died in Pittsburgh December 16, 1819. His wife, Mary Carson, survived until April 18, 1834.
William Croghan, Jr., and Mary O'Hara were married in 1821. They had two children, William and Mary Elizabeth.
Mrs. Croghan died October 25, 1827. William survived his mother but a few months. Mary Elizabeth, born April 25, 1826, was but a babe when her mother died. She was born near Louisville, Ky.
Maj. William Croghan married a sister of George Rogers Clarke and resided at his fine country home near Louisville until his death in 1822.
The father of Mary Elizabeth Schenley is described as a remarkably handsome man, tall and well built, with a well-proportioned figure and a keen eye. He was Chesterfieldian in his manners and a true gentleman always.
In 1835 he was admitted to the bar of Allegheny county. He resided at his beautiful home on what is now Stanton avenue, later the home of the Schenleys, and called "Picnic"—now used as a golf club grounds.
Mr. Croghan died there September 22, 1850, a much revered man.
The Croghan family history is most interesting, but will have to be passed over today for want of space. Perhaps many will second the wish that the Schenley Park could have borne the name of this courtly gentleman instead of his son-in-law.
Story of the Schenleys.
Capt. Schenley will want space now. Perhaps the reader thus far is anxious to hear of him.
News of the captain's death was received in Pittsburgh February 1, 1878, having occurred in his London home.
The Pittsburgh Telegraph, now The Chronicle Telegraph, in its issue of February 2 contained an interesting story of the captain's life, which it may be as well to reproduce, especially as it is a good enough story. Mrs. Denny died on January 17, 1878.
The Telegraph's story was headlined:
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN SCHENLEY.
The History of a Romantic Marriage with a Pittsburgh Heiress. Career of an Adventurous Englishman.
And in this the leadliner [sic] was correct. Schenley was a pure adventurer; but the article—
The news of the death of Captain Schenley at London, which was received here by cable yesterday, has excited much interest and revived many recollections of the famous runaway match with Miss Mary E. Croghan, heiress to one-third of the vast O'Hara estate and niece of Mrs. Denny, whose demise two weeks ago formed so much a subject of comment. It was somewhat remarkable that two persons so intimately and so long associated in the enormous landed estates which descended from old Gen. O'Hara should have died within so short a time of each other. Few persons of our day have had a more interesting and eventful career than Capt. Edward Schenley, the hero of this runaway match, and whose death at London on Thursday last is stated above. He fought at Waterloo under Wellington and at New Orleans under Packenham, against "Old Hickory," before he had passed his nineteenth year. He had seen service in every quarter of the globe; was the associate of George IV, Beau Brummel and that particular set that gave the fashions in neckties and dissipation, knew Rogers and "Tom" Moore, and traveled in Italy as the companion of Byron, Shelley and Leigh Hunt.
Man of the World.
He was a thoroughly accomplished man of the world, witty and companionable, of fine presence and elegance of manner and a favorite with both sexes. It was his great achievement as a gallant in carrying off the wealthy Miss Croghan that connected Captain Schenley with Pittsburgh. Of his early career few details are known. He was born somewheres about 1795. His father was an officer in the English army, though a Belgian by birth. His mother was an accomplished Irish woman. He was sent to Harwood School but ran away and obtained a place in the army.
He served under Wellington in the concluding part of the Peninsular campaign; crossed the Atlantic and took part in the battle of New Orleans on June 8, 1815, and after that disastrous defeat, from which Ensign Schenley escaped without a scratch, he went back with his regiment, the Royal Rifles, and reached the continent in time to win a captaincy an [sic] a metal at Waterloo, where he was wounded in the hand by a Polish lancer. As Capt. Schenley told the story, his regiment was lying down when the Poles charged through it and he got his wound while lying flat on the ground. Just how long he remained in the army after the war we are not informed. He was always proud of his Waterloo medal.
Schenley In Italy.
In 1822 he was in Italy with Byron and Shelley, and when Shelley was drowned in July of that year in the Gulf of Spezzia, and his body was afterward washed ashore, Schenley, with Byron, Leigh Hunt and Trelawney attended to its cremation. He is mentioned in Hunt's account of the affair, as being present. Capt. Schenley's own description of it differed from that generally received. He presented it as degenerating and something of a drunken orgy. After the fire under poor Shelley's remains had been lighted, it was allowed to go out, then rekindled, and on the whole the affair was brutal and disgusting.
Capt. Schenley's first marriage was with Miss Ingalls, a Scotch lady. It took place in Italy in 1825. No children survived. She was a relative of Mrs. Dr. Addison, formerly of Pittsburgh. Some years after the death of his wife he married a daughter of Sir William Pole. This lady left one child, a daughter, who is now married, and visited Pittsburgh years ago. The daughter is about the same age as the Captain's third wife.
Prior to his third marriage, the Captain had sold out his commission in the English army and had been appointed a commissioner for the suppression of the slave trade. In this duty he had been stationed at Surinam, Port Au Prince, and finally at Para, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon. It was while on a visit from Para to New York city in 1843 that he met Miss Croghan at the boarding school of his sister-in-law, Miss McCloud (one time a resident of Pittsburgh), on Staten Island. The school was very select and very strict. It was intended to be an especially safe place for the wealthy young ladies sent there. No harm was dreamed of in the Captain's presence at the school. He was the guest of a relative and a universal favorite. But dressed in handsome Huzzar uniform, with an indistinguishable wig of raven black, Capt. Schenley didn't look more than half his fifty years. He was a regular Apollo. His ventures on field and flood had exceeded the Moors; he had been the companion of royalty and nobility, not only of rank and station, but of genius and talent. His conversational powers were remarkable, and his grace and carriage would strike anyone, even the veterans of society.
In these advanced days the captain would probably be called "a lallypoosa," or a special word invented to accurately describe his many-sidedness.
Wooing Is Romantic.
To resume:
The captain's wooing was secret, prosperous and successful. One day he chaperoned Miss Croghan to New York. They were secretly married, and she returned to school and resumed her studies. Four or five days afterwards, both disappeared, and soon afterwards it was publicly announced that they had sailed on one of the English packets as man and wife. At this time the captain was 48 years of age, and the blooming bride in her sixteenth year.
Some accounts place the marriage in 1842, when the above statement would be correct. Mrs. Schenley, as stated, was born in 1826.
A tremendous excitement was created in this city on the reception of the news. The people looked at it as so much capital abstracted from the wealth of the country, and it incensed her relatives, but the climax was reached when the marriage was made the subject of serious deliberation in the State Legislature at Harrisburg and a law passed, preceded by a solemn preamble, reciting that, whereas, Mary E. Croghan, then an infant in the eyes of the law had contracted a runaway marriage with an alien, therefore, be it enacted, etc., that the trustees now in charge of her estate be continued in that trust indefinitely. This was a mild dose of sequestration and, of course, not worth the paper on which the law was written.
After a short residence in England, the Captain and his wife went to Para. The queen, to show her disapprobation of the elopement, declined to receive the pair, but after some years they returned to England, and were reconciled with Mrs. Schenley's father. At intervals the Captain and his wife have visited this city, the last time just after the close of the late war. The captain is said to have much preferred America to England, but his wife preferred to live there. The Schenley estate, which passes entirely to the children, is the most valuable third of the O'Hara property and is roughly estimated at from six to eight million dollars.
If the writer of this article means the personal estate of Capt. Schenley passing to the children he is probably correct. Not having a copy of the will, an opinion cannot be passed, but we know Mrs. Schenley had something in her own right, else we had not the park et al.
The story of preference as to residence has been heard stated to the contrary.
Good Old Story.
The article quoted is a good story from the old-time newspaper standpoint and good today; veritable history. Possibly Parker L. Walter wrote it, or "Fred" Mueller, or perhaps Percy F. Smith, then city editor of the Telegraph—and perhaps he will write in and say who did write the story.
Remember this was printed February 2, 1878.
It is evident that the Schenley story followed to its conclusion would transcend the space allotted to this article. Hence it must be recurred to.
The pictures show the frame church of the Presbyterian congregation at Bellefield avenue, the second edifice, and the remains of the war-time entrenchment on the hillside above Schenley Farms, as they appeared in 1894.
The portraits are sufficiently explicit.
