Daniel O'Day

Daniel O'Day, Jr. (March 11, 1870 in Titusville, Pennsylvania – May 31, 1916 in Rye, New York) was one of northwestern Pennsylvania's earliest independent refiners to be brought into John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. O'Day would eventually manage crews that laid pipe to bring oil from wells to the railroads. Despite attempts by many Standard Oil critics/enemies to sabotage the pipelines, O'Day's crews were skilled and efficient enough to lay pipe faster than it could be destroyed. This effectively ended the days of rolling wooden barrels of oil across the country to rail hubs, a service for which Standard might be hustled out of as much as 3 dollars at a time when the oil itself was worth $1.25.

Daniel O'Day

His father, Daniel O’Day, Sr. (February 6, 1844 in County Clare, Ireland[1] – September 13, 1906 in Royan, France) was a director of the Standard Oil Company and a prominent factor in the petroleum business for forty years. He died during a trip to France due to an arterial hemorrhage possibly caused by overwork. Daniel O’Day, Sr. was the close personal friend of John D. Rockefeller; he was said to be the master mind on the transportation end of the Standard’s scheme for monopolizing the oil business of the country at a time when the opposition of the independent petroleum companies was at its height. O'Day, Sr. had retired from active participation in Standard Oil’s affairs during 1905; his place in the business was largely taken by his son, Daniel O’Day, Jr., who was specially trained to succeed him.[2]

O'Day also led installation of massive spans of pipeline that brought crude from the oil fields to refiners along the Eastern Seaboard, making it easier to refine crude for shipment to markets in Europe.

In 1901, he married future Democratic politician Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day in New York.[3] They remained married until his death in 1916.

References

Notes

  1. Marquis Who's Who in America, 1901-1902 edition
  2. “STANDARD OIL’S TRAFFIC PIONEER, O’DAY, IS DEAD: One of the Trust’s Five Leaders Stricken in France. HE ALWAYS FOUGHT TO WIN. And Bore the Brunt of the Early Attacks — Built the First Pipe Line Into New York.,” The New York Times, Vol. LV…No. 17,765, Friday, September 14, 1906: page 7.
  3. Caroline O'Day (1869-1943) at www.gwu.edu

Bibliography


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