Gen. O. H. Hollister
Gen. O. H. Hollister, assistant quartermaster general of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Ohio, and a valued citizen of Lima, now lives at his pleasant home at No. 557 West Spring street, retired form active business life, but with many memories of the strenuous years now past, during which he earned honorable distinction on the field of battle, in public office and in commercial affairs. General Hollister was born at Warrensville, near Cleveland, Ohio, January 30, 1837, and is a son of Samuel C. Hollister.
General Hollister comes of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Appleton Hollister, having served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His father followed the peaceful pursuits of agriculture in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, but was also a man of loyal spirit and deeply concerned in public affairs. He was one of the early abolitionists and concerned in nearly all of their movements.
The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in Ohio, whither the family removed at an early day. He remained on the home farm until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted, June 5, 1861, in Company I, 10th Reg., Pennsylvania Reserves, being mustered into the United States service at Pittsburg. His regiment reached Washington City on the night after the first battle of Bull Run, and the command assisted in the building of Fort Pennsylvania, on Georgetown Heights. The young soldier faced the enemy first at a point called Dranesville, then to Mechanicsville, Virginia, and on the third occasion, at Gaines' Mill. Although this last battle was by no means the most serious of the war to the country at large, it was most memorable to our subject, as it was here that he was wounded so severely as to necessitate the amputation of his left arm, on August 9, 1862, at Washington. His honorable discharged followed on September 12th, when he returned to Pennsylvania where his people were then living.
In the course of time Mr. Hollister recuperated from the injury which closed his military career, and received the appointment of deputy collector of internal revenue, which recognition of his worth was followed in October, 1863, by his election as clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions in the Orphans' Court. He was reelected in 1866, and served in that position with the greatest efficiency for a period of six years. In 1870 he was appointed county enumerator, and took the census that year at Meadville. In 1871 he was chosen clerk of the Board of County Commissioners and directors of the poor, and for 20 years he continued to satisfactorily perform the duties of that position. During the administration of President Harrison, he served for three years as postmaster at Meadville, Pennsylvania. During all the years when he was under public observation, it is certainly to his credit that no breath of scandal ever touched his honorable name. In 1898 he came to Lima, and continued with the Buckeye Pipe Line Company for a year and a half, when he resigned, he was succeeded by his son.
In 1904 he was appointed assistant quartermaster general of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Ohio, a body in which he has taken the deepest interest. He is also the adjutant of Mart Armstrong Post, No. 202, G. A. R., of Lima, and is very prominent in everything pertaining to the welfare of the order.
General Hollister was married April 21, 1864, to Mary E. Wilson, who is a daughter of Maj. Robert Wilson, of the Pennsylvania National Guard, who also served as County Auditor of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. General and Mrs. Hollister have two children, Viz: Anna I., wife of Roland B. Thompson, a merchant of Meadville, Pennsylvania, and Charles W., who is with the Buckeye Pipe Line Company, at Lima. Since 1866 our esteemed subject has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and still takes an active interest in the work and aims of the fraternity.