invaluable to those scholars that have studied the origin of the negro nations.
OLDHAM, John, pilgrim, b. in England, about
1600; d. on Block island. R. I., in July, 1636. He
came to Plymouth in 1628, and attempted in 1624
to set up a separate manner of worship and alter
the form of government, but was driven out of
the colony, and went to Nantasket and afterward
to Cape Ann. He did not remain long in either
place, but engaged in trading between New Eng-
land and Virginia. He was an enterprising mer-
chant, purchasing a grant of the lands between
the Charles and Saugus rivers, and carrying on a
large trade with the Indians. He went to England
in 1628 to lay a commercial scheme before the
Massachusetts" company, but they, fearing that he
would interest others in his opinions, refused to
treat with him, denied his title to the land that he
had purchased, and forbade his trading for beaver
with the Indians. He subsequently made Water-
town his residence, and was elected a representative
in the general court in 1632, when the popular
branch was first instituted. In 1633, with three
companions, he journeyed from Boston to the Con-
necticut river, following the Indian trails and
lodging in their cabins. He was re-elected as rep-
resentative from Watertown in 1634. Capt. Old-
ham traded chiefly with the Narragansett Indians.
While visiting Block island he was murdered by
- some Narragansetts that happened to be among
the Pequots there. The Indians seized his vessel and sailed away, but they were overtaken by Capt. John Gallop (^y. v.), and all were slain except those who leaped overboard and one who was made a captive. The murder of Oldham was a chief inci- dent in bringing on the Pequot war.
OLDHAM, William, soldier, b. in Berkeley county, Va., about 1745 ; d. near the present site of Greenville, Ohio, 4 Nov., 1791. He served as a captain in the Continental army, resigned in 1779,
and settled on the Ohio river. He was a leader in
the conflicts with the Indians, joined Gen. Arthur
St. Clair's expedition at the head of a regiment of
Kentucky militia, and was killed at the surprise
near the source of the Maumee river.
OLDMIXON, John, English author, b. in
Bridgewater. England, in 1673 ; d. in London, Eng-
land, 9 July, 1742. He is supposed to have visited
this country. Besides plays, poems, and historical
and critical writings that display violent party
spirit, he published " The British Empire in Amer-
ica, Containing the History of the Discovery, Set-
tlement, Progress, and Present State of the British
Colonies on the Continent and Islands of America "
with maps (2 vols., London, 1708).
OLDS, Gamaliel Smith, educator, b. in Tol-
land, Mass., 11 Feb., 1777; d. in Circleville, Ohio,
13 June, 1848. He was graduated at Williams in
1801, was tutor there till 1805, and then profes-
sor of mathematics and natui-al philosophy till
1808. After studying theology for two years under
Dr. Stephen West, at Stockbridge, Mass., he went
to Andover seminary, and was graduated with the
first class in 1810. He was ordained at Greenfield,
Mass., 19 Nov., 1813, preached there for three years,
and then resigned in order to accept a professor-
ship in Middlebury college, but did not do so, ow-
ing to a disagreement with the officers. He was
professor of mathematics and natural philosophy
in the University of Vermont from 1819 till 1821,
then in Amherst college till 1825, and afterward
for several years in the University of Georgia. In
1841 he settled in Circleville, Ohio, where he
preached frequently till his death, which was
caused by a carriage accident. He published an
" Inaugural Oration " (1806) ; •' The Substance of
Several Sermons on Episcopacy and Presbyterian
Parity " (1818) ; and " Statement of Facts Relative
to the Appointment to the Office of Professor of
Chemistry in Middlebury College" (1818).
O'LEARY, Cornelius M., educator, b. in Ire-
land about 1840. He was brought to the United
States at an early age, and received his education
in Montreal, Canada, at Fordham, N. Y., and in the
University of Notre Dame du Lac, Ind. He was
graduated at the medical department of the Uni-
versity of the city of New York in 1864, became
professor of logic and metaphysics, and lecturer on
physiology in Manhattan college, and afterward
filfed the chair of Greek and Latin, besides lec-
turing on various scientific subjects. He has writ-
ten much on philosophical, economical, and scien-
tific topics for the " International Review," the
" Catholic Quarterly," and other periodicals, lec-
tured before Roman Catholic societies, and read
many papers at the annual meetings of the New
York state university convocation.
OLID, Cristobal de (o-leed'), Spanish adventu-
rer, b. in Saragossa in 1492 ; d. in Naco, Honduras
in 1542. He was brought up in the house of Diego
Velasquez, governor of Cuba, and was sent by him
in 1518 to the relief of Juan de Grijalva, but, hurri-
canes having destroyed his ship, he returned to
Cuba, and in the following December joined in
Trinidad Ilernan Cortes, with whom he sailed on
10 Jan., 1519. He took an active part in the con-
quest of New Spain, and maintained Cortes's au-
thority over the soldiers at the time of the expedi-
tion of Panfilo de Narvaez. He was among the
Spaniards that escaped from Mexico in the " Noche
triste," 1 July, 1520, and fought gallantly in the
battle of Otumba on 8 July. During the siege of
Mexico he had a quarrel with Pedro de Alvarado,
and refused to assist him in the attack on the
causeway of the city, thus defeating the Spanish.
He then retired to Coyohuacan, but through the
entreaties of Cortes returned to assist him in the
siege of Mexico. In 1523 Cortes sent him to con-
quer Honduras, but, having entered the harbor of
Havana in quest of supplies and horses, he resolved,
by the suggestion of Velasquez, to proclaim his in-
dependence. Landing at Puerto Caballos, he con-
quered Honduras after a short campaign, and"
founded, on 3 May, 1524, the establishment of Tri-
unfo de la Cruz. Cortes, being informed of his
defection, sent Francisco Las Casas against him
with two vessels. Olid was defeated, but a storm
destroyed Las Casas's vessels, and a part of the
latter's soldiers enlisted with the former. But Las
Casas finally captured Olid by surprise, and had
him beheaded at Naco, according to the version of
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of Olid's companions,
in his " Historia verdadera de la conquista de la
Nueva Espaila." but Herrera, in his " Novus orbis,"
asserts that Gil Gonzalez de Avila, who with an-
other expedition experienced the same fate as Las
Casas, excited, together with the latter, a rebellion
among the soldiers, and they murdered Olid.
OLIER DE VERNEUIL, Jean Jacques, French clergyman, b. in Paris, 20 Sept., 1608 ; d. there, 2 April, 1657. He was the second son of Jacques Olier, one of the secretaries to the king's council, and in his youth was given the abbey of Pibrac, in Auvergne. Here he sheltered Vincent de Paul, and, at the latter's suggestion, he engaged in missionary work in Auvergne. In 1640 he refused the bishopric of Chalons-sur-Saone, but two years later he accepted the appointment of vicar of the Saint Sulpice parish in Paris, which he thoroughly reformed, founding in 1645 the famous
