He was a wealthy and influential leader in the city, and the borough of Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania, is named in his honor.
[1] During the War of 1812, Ormsby was the acting naval agent in Pittsburgh and worked with Oliver Hazard Perry to successfully outfit the Lake Erie Fleet.
[2] In 1820, he was also a commissioned merchant, a director of the Pittsburgh branch of the U. S. Bank, owner of a flour mill in Cincinnati, Ohio, a cotton factory and rope walk in Chillicothe, Ohio, a grist, sandmill, forge, and iron furnace in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
[4][5] He was on the board of managers at Monongahela Bridge Company and was occasionally a member of the Pittsburgh town council.
[4] Ormsby was the son of John Ormsby[6] and Jane McAllister,[7] born on February 25, 1767, at Homestead Farm later a part of Pittsburgh and died on July 26, 1832, in the Pittsburgh South Side.