Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/642

628 OMMIYADES ONDERDONK OMMIYADES, the second dynasty of oriental caliphs, beginning with Moawiyah, the son of Abu Sofian, in 661, and continuing until 750. They derived their name from Ommiyah, an ancestor of Moawiyah. The latter had during the lifetime of Ali, the fourth caliph of the first or Arabian dynasty, made himself master of Syria and Egypt, and after the assassination of Ali gained possession of the whole empire, through the abdication of his successor Has- san. The office of caliph now became heredi- tary in the family of this monarch, and so continued until the defeat and death of Mer- wan II., the 14th sovereign of the line (750). During the sway of this dynasty, Turkistan, Spain, and Georgia were conquered. But the progress of the Moslem arms was retarded by constant civil dissensions, and in Europe their conquests were effectually stayed by their de- feat on the plains of Poitiers (732). After the contest between Merwan II. and Abul Ab- bas had ended in the defeat of the former, Abdullah, an uncle of Abul Abbas, called a meeting of the Omtniyades, and treacherously massacred them all but two. One of these fled to Arabia, where his descendants ruled as late as the 16th century ; and the other escaped to Mauritania, whence he was called to Spain, and founded the kingdom and subsequent caliphate of Cordova as Abderrahman I. (See CALIPH.) OMPHiLE, in Greek legends, the daughter of the Lydian king Jardanus, and wife of Tmolus, whom she succeeded in the government. Mer- cury sold Hercules to her for a slave, and by him she had several children. Hercules, to please her, assumed female garments and spun among the female slaves, while she wore the lion's skin and wielded the club. OMRI, king of Israel. See HEBREWS, vol. viii., p. 587. OMSK, a town of Siberia, in the government and 300 m. N. E. of the city of Akmolinsk, on the Irtish at the confluence of the Om; pop. in 1867, 26,722, among whom are many European exiles. It was formerly the seat of the gover- nor general of Western Siberia and capital of a government of its own name., which is now divided between the governments of Tobolsk, Tomsk, and Akmolinsk. It has five Greek churches, a Protestant church, a mosque, and a military school, founded in 1825 by the em- peror Alexander I. for 250 pupils, who are in- structed in the Kirghiz and Mongol languages. There are manufactories of cloth, and a brisk trade is carried on with the Khirghiz. ON. See HELIOPOLI8. OJVCKM, Johann Gerhard, a German missiona- ry, born at Varel, Oldenburg, about 1800. Du- ring his early life he was a domestic servant. After reaching manhood he visited England, where he married, and subsequently opened a book shop at Hamburg, joined the English In- dependent church, and became the agent of the Lower Saxony tract society and the Edin- burgh Bible society. In April, 1834, with six others, he organized a Baptist church, and be- came its pastor. In 1835 the American Bap- tist general convention appointed Mr. Oncken their missionary, and he visited almost every portion of Germany and Denmark. In Ham- burg he was several times imprisoned for preaching and baptizing ; but after the benev- olence of his family and congregation to the sufferers by the great fire of 1842, the Ham- burg senate passed decrees commending their conduct, and granting them the privilege of unrestricted worship. From that time Mr. Oncken has been actively engaged in the pro- motion of his missionary work, publishing edi- tions of the Scriptures for gratuitous distribu- tion, writing and publishing religious tracts and books, establishing numerous churches in Den- mark, Switzerland, Prussia, the smaller Ger- man states, and Austria, and editing with the assistance of his daughter a religious journal in English, and another in German. He visit- ed the United States in 1852 to obtain means for the erection of chapels. At the end of 30 years the number of churches connected with the Baptist German mission, and directly or indirectly the fruit of his labors, had risen to 76, and the number of members in communion to 11,289. In connection with these churches were 95 Sunday schools, with 240 teachers and 2,662 scholars. The missions have continued to prosper, and their fruits are found in Poland and southern Russia. ONDERDONK. I. Henry Ustick, an American bishop, born in New York in March, 1789, died in Philadelphia, Dec. 6, 1858. He graduated at Columbia college in 1805, studied medicine in New York and Edinburgh, and in 1815 be- came associate editor with Dr. Valentine Mott of the "New York Medical Journal." He. afterward studied theology, and was admitted to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church. In 1820 he became rector of St. Ann's church, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; and in 1827 he was elected assistant to Bishop White of Pennsyl- vania, on whose death in 1836 he became bish- op of that diocese. In 1844 he offered his res- ignation to the house of bishops, who not only accepted it, but also, after a trial on charges of intemperance, suspended him from the office and functions of the sacred ministry from and after Oct. 21. The suspension was removed in 1856, but he did not resume his episco- pal functions. Bishop Onderdonk wrote sev- eral hymns contained in the Episcopal prayer book. His principal publications are : " Epis- copacy tested by Scripture," published as a tract, and afterward enlarged to a volume entitled "Episcopacy Examined and Reexam- ined," containing reviews adverse to the tract by Albert Barnes and others (1835) ; " Essay on Regeneration" (1835) ; and " Sermons and Charges " (2 vols., 1851). II. Beiyamin Tredwell, an American bishop, brother of the preceding, born in New York in 1791, died there, April 30, 1861. He graduated at Columbia college in 1809, studied theology, entered the Episco- pal ministry in 1812, and in 1813 was appoint-