Michael was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in October, 1845, and lived there until 1848, when his father, John O'Hair, moved to New York, and engaged in the mercantile business, and remained there until 1852, when the entire family again moved to Michigan. Here they resided two years, going from there to Illinois, where they engaged in farming, remaining there two years. They afterwards emigrated to the then new State of Iowa, located in Floyd County, and engaged in farming.
At the breaking out of the Civil War, young O'Hair, who was then only sixteen years of age, enlisted in the Union Army in Company K of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, under Captain F. H. Cooper, and served three years, being in several noted battles, among them the battle of Deer Hill. He also accompanied General Sulley, in 1863, in his famous trip through what is known as the "Bad Lands" of Montana, they being the first party of whites to cross that country. He also accompanied Colonel Pattee at the laying out of forts Firesteel and Du Rosh, in Dakota Territory, and was a member of the relief corps sent out to resuce Captain Fisk and his emigrant train when they were surrounded by Indians in the "Bad Lands" of Montana. After these adventures and experiences, he returned to Sioux City, Iowa, and was there honorably discharged. After years of war and frontier perils, O'Hair, now a young man, longed for the old home in Floyd County, Iowa, and so hastened to return there, where he farmed until 1868, when he went out on the frontier and engaged in railroading on the Union Pacific Railroad, which was then pushing its way toward Ogden. He was present at the driving of the "golden spike," in Ogden, in 1869, after which he came west to California, and pushed north to Puget Sound, following lumbering for several months, when he again returned to California and began farming near Princeton, Colusa County. In 1874 he moved north near Stony Creek, and in company with his brother William, purchased a large tract of land five and one-half miles northeast of Orland, where he now lives, and, although he has met with some severe losses by fire, he now has one of the most comfortable homes in Colusa County.
In 1886 Mr. O'Hair was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors from the Fifth District of Colusa County, of which body he is chairman. In 1887 Mr. O'Hair assisted in organizing the Kraft Irrigation District. In 1889 he was married to Miss Hattie Hunter, of Colusa, a talented and accomplished young lady, by whom he has one child, William Hunter by name.
Source: Colusa County, Its History and Resources, by Justus H. Rogers, 1891