Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/142

 OLIVER

OLIVER

nient. He coinmandeil the 3J brigade in Hazen's 2d division, Logan's loth corps, in the niarcli to the sea, and was prominent in the capture of Fort McAllister, Dec. 13, 1864, where his brigade opened and carried the assault. He led liis brigade through the Carulinas and until dis- banded at Washington after the surrender of Johnston's army in North Carolina. He received his commission as brigadier-general of volunteers in January, I860, while at Savannah, and was brevetted major-general of volunteers, March 15, IS60. He was assigned to the command of the 2d division, 1.5th army corps, Army of tiie Ten- nessee, and was stationed at Louisville, Ky., and ordered from there to Little Rock, Ark., where he was mustered out of the service and made assessor of internal revenue, meanwhile practic- ing law in Little Rock. He was appointed by President Grant superintendent of postal service in the southwest, and took up his residence in "Washington, D.C. He resigned in 1871 on ac- count of ill health. He declined the office of associate justice of the supreme court of the Dis- trict of Columbia in 1869. He died in Washing- ton. D.C. March 30, 1872.

OLIVER, Peter, jurist, was born in Boston, Mass., March 26, 1713; son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Belcher) Oliver; grandson of Peter and Sarah (Xewdigate) Oliver, and of Andrew Belcher, and great-grandson of Thomas and Anne Oliver, the immigrants, 1632. Peter Oliver was graduated at Harvard. A.B., 1730, A.M., 1733, and made his home in Middleborough, where he owned an estate, and was married, July 5, 1733, to Mary, daughter of William and Hannah (Appleton) Clarke. He was an associate judge of the in- ferior court of common pleas of Plymouth county, 1747-56. and was judge of the superior court of judicature for the province of Massachu- setts, serving, 1756-71. He wfischief justice of that court, 1771-75, succeeding Benjamin Lynde, Jr., and also served as one of the mandamus council- lors. In 1774, by a modification of the charter, the salaries of the judges were made payable by the crown, and the salary of chief justice in- creased to £400. This displeased the colonists, who asked the judges to refuse money from the crown, and all save Oliver complied. He was impeached by the legislature, suspended from office, and when he tried to hold court under the protection of the militia, the jurors refused to serve. He defended the action of the crown in the Censor, and went to England when the Britisii troops evacuated Boston in 1776, taking with him a copy of tiie MS. " History of Massachusetts Bay Colony" by William Hubbard (q.v..) and papers relating to the settlement of Plymouth colony. He received the degree D.C.L. from Oxford, England, in 1776. He published: .^1 Speech on the

Death of Isaac Lathrop (1750); Poem on the Death of Secretary Ulllard (1757); Serijjtural Lexicon (1774-75), and the twenty-ninth poem in Pietas et Gratnlatio (1761), is ascribed to him. He died in Binningliani. England, Oct. 13. 17'JI.

OLIVER, Robert W., educator, was born in Scotland, Oct. 9, 1815. He was a cavalry officer in the English army in Canada, and 'sub- sequently became a minister in the Presbyterian church, serving as pastor in Scotland and im- migrating to Butler, Pa., where he had charge of the Presbyterian church. Upon a change of his religious views he was admitted to holy orders in the P.E. church, Nov. 11, 1855, under the direction of the Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, bishop of Pennsylvania. He was a missionary in west- ern Pennsylvania, 1857-63, serving at Johnstown, Altoona and Huntington. He was chaplain in the Federal army, 1861-63; returned to St. Luke's church, Altoona, in 1863, but the same year re- moved to Lawrence, Kan., where the Rev. Charles Reynolds, rector of Trinity church, had obtained a charter for the establishment of a university in 1861. Not receiving support from the American Church Missionary society, Mr. Reynolds resigned and entered the army as chaplain, being succeeded at Trinity church by Mr. Oliver, through whom Trinity parish donated to the state the material gathered for the building, on condition that the property be used for a state university. On March 1, 1864, the act of the state legislature chartering the University of Kansas was approved, and on March 21,1865, a new board of regents was named, Mr. Oliver being elected chancellor and president. On Sept 6, 1865, he applied to the city council of Lawrence for a formal transfer to the new corporation of the ground on Mt. Oread, on which the founda- tion for a college had been built. The transfer was granted on condition that the school should be in operation, Jan. 1, 1867. By September, 1866, Mr. Oliver had raised the money, built the north college building and secured a plot of land from Gen. James H. Lane, to complete the square of ten acres for the north campus. He visited the east and obtained considerable support for the university. He resigned the chancellorship of the university, which had been entirely of a business nature, was re-elected president of the board of regents and was made its general finan- cial agent. He also resigned the rectorship of Trinity cluu'ch near the close of 1867, removing to Nebraska Cit}', Neb., where he was rector of St. Mary's church, 1867-83, and toKearnej'. Neb., in 1883, where he was rector of St. Luke's church, lie also filled the chair of divinity for the diocese of Nebraska, 1883-95. He removed to Phila- delphia, P;i.. in December, 1895, died there, June 23, 1899, and was buried at Kearney, Neb.