Cater is the Houston County Surname - this is from a PML search. ===================================================================== > Source: ALCHAMBE-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Al-Chambers Co. Bios (Oliver) > > > > Chambers County AlArchives Biographies.....Oliver, James M. May 12 1831 - living in 1893 > ************************************************ > Copyright. All rights reserved. > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/al/alfiles.htm > ************************************************ > > File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: > Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 15, 2004, 5:19 pm > > Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) > JAMES M. OLIVER, a prominent lawyer of La Fayette, Ala., is a son of > Florence M. and Hannah K. (Banks) Oliver. The former was a farmer, born, reared > and married in Elbert county, Ga. In 1838, the family moved to Chambers county, > Ga., settling ten miles west of La Fayette, and living there until the death of > Mr. Oliver, which occurred in 1854. Mrs. Oliver had died in Elbert county, Ga., > when James M. was two years old. Mr. Oliver was a quiet, energetic and thrifty > farmer, a whig in politics and a Methodist in religion. The Oliver family are of > English origin, came to this country and settled in Virginia about 1700. > Dionysius Oliver was the first representative of his family in this country. The > Olivers were prominent people in government affairs, and a great grandfather of > James Oliver served in the Revolutionary war. Grandfather McCarty Oliver was a > boy at that time. He married a Miss Clark of a prominent Virginia family. > Dionysius Oliver was one of the early settlers in Elbert county, Ga., was an > extensive planter, and assisted to survey the counties of the state. Mrs. Hannah > K. Oliver was born and reared in Elbert county, Ga., and her family was a very > prominent one in the state. The first annual conference of the Methodist > Episcopal church met at the house of Ralph Banks, the grandfather of Mrs. > Oliver. Florence M. and Mrs. Oliver were married about 1829, in Elbert county, > Ga., and reared a family of two sons, Samuel C., and James M. After the death of > the mother of these children, Mr. Oliver married a Miss Glenn, by whom he had > five children. Mrs. Glenn belongs to the family after whom Glennville, Russell > county was named. James M. Oliver was born May 12, 1831, in Elbert county, Ga. > His parents removed to Chambers county when he was but a small boy. He received > but a common school education, and read law, in 1855 and 1856, under the > direction of Pascal M. Allison, of La Fayette, and was admitted to the bar by > Judge John G. Shorter in March, 1856. He settled down for the practice of the > law at Dadeville, Ala., in January, 1857, and remained there until the war. He > was commissioned colonel in April, 1862, raised the Forty-seventh Alabama > infantry, and led it to the field, joining Stonewall Jackson's command in > Virginia. On account of ill health he resigned his commission after a few > months' service, and returned to the practice of the law at Dadeville. He has > been actively engaged in the practice of his profession ever since, removing, > however, from Dadeville to La Fayette in 1887. While he has always been active > in politics, yet he has never sought office. He was for many years chairman of > the executive committee of Tallapoosa county, and has frequently been a delegate > to state conventions. He was married in Chambers county in 1850, when but > nineteen years old, to Matilda Allen, by whom he has had six children, viz: > Aurelia, wife of Dr. John M. Watkins, of Camp Hill, Tallapoosa county; Florence, > wife of Col. Henry A. Garrett, Dadeville, a prominent lawyer of that place; > Olivia, wife of James S. Herren of Atlanta, Ga.; Woodson, deceased; James M., > Jr., merchant of Dadeville, and Samuel J., merchant of Dadeville. The mother of > these children died in 1882, and Mr. Oliver married in February, 1884, Catherine > V. Cater, of Perry, Houston county, Ga., by whom he has had no children. She was > at the time of her marriage corresponding secretary of the Woman's Board of > missions of the South Georgia Methodist conference, and she is now > superintendent of the juvenile department of the Woman's Board of missions of > the North Alabama Methodist conference. Mr. Oliver is himself a member of the > Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he is a democrat. He is now a > council Mason, and has been worshipful master of the Blue lodge. He is also a > member of the Knights of Honor. He is one of the leading lawyers in Chambers > county, and a man of great value as a citizen. For his worth of character he is > very highly esteemed and his influence is always exerted for good. > > > > Additional Comments: > from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 630-632 > > This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ > > File size: 4.6 Kb >