Wikipedia

Draft:John Oliver (minister)

John Oliver
BornAbt. 1616, London, United Kingdom
EmigratedJune 5, 1632 aboard William and Francis
Died1646 Massachusetts Bay Colony
EducationHarvard College (graduated 1645)
Known forSenior sergeant in Capt. John Underhill's Garrison; Member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company; First Minister Rumney Marsh (now Chelsea, Massachusetts)
SpouseElizabeth Newdigate
ChildrenJohn, Elizabeth (married Enoch Wiswall, son of Thomas Wiswall), Hannah, John, Thomas
Nickname"The Scholar"

John Oliver (c. 1616, died 1646)[1][2] was a Puritan minister in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and one of the earliest graduates of Harvard College[1] (class of 1645).[1][2][3][4] Known as "the Scholar",[5] he served as an early member of Massachusetts General Court in 1637[2][6][7] and as its treasurer and selectman.[6] In 1637, Oliver joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company[6][8] and was a senior sergeant in Captain John Underhill's garrison at the Castle in Boston Harbor by 1639.[7] Oliver was considered an "expert soldier" in John Winthrop's journal.[4] John Oliver was the First Minister of Rumney Marsh (now Chelsea, Massachusetts).[2][9][10]

Family and early life

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John Oliver was the son of Thomas Oliver (d. June 1, 1658) who arrived in Boston from London with his wife Ann (d. 1635) and seven children aboard the William and Francis on June 5, 1632.[1][3][6][11] Thomas and Ann's children were:[11]

  1. John (b. about 1616, d. 1646)
  2. Nathaniel (b. 1619, d. January 9, 1633)
  3. James
  4. Peter
  5. Samuel
  6. Abigail (m. James Johnson)
  7. unknown daughter (m. Richards Wolfall)
  8. Daniel (d. June 1637)

Following Thomas's first wife Ann's death in 1635, he married (2nd) Ann who survived him and died December 20, 1662.[11]

John Oliver was admitted to the First Church in Boston in 1633[6][12] when sixteen or seventeen years old.[1][6] At the May 1634 session of the Massachusetts General Court, "John Ollyver" took the freeman's oath.[1][2][7] "By this time the fort at Boston was in defence, and divers pieces of ordnance mounted on it"; and, at the same session, "it was ordered, that there shalbe a ward of two kept duy day att the ffort att Boston, dureing the tyme of any shipps rydeing there, ... to be ordered by Capt. Vnderhill [Underhill]; .. & John Ollyver [was] chosen corporall to the said captaine."[1][2]

John Oliver married Elizabeth Newdigate (or Newgate),[1][2][3][6][9] daughter of John Newdigate.[1][2][3][6][9] John and Elizabeth had the following children:[2][11]

  1. John (bapt. July 29, 1638; d. March 1639)[2]
  2. Elizabeth (b. February 28, 1640; m. Enoch Wiswall of Dorchester, Massachusetts[1] son of Thomas Wiswall,[1][3] November 25, 1657)[1][2][3]
  3. Hannah (b. March 3, 1642; d.1653)[2]
  4. John (b. April 15, 1640)[2]
  5. Thomas (b. February 10, 1645-46)

Oliver's widow, Elizabeth, married Edward Jackson of Newton, Massachusetts. She survived Oliver for sixty-three years, and Edward, her second husband, for twenty-eight years. She died March 30, 1709, aged ninety-one.[2]

Appointment as First Minister at Rumney Marsh

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In March of 1639-1640, a motion was made by the First Church in Boston "by such as have farms at Rumney Marsh [Chelsea, Massachusetts], that our brother Oliver may be sent to instruct their servants, and to be a help to them, because they cannot many times come hither, nor sometimes to Lynn [Massachusetts], and sometimes nowhere at all."[2] Oliver's father, Thomas, said: "I desire what calling my son hath to such a work, or by what rule of God's word may the church send out any of her members to such as are not of the church."[2] On March 23, the Reverend John Wilson "... made a full statement of the general consent of the church," whereupon "Sergeant Oliver," signified his acceptance of the appointment in the following terms: "I desire to speak a word or two to the business of Rumney Marsh.[2] I am apt to be discouraged in any good work, and I am glad, that there is a universal consent in the hears of the church; for if there should have been variety in their thoughts, or compulsion of their minds, it would have been a great discouragement.[2] But seeing a call of God, I hope I shall employ my weak talent to God's service; and, considering my own youth and feebleness to so great a work, I shall desire my loving brethren to look at me as their brother, to send me out with their constant prayers."[2][9]

Controversy and subsequent enrollment at Harvard

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Despite being a member of the General Court, Oliver was caught up in the Antinomian Controversy having signed a petition in favor of John Wheelwright.[2][13][14] He was disarmed and dismissed from his position.[2][7][13][14] Recanting, he “acknowledged his error” and made the significant decision to attend the recently founded Harvard College as a divinity student.[2][9]

Oliver graduated in the Class of 1645[9] with Jeremiah Holland, William Ames, John Russell, Samuel Stow, James Ward and Robert Johnson.[1][4]

Death

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John Oliver died of "malignant fever" April 12, 1646 around his thirtieth year of life.[1][6] On his passing, John Winthrop wrote:

"[the] fever swept away some precious ones amongst us, especially one Mr. John Oliver, a gracious young man, not full thirty years of age, an expert soldier, and excellent surveyor of land, and one who, for the sweetness of his disposition and usefulness through public spirit, was generally beloved and greatly lamented. For some few years past he had given himself up to the ministry of the gospel, and was becoming very hopeful that way (being a good scholar and of able gifts otherwise), and had exercised publicly for two years."[1][2][6]

Further, John Hull wrote:

"1646, April 11, died Mr. John Oliver, one of choice parts, endued with variety of able gifts for the generation; but God took him away in his youth, to the saddening of very many godly hearts and threatening of the rising generation."[1][2][6]

Notable descendants and places

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Peter Oliver (b. 1682)

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A grandson of John Oliver who married Jerusha Mather (b. 1684), daughter of Increase Mather and sister to Cotton Mather.[15]

 
Wiswall's Pond can be seen in the center of this map of the city of Newton, drawn in 1700

Wiswall's Pond, Newton, Massachusetts (now called Crystal Lake)

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John’s daughter Elizabeth married Enoch Wiswall of Dorchester. Enoch’s father Thomas Wiswall was one of first settlers in what was then part of Cambridge.[16]

 
Daniel, Peter and Andrew Oliver

Peter Oliver (March 26, 1713 – October 12, 1791)[15]

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One of the sons of Daniel Oliver (b. 1664), and grandsons of John Oliver’s brother Peter Oliver (b. abt 1616).[15] He graduated from Harvard College in 1730, married Mary Clark in 1733, and had six children.[17] In 1744 he was appointed a justice of the peace, and in 1756 he was named a justice of the superior court.[17] Oliver also served in the assembly and in 1759 was elected to the council, the legislature’s upper house.[17] He supported Parliamentary efforts to pay for the war with France by taxing commerce and cracking down on smuggling.[17] Peter was a successful merchant and a Loyalist who thought the American Revolution was a rebellion destined to fail.[18] In March 1770 a confrontation between eight British soldiers and a taunting mob resulted in the Boston Massacre.[17] Capt. Thomas Preston and later, in a second trial, the eight soldiers were tried in superior court for murder.[17] Oliver was one of the three judges on the bench for these trials. (John Adams was one of the lawyers for the defense in both trials.)[17][19] Oliver left Boston when the British evacuated troops and Loyalists in 1776. He died in England in 1791.[15][17]

 
Andrew Oliver

Andrew Oliver (March 28, 1706 – March 3, 1774)[15][20][21]

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One of the sons of Daniel Oliver (b. 1664), and grandsons of John Oliver’s brother Peter Oliver (b. abt 1616).[15] In 1734, he married Mary Sanford, Governor Thomas Hutchinson's sister-in-law.[20] Andrew was the official responsible for implementing the Stamp Act.[20][21] Like his brother, Peter, he was a Loyalist and thought the American Revolution was a rebellion destined to fail. Andrew was burned in effigy at the Liberty Tree in 1765, and his house ransacked in protest by a mob.[20] 1770, Oliver was commissioned as lieutenant-governor, an office which he served until his death.[20] He died in 1774.[15][20][21]

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Oliver Wendell Holmes

Fourth great grandson of John Oliver's brother, Peter (b. abt. 1616).[15][22] Born to an elite Boston family in 1841, Oliver Wendell Holmes was a fourth great grandson of John Oliver's brother, Peter (b. abt. 1616).[15][22] His first name "Oliver" was passed down to him through seven generations of American Olivers before him: Thomas > Peter (b. 1616, brother of John d. 1646) > James > Sarah > Oliver Wendell > Sarah Oliver Wendell > Oliver Wendell Sr. > Oliver Wendell Jr.[15][23][22] After graduating from Harvard College[24] he served as an officer in the Massachusetts Twentieth Volunteers during the Civil War,[25][24] before returning to Harvard to study law.[25][23][24][26] In 1882, Holmes received both an endowed chair at Harvard Law School and an appointment to the Massachusetts Supreme Court.[25][24] He remained on the state court for twenty years, serving the last three as chief justice.[25][24] In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated him for the Supreme Court of the United States.[25][24][27] He earned his nickname "The Great Dissenter" not because he dissented frequently from the Court's majority opinion, but because his dissenting opinions were so forceful and persuasive.[25][28] A committed defender of the First Amendment, Holmes is known for the "clear and present danger" doctrine, which held that the U.S. government could restrict speech only when it posed a "clear and present danger" to the national interest.[25][29] After twenty-nine years of service on the bench, Justice Holmes retired in 1932 at the age of ninety, making him the oldest justice to have served on the Supreme Court of the United States.[25] He died in Washington, D.C. on March 6, 1935, two days before his ninety-fourth birthday. [23][24][26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Sibley, John Langdon (1873). Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Vol. I (1st ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles William Sever, Harvard University. pp. 102–103.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Sibley, John Langdon (1873). Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University. Vol. I. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co. pp. 100–101. ISBN 978-3-38520-034-0.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Briggs, Mary Balch (1887). We and Our Kinsfolk: Ephraim and Rebekah Waterman Briggs, Their Descendants and Ancestors (1st ed.). Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press: Thomas Todd, Printer. pp. 75–77.
  4. ^ a b c "Harvard in the Colonial Wars, 1675-1748". The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. XXVI: 558. 1917–1918.
  5. ^ Whittemore, Henry (1995). Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America. Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Company, Inc. p. 282. ISBN 0-8063-0378-6.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roberts, Oliver Ayer (1895). History of The Military Company of the Massachusetts Now Called The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts 1637-1888 (1st ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Alfred Mudge & Son, Printers. pp. 28–30.
  7. ^ a b c d Shelley, Henry C. (1932). John Underhill, Captain of New England and New Netherland. New York, NY: D. Appleton & Co. p. 137.
  8. ^ The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts Rolls (1638-1894). Boston, Massachusetts: Alfred Mudge & Sons. 1895. p. 1.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Crane, Ellery Bicknell (1907). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts (IV ed.). New York, New York: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 62.
  10. ^ "Brief Notice of the Settlement of the Town of Newton". Brief Notice of the Settlement of the Town of Newton (September 1852). Boston, Massachusetts: CCP Moody: 20. September 1852.
  11. ^ a b c d Whitmore, WH (1865). A Brief Genealogy of the Descendants of William Hutchinson and Thomas Oliver. Boston, Massachusetts: SG Drake; David Clapp. pp. 25–28.
  12. ^ "The Records of the First Church in Boston , 1630-1868". Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Breen, Louise A. (2001). Transgressing the Bounds: Subversive Enterprises Among the Puritan Elite in Massachusetts, 1630-1692. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-19-028597-5.
  14. ^ a b Parker, Michael (2013). John Winthrop: Founding the City Upon a Hll. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-136-72594-4.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "The Oliver Family". The New England Historical & Genealogical Register. 19: 100. 1865.
  16. ^ Nedeljkovic, Srdjan S. (September 23, 2009). "Crystal Lake: A Brief History". Crystal Lake Convervancy. Crystal Lake Task Force. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h Gipson, Lawrence Henry (1954). The Coming of the Revolution, 1763-1775. New York, NY: Harper.
  18. ^ Lopes, Jane (July 13, 2016). "Peter Oliver's account of the Revolution from the Tory side". South Coast Today.
  19. ^ "Notes on the trial of the British soldiers, circa November 1770, by Peter Oliver". Massachusetts Historical Society. August 7, 2024.
  20. ^ a b c d e f "Biography - Andrew Oliver". Massachusetts Historical Society.
  21. ^ a b c "Andrew Oliver - Portrait Gallery & Biography". Smithsonian.
  22. ^ a b c Morse, John T. (1896). The Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press. p. 14.
  23. ^ a b c "Oliver Family Genealogy". New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 19: 101–102. 1865.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g "Chief Justice Memorial - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr". Mass.gov (Massachusetts Official State Website). Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h "Oliver Wendell Holmes". Arlington National Cemetery Official Website. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  26. ^ a b Dudley, Dean (1892). History of the Dudley Family: With Genealogical Tables, Pedigrees. Clapp & Sons Printers. p. 678.
  27. ^ Menand, Louis (July 3, 2005). "Decisions, Decisions". The New Yorker.
  28. ^ Cohen, Andrew (August 10, 2013). "The Most Powerful Dissent in American History". The Atlantic.
  29. ^ "The Unlikely Birth of Free Speech". The New York Times. November 9, 2019.
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