1925 Biography - Michael J. Oliver

Michael J. Oliver, the efficient superintendent of the Baton Rouge paraffin plant of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana claims the old Buckeye State as the place of his nativity, his birth having occurred in the City of Marietta, Ohio, August 3, 1859. His father. Michael Oliver, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in time year 1836, and was a resident of Parkersburg, West Virginia, at the time of his death, in 1908. Michael Oliver was reared and educated in his native land, and was an ambitious youth when he came to the United States, in 1848, and made settlement in the State of Maryland. In 1834 he established his residence at Marietta, Ohio, and thence he removed in 1864 to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he passed the remainder of his life, his active career having been given largely to successful railroad contracting. He was a staunch democrat, and he and his wife were devout communicants of the Catholic Church. Mrs. Oliver, whose maiden name was Ann Durkin, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1833, and her death occurred in 1906 at Parkersburg, West Virginia. At Parkersburg still resides Miss Mary, eldest of the children; Patrick died in that city at the age of seventy-three years, he having there served a number of years as chief of police and having also been a successful merchant; John was general yardmaster for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Parkersburg at the time of his death, in 1903; Ann is time wife of John McCabe, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Michael J., of this sketch, was time next in order of birth ; and Thomas is in the employ of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana at Baton Rouge.

Michael J. Oliver was a lad of about five years at the of time family removal to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he was reared to manhood and where he profited by the advantages of private, parochial and public schools. At the age of seventeen years he there entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, in time service of which he continued nine years, within which he won advancement to the position of yard clerk. He next assumed the position of gauger at the Parkersburg plant of the Standard Oil Company, for which he later became yard foreman. There he remained until 1909, when he was assigned by the company to the post of gauger at the plant in Newark, New Jersey. In the following year he came to Baton Rouge, where he has since continued his effective service as superintendent of the paraffin plant of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana in North Baton Rouge.

Mr. Oliver's political faith is that of the democratic party. He is a member of the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and the Baton Rouge Golf and Country Club, and he still retains affiliation with Parkersburg Lodge No. 198, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in his old home city. As earnest communicants of the Catholic Church, he and his wife are active members of the parish of St. Joseph's Church.

On the 24th of June, 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Oliver and Miss Anna Garry, daughter of the late Anthony Garry, of San Antonio, Texas, the mother likewise being deceased. For a number of years Mr. Garry was an interested principal in the conducting of a chair factory at Marietta, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have no children.

Note: The referenced source includes an autographed portrait of the subject.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 129-130.