Biographies: Dr. James P. Oliver, 1964, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: February 27, 1964 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American Winn Parish As I Have Known It Article No. 356 In this article, I am printing a biographical sketch of Dr. James P. Oliver, as it appeared in 'The Lone Star State', a Texas history book printed in 1893. This should interest many people of this area as Dr. Oliver and his family went to Texas in 1867 from the Beech Creek Community of Winn Parish during the dark days of Reconstruction, and the reign of terror here by the outlaw West Clan. The population of Winn Parish dropped from 6,876 down to 4,954 in 1870. This was largely due to the outlaw West Clan and the terrible days of Reconstruction that President Grant inflicted on Louisiana, the worst that prevailed in any southern state-many oldtimers believed that Grant did this in revenge for a Natchitoches young lady refusing to marry him, when he was a captain stationed at the Natchitoches army post just after the Mexican War of 1846-48. Be that as it may, hundreds of Winn Parish families pulled up stakes and abandoned their homes here and headed west for Texas over the El Camino Real where the cruel heel of the Carpetbagger oppressors was less severe. Among the many Winn Parish families that fled to Texas were the Dr. James P. Oliver and the Thomas J. Haddox families, where they permanently settled at Caldwell in Burleson County. "The Lone State State", an 800 page Texas history book, with sketches of prominent pioneer families of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee, and Burleson Counties of Texas, including one about Dr. J. P. Oliver of Caldwell, Texas, who once was a doctor out at Beech Creek Community of Winn Parish before and for a short time after the Civil War. This old Texas history book was printed by the Lewis Printing Company of Chicago, in 1893, and has been loaned to me by Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Robertson of Rosebud, Texas. Below is the biographical sketch of Dr. J. P. Oliver as it appears in this Texas history book. I think it will interest many Winn, Grant, and Caldwell Parish people. Dr. J. P. Oliver Caldwell, Texas (1893) Dr. J. P. Oliver, for twenty six years a practicing physician of Caldwell, Burleson County, being in point of residence, one of the physicians in the county, is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, where he was born August 26, 1837. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Oliver, who were also natives of Tennessee. The father died when a young man, and the mother was twice married afterward, and is still living (1893) in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, and is vigorous in mind and body. She has been a member of the Baptist Church for sixty years. Dr. James P. Oliver was mainly reared in Louisiana, whither his mother moved when he was very young. He received but limited educational advantages, and at the age of 20 began to study medicine under Drs. John E. Wright and Cicero C. Meredith of Columbia, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana. He graduated from the medical department of the University of Louisiana in 1859, and immediately began practicing medicine in Morehouse Parish. Later, he moved to Winn Parish where he married and settled in Beech Creek. Dr. Oliver was establishing a good medical practice when the Civil War came. Like hundreds of thousands of other patriotic Southerners in 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, as a private in the Third Louisiana Regiment of Infantry. He served on detail duty as a physician and surgeon with this command until after the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863. Then after passing a successful examination, served as army surgeon in the Trans-Mississippi Department until the close of the war. After the surrender he resumed his practice of medicine in Winn Parish, Louisiana, and followed it there until November, 1867. On that date he started overland to Texas, and located December 24, 1867 at Caldwell, Burleson County, which place has been his home since. During his residence here, Dr. Oliver, besides practicing medicine has successfully owned and operated farms and a drug store. But it is as a physician and surgeon that he is best known. The doctor has zealously upheld the highest standards of his profession in alleviating the ills, pains, and distress of his patients. He has done a vast amount of charity work in his practice here during the past 26 years. Dr. Oliver's old friends and patients say he has never failed them in times of sickness and distress, answering their calls any time of day or night and remaining as long as he could give medical aid to the ill patient. Dr. Oliver kept abreast of advancing medical practices by attending many meetings of Texas physicians and surgeons. On March 15, 1860 Dr. Oliver married Miss Catherine Haddox, a daughter of Thomas J. Haddox, then residing at Beech Creek, Winn Parish, Louisiana. Mrs. Oliver was born in Wilcox County, Alabama, September 22, 1840, before her parents settled in Winn Parish, Louisiana, in the 1850s, and then in 1867 they came to Burleson County with the Dr. Oliver family, and both lived in the county until their deaths. Dr. Oliver and his wife have had a family of eleven children, as follows: Frances R., who was married to W. H. Hurdley and with their four children, William, Katie, Edena, and Cora, reside in Caldwell, Texas. James R. Oliver is a clerk in a store in Temple, Texas; Mary E., married to J. C. Womble, Burleson County treasurer, they with their three children live in Caldwell, Texas. Their children are Herbert, Oliver, and Henry; Katie M. married J. H. Webb. They have one daughter, Pauline, and they live in Bryan, Texas; William H. is a practicing physician at Merle, in Burleson County; Tola J. and Fredrick C. are clerks in Caldwell; Edis T., John P., and Charles B., deceased. The Dr. J. P. Oliver family are Baptists. Dr. Oliver is a member of the Texas Medical Association and one fraternal organization. He is a medical examiner for five of the largest life insurance companies in the United States.