Sullivan-Wyoming County PA Archives Biographies.....Oliver, Royal H. 1843 - 
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  Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 13, 2008, 5:00 pm
  
  Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899)
  
  ROYAL H. OLIVER, a prominent representative of the agricultural interests of
  Sullivan county, extensively and successfully engaged in general farming in
  Colley township, is a man of marked energy and enterprise who has so conducted
  his business affairs as to attain a good degree of success, winning the reward
  of well directed and honorable effort.
  
      A native of the Keystone state, Mr. Oliver was born in Wyoming county, on
  the 25th of October, 1843, and is a son of David M. and Betsy (Geary) Oliver.
  The father was a native of Orange county, New York, and during his boyhood
  removed to Wyoming county, this state, where he was employed on a farm. After
  having arrived at years of maturity he married Miss Betsy, daughter of Andrus
  Geary. His death occurred in Bradford county, April 15, 1898, when he had
  attained the age of seventy-three years, and his wife died February 7, 1878, at
  the age of sixty-one years and fourteen days. Their children were Mary, widow of
  Ed Ralboof, of Bradford county, Pennsylvania; Charles, who was killed in the
  battle of Fair Oaks, while serving in the Union army during the Civil war;
  Porter, a farmer residing in Wilmot township, Bradford county; G. W., a
  lumberman of Wyoming county, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, who became the wife of
  Henry Smith, of Colley township, Sullivan county, and died at the age of
  twenty-eight years; Royal, of this review; W. D., who is engaged in the oil
  business in Bradford, Pennsylvania; and Dustin, a farmer of the Empire state.
  
      The subject of this review spent the greater part of his youth in Sullivan
  county, and is indebted to the common-school system for the educational
  privileges he received. At the age of seventeen he began working as a farm hand
  in the neighborhood, and when by his industry and economy he had acquired some
  capital he purchased a farm in this county, in 1864. The previous autumn he was
  married and brought his wife to his new home, where he has resided continuously
  since. His first tract comprised one hundred acres of unimproved land, but with
  characteristic energy he began its development and soon placed much of it under
  a high state of cultivation. He has since made other purchases, adding at one
  time fifty-seven acres and at another eighty acres. He has cleared three hundred
  acres of land, and now has a valuable property, constituting one of the
  highly-improved and desirable farms of the county. In connection with general
  farming he also engages in blacksmithing to a limited extent, and so manages his
  business interests that they have brought him a good financial return.
  
      On the 19th of November, 1863, Mr. Oliver was united in marriage to Rebecca
  Page, a daughter of Warren and Lerinda (Schartz) Page. Her father, a farmer by
  occupation, was a native of Broome county, New York, and died in Bradford
  county, Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Oliver have been born the following
  children: Edward, who was born November 7, 1866, and is now a resident farmer of
  Bradford county; Flora E., who was born February 24, 1868, became the wife of Ed
  Geary, and died August 4, 1888; David W., who was born October 22, 1869, and is
  engaged in the lumber business in Wyoming county; Royal F., who was born April
  27, 1871, and aids his father in the operation of the home farm; Wilbur C., who
  was born December 2, 1873, and follows farming in Wyoming county, Pennsylvania;
  Wynbert P., who was born October 6, 1874, and died March 9, 1880; John S., who
  was born May 24, 1877; Levina E., born October 1, 1879; Retta, born April 10,
  1883; and Lena G., born June 9, 1886. The four youngest children are still at
  home with their parents.
  
      In his political associations Mr. Oliver is a staunch Democrat, who
  zealously advocates the principles of his party. He has held a number of local
  offices, was assessor for three years, was treasurer of Wilmot township,
  Bradford county, for one year, and school director for three years in that
  township. His duties have ever been discharged with promptness and fidelity, and
  he has thus proved a capable official. In 1887 he became a member of the Odd
  Fellows lodge, of Mehoopany, and among his brethren of the fraternity, as well
  as in other circles, he enjoys the highest regard. All who know him esteem him
  for his sterling worth, and is justly numbered among the leading farmers of
  Sullivan county.
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  
  Extracted from: 
              
               History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania
                   by Thomas J. Ingham
              
       Compendium of Biography
              
                  The Lewis Publishing Company
            Chicago: 1899
  
  
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