Freestone County, Texas
Biographies 



Biography of Franklin C. Oliver 
(Mar. 27, 1827-	May 12, 1902, buried Faulkenberry Cemetery in Groesbeck, TX.)

A Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, 
  Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1893; pages 372

  Frank C. Oliver, a leading merchant of Groesbeck, Limestone county, is a son of
Roderick and Tempe (Durley) Oliver, both born near Nashville, Tennessee, where
they were married.  After marriage they moved to Marshall county, Mississippi,
in 1846, came to Texas and settled in Freestone county, where the mother died in
1852, aged fifty-one. The father also died there, November 1857, at the age of
fifty-seven. He was a farmer and stock-raiser and both he and his wife were people
of modest, unassuming ways. For many years they were members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. The family of these two parents consisted of eight children,
namely: John E., who died a few years since, at Weatherford, this State; Frank C.,
our subject; William W., who died some years since, in Limestone county; Thomas
J., now a resident of Dallas; Martha Ann, wife of Thomas Harper, of Freestone
county; Narcissa, wife of M. Stroud of Hill county; Lucy, wife of M. N. Miller of
Groesbeck, Limestone county, and Rosena, who was married to L. R. Boyd, of 
Freestone county, but is now deceased.
   The eldest of these children now living and the subject of this sketch was 
born in Hardeman county, Tennessee, March 21, 1827, and was reared in that county
and in Marshall county, Mississippi, whither his parents moved during his youth.
He was brought up on a farm and came to Texas, with his parents, at the age of
nineteen, and took up his residence with them in Freestone county.  In September
1850, he married Lucretia Miller, a daughter of Andrew Miller of that county, but
a native of Washington county, that State. Her parents were formerly from 
Louisiana.  
   Shortly after his marriage he engaged in the merchandise trade, at Fairfield,
Freestone county, as a member of the firm of Oliver & Robertson, and continued
in this same business until the outbreak of the war. He then closed out his 
interest and engaged in farming and stock-raising in Freestone county, during the
war. In 1866 he removed to Limestone county, where he continued in the same
business until January 1885, at which time he again embarked in the mercantile
business, in partnership with his son, John E., in Groesbeck, under the firm name
of F. C. Oliver & Son. They handle furniture, hardware and all kinds of 
agricultural implements. This is a large establishment and the firm does a large
and prosperous business.
   Mr. Oliver reared five children, namely: T. W.; John E., who is a successful 
stock grower of Limestone county and interested in the mercantile business, as
already stated; "D," who is the assistant cashier of the First National Bank, of
Groesbeck; Walter W., a stock trader and real estate dealer of northwestern Texas;
Mary, a young lady yet with her parents; and Thomas W., the oldest child, who 
died in Limestone county, a few years ago, leaving a family.
   Mr. Oliver is not only an old citizen of the counties of Limestone and Freestone,
but is one of the solid, substantial men of the latter, a representative of an
honored name and a most excellent man in every way.