My Genealogy Hound

R. C. Oliver, merchant and farmer, was born October 17, 1825, in Roane County, Tenn., and is a son of Eli and Aspasia (Ellis) Oliver, natives of the same State. In 1832 the parents removed from Tennessee to Washington County, Ark., and in 1842 came to Crawford County, where they died in 1846 and 1855, respectively. They reared a family of twelve children, two of whom now farm in Crawford County. The grandfather was John Oliver, and his wife, Julia, died in 1840. Our subject picked up what education he could, considering there were no public schools in those days, and at the age of twenty-one began to farm on his own account. In 1857 he married Mrs. Ellen (Redman) Behethland, a daughter of Hosea and Catherine (Barker) Redman. This lady died in 1864, and the following year Mr. Oliver married Mrs. Narcissa (Foster) Hargrove, daughter of Hocket and Zelika (Turner) Foster, and a native of Missouri, born in 1833. Mr. Oliver has three children, two sons and one daughter. Although he began life a poor young man, he has been successful in his farming and mercantile investments, until he now owns 800 acres of land, about half of which is under cultivation. He also has a grist and saw mill and cotton-gin, and deals in some stock. In politics he is a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was cast for Lewis Cass in 1848.