Biographies - Elmira Township

Andrew Oliver, son of Thomas and Margaret (Fife) Oliver, was born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, March 20, 1820. He is a brother of the late Adam Oliver referred to above, and like him a pioneer of this county, coming here with the family in 1837 and sharing all their fortunes until 1849, when he married Miss Ellen, daughter of William and Mary Turnbull, a native of Scotland, and like himself a pioneer of this section.

Of their six children Mary, the eldest, is the only survivor.

In 1846 Andrew Oliver traveled to Dixon, Ill., and then entered and purchased his first farm on section 31, Elmira township. To this original tract he has added 700 acres here, together with owning 2,000 acres in Pawnee county, Neb. In 1860 his first wife died, and in November, 1861, he married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of James Armstrong, a notice of whom appears in this chapter. They are the parents of four children — Esther (married), residing at Toulon; Belle M., Agnes J., and an infant who is deceased.

Mr. Oliver has filled the position of supervisor of the township for three terms, assessor for several terms, and almost all the minor offices. He is a stockholder in the first National Bank of Kewanee and in the Haxtun steam heater company.

He has been ever identified with religious matters, and is named among the founders of the American Presbyterian Church of Elmira. The several parts taken by members of this family in the settlement and progress of this county are told in detail in these pages.