Julia Oliver

Julia A. Oliver, the mother of Ann Elizabeth (Oliver) Armstrong and wife of John D. Oliver, was likely born in 1803 in Maryland1 and became involved in community service once she moved with her husband and family to Philadelphia sometime around 1840. In Philadelphia, they settled permanently at 114 Eutaw, the same home where daughter Elizabeth and her husband Littleton also settled after their marriage.2

There is little information which points at Oliver being involved in the 1855 Convention, but her involvement with The Beneficial Daughters of Joseph Parish Society3 speaks to a woman who was concerned with community matters. Even if she had not attended the Convention meetings herself, her daughter’s involvement would have likely introduced daily reports and conversations of Convention happenings.

The only mention of Oliver in contemporaneous newspapers is an obituary from her society in 1877. In this piece, she is identified as the president of the society, “[who] having presided over us for the last 29 years, though we deeply mourn her loss, we humbly submit to the dispensation of so all-wise Providence, knowing our loss, is her infinite gain.”4 Even with an impressive twenty-nine years of service in The Beneficial Daughters of Joseph Parish Society, Julia Oliver is only mentioned once.

 Credits

Kathryn Wright, English 634, Spring 2013, taught by Professor P. Gabrielle Foreman, University of Delaware. 

References

[1] Ancestry.com, “1850 United States Federal Census Record,” Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed March 13, 2013; Ancestry.com, “1870 United States Federal Census Record,” Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011,accessed March 13, 2013.

[2] Ancestry.com, “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed on March 13, 2013.

[3] “EULOGY ON THE DEATH OF SISTER JULIA OLIVER” (The Christian Recorder: Philadelphia, PA, September 20, 1877), accessed March 24, 2013 from the African American Newspapers Database.

[4] Ibid.