Oliver Hart Dockery (August 12, 1830 near

Rockingham, North Carolina Rockingham is a city in Richmond County, North Carolina, United States, named after the Marquess of Rockingham. The population was 9,243 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Richmond County. Downtown Rockingham is currently being revit ...

– March 21, 1906), son of Alfred Dockery, was a farmer and a politician, elected as a Republican

Congressional Representative A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

after the Civil War. Before the war he was elected in 1858 to one term in the State house of representatives.

Early life

Oliver Hart Dockery was born in 1830 in Rockingham, North Carolina. He attended public school and

Wake Forest College Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private university, private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, North Carolina, Wake ...

; was graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1848. He studied law, but never practiced. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and became involved in politics. He was elected as a member of the State house of representatives in 1858 and 1859.

Civil War and after

During the American Civil War, he served for a short time in the

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

service, but withdrew and advocated sustaining the Federal Government. Upon the readmission of North Carolina to representation, he was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress; reelected to the Forty-first Congress and served from July 13, 1868, to March 3, 1871. He was chairman, Committee on the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

(Forty-first Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress. After that he returned to agricultural pursuits. In 1875, following the increasing violence of the election campaign of 1874, when a Democratic governor was elected, he was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1875. Dockery was an unsuccessful Republican nominee for

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Seventy-five people have held the office since the first state governor, Richard Caswell, took office in 1777. The governor serves a ...

1888 Events January * January 3 – The great telescope (with an objective lens of diameter) at Lick Observatory in California is first used. * January 12 – The Schoolhouse Blizzard hits Dakota Territory and the states of Montana, M ...

. He was appointed by the national Republican administration as United States

consul general A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the sixth-most-populous city in the Americas. Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city wa ...

, on June 14, 1889, and served until July 1, 1893. After the administration changed, he resumed agricultural pursuits. He tried to return to politics in 1896, He put his name forward to be

Populist Party Populist Party may refer to: Asian and European political parties and movements *Croatian Popular Party (1919), a Croatian right-wing party also known as Croatian Populist Party * Indonesian National Populist Fortress Party, an Indonesian populist ...

candidate for

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina The lieutenant governor of North Carolina is the second-highest elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government. A member of ...

but did not win the nomination. (That year Republican

Daniel Lindsay Russell Daniel Lindsay Russell Jr. (August 7, 1845May 14, 1908) was an American politician who served as the 49th governor of North Carolina, from 1897 to 1901. An attorney and judge, he had also been elected as state representative and to the United S ...

was elected as governor, when a Populist candidate drew off some Democratic votes.) In 1898, he contested John Bellamy's election to the U.S. House of Representatives on the grounds of fraud and voter intimidation. But he was unable to overturn the election resul

Dockery died in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, March 21, 1906. He was interred in his family cemetery at Mangum, North Carolina.

External links

*
U.S. Congressional Biographical Directory entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dockery, Oliver H. 1830 births 1906 deaths Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina Wake Forest University alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni North Carolina Populists 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Early life

Civil War and after

See also

External links