William Bacon Oliver (May 23, 1867 – May 27, 1948) was a

Congressman 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

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. He was born in

Eutaw, Alabama Eutaw ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 2,937. The city was named in honor of the Battle of Eutaw Springs, the last engagement of the American Revolutionary War ...

, graduated from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

in 1887 and from the law department in 1889. After additional courses at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in the same year, he was admitted to the Alabama bar, and set up a practice in

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. He became dean of the law school of the University of Alabama in 1909, serving until 1913, then ran successfully for Congress in 1914, and remained there for eleven Congresses, not standing for reelection in 1936. He then served as a special assistant to the

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

from 1939 to 1944, at which time he retired. He died in 1948, and is buried in the

Eutaw Cemetery Eutaw may refer to: *Eutaw, Alabama, a town, United States ** Eutaw massacre, a racially motivated massacre in that town * Eutaw, Mississippi, a ghost town, United States *Eutaw Street, a major street in Baltimore, Maryland *Eutaw Formation, a geolo ...

in Eutaw. The

William Bacon Oliver Lock and Dam William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

on the

Black Warrior River The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west-central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles (286 km) to the Tombigbee River, of which the ...

in Alabama is named after him, as is Oliver Lake behind the dam.

References

Black Warrior River hydrologic modifications

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, William Bacon 1867 births 1948 deaths People from Eutaw, Alabama Deans of law schools in the United States Alabama lawyers University of Alabama faculty Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama Phi Delta Theta members 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives