Williamson Simpson Oldham Sr. (June 19, 1813 – May 8, 1868) was an American politician who served in Arkansas state government, and as a

Confederate States Senator The Confederate Senate was the upper house of the Confederate States Congress, Congress of the Confederate States of America. Its members were, like those of the United States Senate, elected for six year terms by the state legislature of each sta ...

from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

from 1862 to 1865.

Biography

Born in

Franklin County, Tennessee Franklin County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located on the eastern boundary of Middle Tennessee in the southern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,774. Its county seat is Winchester. Franklin ...

, Oldham settled at

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

, in 1835, was elected to the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

in 1838 and 1842. He was elected as a justice of the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction ...

in 1842. In 1848 he resigned to run for Congress, but was defeated, thereafter moving to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. He represented

in the

Provisional Congress of the Confederate States The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, fully the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a unicameral congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing ...

from 1861 to 1862, and was a senator in both the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Second Confederate States congresses from 1862 to 1865. Oldham died on May 8, 1868.Williamson Simpson Oldham
Retrieved November 22, 2015.

Legacy

Oldham County, Texas Oldham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,758. Its county seat is Vega. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1881. Oldham County is included in the Amarillo, TX Metro ...

(established 1881), is named after him.

In popular culture

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

's 1994

alternative history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

novel, '' Guns of the South'', a "Congressman Oldham" from Texas is mentioned as sponsoring a bill to re-enslave

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

in a victorious Confederacy. Since the setting was the time of the 2nd Confederate States Congress, it is likely that Turtledove was referring to Senator Oldham.

References

External links

*
William Simpson Oldham Sr.
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

1813 births 1868 deaths Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court Confederate States of America senators Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives People of Texas in the American Civil War Signers of the Confederate States Constitution Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States Texas Democrats 19th-century Arkansas state court judges 19th-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly {{Arkansas-state-judge-stub