Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2946 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSter ^imbre his life is likely to be significant only of vacuous ineptitude. Mr.Oliver lias the stability, ambitions and mental poise to become one of the victors, one of the world's productive workers. As a boy he found employmentin the lumber camps of South Carolina where his labors were of the mostarduous order and his emolument in inverse proportion, he having receivedthe stupendous salary of 25 cents per day or $6.00 a month for his serviceas a tram driver, a capacity in which there was call for much judgment andalso heavy work on the part of the ambitious boy. lie thus gave his attentionto the driving of the tram on which logs were transported from the lumbercamps to the saw mill, and he continued his identification with this line ofoccupation for two years. For the ensuing two years he was engaged in evenmore strenuous work in the saw mill, and in this period, one that made greatdemands upon his physical powers, he did not permit himself to indulge hisphysical fatigue, but devoted his evenings to diligent study, as he was determined to fit himself for a broader field of activity than that implied in meremanual labor. Finally he obtained employment as clerk in a mercantileestablishment, and in this capacity he clearly proved his worth, his service inconnection with such mercantile enterprise continuing- for a number of years.In the meanwhile he carefully conserved his earnings and finally he was sufficiently fortified in a financial way to justify him in engaging in business inan independent way, though on a modest scale. At Abbeville he opened ageneral store, and from a modest inception the business has been developed toone of substantial and extensive scope, the establishment of the Oliver Mercantile Company being now one of the largest and most important in WilcoxCounty and Mr. Oliver still giving his general supervision to the businesswhich has been developed through his energy, progressiveness and fair andhonorable dealings.In October, 1904, Mr. Oliver, with others, effected the organization of theBank of Abbeville, and of this well ordered and popular institution he hasbeen president since January, 1912. The hank bases its operations upon amplecapital and it affords the best of facilities as an important adjunct to thegeneral commercial and industrial activities of this section of the state.The initiative and executive ability of Mr. Oliver has been further manifested in his erection and equipment of the Abbeville cotton gin. of which heis secretary and treasurer and owns a half interest. He has operated it withdistinctive success, the industrial enterprise having contributed materially tohis financial advancement, besides proving of great value as an addition tothe commercial and industrial facilities of the thriving little city of Abbeville."William C. Oliver was born at Foreston, Clarendon County, South Carolina, on the 8th of June, 1871, and thus is in the very prime of his strong,vigorous and productive life. He is a son of John "W. and Louise (Canter)Oliver, both likewise natives of South Carolina and both representatives offamilies early founded in America. The father of Mr. Oliver was a farmerin his native state at the time when the Civil war was precipitated on thenation, and he subordinated all personal interests to tender his aid in defenseof the cause of the Confederate states. He enlisted in a South Carolina regiment of volunteers and the records of the command show that he proved aloya] and gallant, soldier. He continued his residence in South Carolina untilhis death, which occurred at Foreston; in 1884, at which time he was fiftysixyears of age. His widow survived him by about three years and wassummoned to the life eternal in 1887, at the age of forty-nine years, her entirelife having been passed in South Carolina. Of the twelve children, of whomten are living, the subject of this review was the tenth in order of birth,and he was but sixteen years of age at the time of the death of his widowedmother. His age at the time of his father's death was thirteen years, and atthat early stage in his career he initiated the work of proving for his ownmaintenance, by working in the lumber woods, as stated in an early paragraph