Page 27 - Copshaholm Curriculum Book_2015

Oliver Family History

***See timeline for an abridged version of this history-for quick reference.

When James, a healthy, stocky baby, was born to George Oliver, a shepherd,
and his wife, Elizabeth Irving, August 28, 1825 in the tiny village of Newcastleton,
Scotland, no one would have guessed that this child of humble beginnings would
become famous and wealthy as one of America’s most influential inventors and
industrialists.

James also was destined to become the father of Joseph (J.D.) Oliver, a
business wizard in his own right who built the mansion in South Bend known as
Copshaholm.

George, James’ father, was born on a farm known as Bleakboneynear
Newcastleton in 1770. In ancient times the village was called Copshaholm, the name
J.D. Oliver gave his mansion in South Bend. Most of Newcastleton’s residents were
very poor. George was a shepherd, as probably were his ancestors. His wife came
from an old and well-known Scottish family. As a young man George worked for them.

George was 32 when he married Elizabeth, 21, in 1802. The Irvings did not
approve of the marriage, feeling that George, a shepherd like his father, was well below
the standing of the Irving family. As a result the families were estranged for a number of
years.

George and Elizabeth had nine children in 21 years. James, the last child, was
born when Elizabeth was 42. Six years later when her brother was widowed, Elizabeth
undertook raising his four children who ranged in age from an infant to 6 years old.

The Olivers, extremely religious, were Presbyterians. James learned to read and
write in a church school. Cholera struck Scotland in 1832, bringing business to a virtual
halt. George and Elizabeth were hard pressed to make ends meets. George,
unfortunately, had been injured in 1833 while driving sheep to England. He was unable
to walk without a cane.

An eldest son, John, restless and penniless, had tied up all of his belongings in a
red handkerchief and gone to America in 1830, working his passage as a seaman. He
found work at a dollar a day and wrote glowing letters about a home in a country where
no one searched the countryside for firewood, but forests were actually in the way. He
also wrote that he had meat three times a week (actually he ate meat daily, but was
afraid his family wouldn’t believe that). He also explained that he ate at his employer’s
table—unheard of in Scotland. Lured by John’s letters, another son, Andrew, and a
daughter, Jane, immigrated in 1834.

All three wrote letters to Scotland describing opportunities America offered. They
were able to send money home to Scotland. Impressed by all this, Elizabeth, then 54,
began a campaign to get the whole family to the new land. However, her husband
George, who was 65, was content with life as a shepherd. He was too old to move, he
declared. He was too old to try to do anything but tend sheep.

George eventually gave in.
John, Andrew and Jane had sent back enough money so that all the family’s
debts were paid. All the family’s surplus belongings were sold at an auction while some