Morgan Oliver  —  deMildred Brown
1806-1839               1803-1878

Morgan Oliver was the son of William P. Oliver and Susan A. Walker; William P. Oliver was the son of Thomas Oliver, who died in c.1787.

deMildred Brown was born on September 7, 1803, in King and Queen County; this is substantiated by her death record and several other sources. deMildred Brown’s parents were Samuel Brown and Mildred Carr; Samuel Brown’s parents were Samuel Brown and Susannah Brown; Mildred Carr’s parents were William Carr and Mildred Carr. Nothing is known about deMildred’s ancestors other than their names and relationships as listed in Morgan Oliver’s Bible (Now in the keeping of R. C. Emerson).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is relatively certain that Morgan Oliver lived on a farm in Coke at the headwaters of Cedar Bush Creek and extending back toward Piney Swamp. Morgan Oliver married deMildred Brown in 1828. Morgan and deMildred’s first child, Washington Jefferson Henry Oliver, was born on December 13, 1829. Thomas Andrew Jackson (Jack) Oliver was born January 1, 1833; his obituary states that he was born at Hickory Fork which was not a great distance from the afore mentioned property of Morgan Oliver.

Morgan’s Bible mentions three other children: Morgan D., Robert, and William Hanneson. It is assumed that these last three children died in infancy because no other reference to them has been found. These entries simply state the name and date without stating who their parents were; therefore, they could have been sons of Morgan Oliver or Regault Oliver, deMildred’s second husband.. The ink in the entries of Washington and T.A.J. Oliver is quite different from that of the other entries. deMildred had two other children, Benjamin and James, by the second marriage. This means that deMildred had seven sons, which corresponds to the statement in Jack Oliver’s obituary that he was “one of seven sons.”

On a hot summer day in 1838, Morgan Oliver was cutting hay with a scythe. The laborious work in the extreme heat caused Morgan to become overheated. He went to a nearby spring and splashed cold water on himself to cool off. Apparently, this procedure caused him to catch a cold which lingered and turned into pneumonia. Morgan Oliver died in the prime of life.

After Morgan’s death which left deMildred with two young children to raise, deMildred married Regault Oliver. No relationship can be definitely established between Regault and Morgan Oliver’s family, although it seems strange that two separate Oliver families existed in this relatively small area. The marriage of deMildred and Regault never seemed to be stable. The 1840 census lists Regault as head of household with Washington and Jack as residents, and the 1850 census listed Regault as head of household with all four of deMildred’s sons as residents. Gloucester County Death Register has the following notation:

Oliver, Gault, died: June 15, 1854, age: 44y at New York, cause: small pox, occupation: waterman, consort: Mildred Oliver, source: Mildred Oliver, wife.

The 1860 census showed deMildred as head of household with Thomas A. J., Benj. F., and James H. living in the household. The final census listing deMildred (1870) showed her as living in the household of T. A. J. Oliver. The Gloucester County Death Register has the following entry:

1878, Oliver, deMildred, date: June 15th. place: Glo. Co. age 74, 9 mo. 8 days.
Parents: Sam’l Brown. place of birth: King and Queen Co. unmarried,
registered by T. A. J. Oliver, son.