Williamson Simpson Oldham

Background

Williamson Simpson Oldham was born on June 19, 1813, in Franklin County, Tennessee, the son of Elias and Mary (Bratton) Oldham.

Education

Elias was a poor farmer and could not give his son an education, but the boy studied at night by the light of a brushwood fire, read law in Judge Nathan Green's office, and was admitted to the bar when twenty-three years old.

Career

In 1838 Oldham was sent to the General Assembly from Washington County; he was elected speaker of the House of Representatives four years later; he was one of the presidential electors in 1844; and a few months thereafter was elected associate justice of the supreme court of Arkansas, a position he filled with distinction. Preferring a political to a judicial career, he ran for Congress in 1846, but was defeated. In 1848 he was a candidate for the United States Senate but was again defeated in a bitter campaign. He resigned his judgeship June 30, 1848. In the spring of 1849 he moved to Austin, Texas. He engaged in his profession and took part in all the social, economic, and political discussions of the time. From 1854 to 1857 he was one of the editors of the Texas State Gazette (after June 1855, the State Gazette), the Democratic organ in Texas. He played an important part in the controversy of 1855-57 between the Democratic party and the Know-Nothings. In 1859 he was defeated for nomination for Congress, because at this time he was not a radical "Southern rights man" and was opposed to the reopening of the slave trade. In that year he published, with the aid of George W. White, his law partner, A Digest of the General Statute Laws of the State of Texas (1859).

As a member of the secession convention in 1861, Oldham voted for secession, and was then sent as a delegate to the convention of the Southern states at Montgomery, Alabama. He was a member of the Confederate Provisional Congress and was appointed by President Davis a commissioner to Arkansas in an unsuccessful attempt to get the state to secede at that time. Under the permanent government, he was sent to the Confederate States Senate from Texas, where he became the champion of state rights on every occasion. He opposed conscription bitterly, because he believed that the leaders wanted to destroy the state governments. He also opposed granting President Davis power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. He was a member of a committee which reported on January 25, 1865, that the government had enough men and military supplies to carry on the war indefinitely. After the downfall of the Confederacy, he went back to Texas, but soon fled to Mexico and later to Canada. He was allowed to return to Texas but he refused to apply for a pardon and remained an unreconstructed believer in state rights until his death from typhoid fever in Houston.

Achievements

• Williamson Oldham was a Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1842. Oldham County, Texas (established 1881), is named after him.

Membership

Williamson Oldham was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives (1838), of the Confederate Provisional Congress from Texas (1861-1862), and of the Confederate States Senate from Texas (1862-1865).

Connections

On December 12, 1837, Williamson Oldham was married to Mary Vance McKissick, the daughter of the wealthy and influential Col. James McKissick. Later his wife died, leaving him with five children. On December 26, 1850, he married Mrs. Anne S. Kirk of Lockhart, Texas, and after her death, on November 19, 1857, married Agnes Harper of Austin.

Father:

Elias Oldham

Mother:

Mary (Bratton) Oldham

Wife:

Mary Vance (McKissick) Oldham

Wife:

Anne S. (Kirk) Oldham

Wife:

Agnes (Harper) Oldham

Partner:

George W. White