William Oliver, Aug. 10, 1863 - Feb. 18, 1953 The following article appeared in the local newspaper on the occasion of William Oliver's 70th birthday. Dea. William Oliver, who is universally beloved, will be 70 years old on August 10 [1933]. As a boy he started to work in a blacksmith shop in England when he was 13 and one-half years old. From 10 until 13 and one-half years he worked in an English tin mine. When he was 13 1-2 years old, he walked two miles each way to go to work and then in the evening attended an evening school, four nights a week. Mr Oliver came to this country in 1887, and went to Washington Depot to the home of a friend. He got a job sharpening tools in the Mower quarry at Roxbury Station. November 4, 1887, he came to West Cornwall and has been here ever since, save for eight months passed in New Milford. Since giving up his blacksmith shop, he has devoted his attention to farming and the making of beautiful ornamental iron work in a little shop in his own home. [The little blacksmith shop was located in the building behind him in this picture.] He is a deacon in the Congregational church of North Cornwall. |