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Senate Years of Service: 1909-1917 Party: Republican
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OLIVER, George Tener, a Senator from Pennsylvania; born January 26, 1848, in County
Tyrone, Ireland, during a visit abroad of his parents, who at that time were
residents of Pittsburgh, Pa.; attended the common schools and Pleasant Hill
Academy, West Middletown, Pa.; graduated from Bethany (W.Va.) College 1868;
taught school; studied law; admitted to the bar of Allegheny County, Pa., in
1871 and practiced in Pittsburgh, Pa.; retired from his profession in 1881 and
engaged in steel and wire manufacturing until 1901, when he disposed of his
interests; president of the Pittsburgh Central Board of Education 1881-1884;
presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1884; engaged in the newspaper
business in 1900 and became publisher of the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times and
Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph; declined the appointment as United States
Senator in 1904 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Matthew S. Quay;
elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1909 to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Philander C. Knox; reelected in 1911 and served
from March 17, 1909, to March 3, 1917; chairman, Committee on Transportation
Routes to the Seaboard (Sixty-first Congress), Committee on Canadian Relations
(Sixty-second Congress), Committee on Manufactures (Sixty-second Congress),
Committee on Forest Reservations and Game Protection (Sixty-fourth Congress);
declined to be a candidate for reelection; retired from public life and resided
in Pittsburgh, Pa., until his death there January 22, 1919; interment in
Allegheny Cemetery.
BibliographyDictionary of American Biography; Schlup,
Leonard. George T. Oliver: Pittsburghs Politician in the Progressive Era.
Journal of the Alleghenies 32 (1996): 68-84.
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