Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Records (CG0010) Collection Number: CG0010 Collection Title: Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Records Dates: 1760-2004 Creator: Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Abstract: The Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Papers contain case files and correspondence of the firm from the 1880s to 1980s. This collection also includes the genealogy of the Oliver and Watkins families, family correspondence, and civic involvements with the Boy Scouts of America, Rotary Club, Sons of the American Revolution, and Presbyterian Church. In addition, this collection contains material related to the Little River Drainage District, Oliver Land and Development Company, and Mingo National Wildlife Refuge. Collection Size: 296 cubic feet (approximately 3,000 folders, 39 oversize) Language: Collection materials are in English and Spanish. Repository: The State Historical Society of Missouri Restrictions on Access: Collection is open for research. This inventory is a working document and will be updated in the future. This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Cape Girardeau. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Collections may be viewed at any research center. Restrictions on Use: The Donor has given, assigned, and transferred to the Society all copyrights, and associated rights the Donor may possess in the materials. Additionally, any legal records that are within 50 years are closed until the final document in the file reaches the threshold. Any records that are from 50 to 75 years old will be restricted on a case-by-case basis. Any cases at least 100 years old have no restrictions. Preferred Citation: [Specific item; box number; folder number] Oliver and Oliver Firm Papers (CG0010); The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Cape Girardeau [after first mention may be abbreviated to SHSMO-Cape Girardeau]. Donor Information: The papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by J. Frederick Waltz on February 22, 2013. (Accession No. CGA0002). (CG0010) Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Papers Page 2 Related Materials: Additional materials related to the Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Papers can be found in the following collections: Oliver Family Papers C3731 Southeast Missouri State University, Little River Drainage District Records (2005.189) Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation, Oliver Collection Processed by: Garret B K Wright, Beth Guemmer, Katie Lewis, Katie Hanners, Janet Kremer, John Berry, Makayla Dotts, Jordan Cuneio, Cassie Prock, Avra Mukheojee, Erika Kemp, Laura Clark, Brock Wood, Aaron Schmidt, AJ Medlock, Katie Seale, Zachary Palitzsch, 2013-2021 Historical Note: The firm that became Oliver and Oliver Law Firm began in 1876 in Jackson, Missouri, by Robert Burett Oliver Sr. and Jefferson W. Limbaugh Jr., under the name Oliver and Limbaugh. Oliver moved the firm to neighboring Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1896. Limbaugh left the firm to begin a new law firm shortly before the move. With the addition of Robert B. Oliver Sr.’s son, Robert B. Oliver Jr., the firm’s name was changed to Oliver and Oliver Law Firm. The Oliver family members who joined the firm were (parenthesis is length of time in firm): Robert B. Oliver Sr. (1850-1934), Robert B. Oliver, Jr. (1880-1971), John L. (Jack) Oliver Sr. (1916-1978), Allen Laws Oliver Sr. (1886-1970), and John Leachman Oliver, Jr. (1943-2005). Throughout the law firm’s history other attorneys were law firm partners, including: Elmer A. Strom (1930- 1935), Richard D. Jones (1951-1959), W. Robert Cope (1970-1975), J. Frederick Waltz (1972- present), Gerald B. Rowan (1949-, William S. Radar (1959-1963), Stanley A. Grimm (1959- 1963), A. Robert Pierce, Jr. (1963-1968), A.J. Seier (1965-1968), and Rebecca McDowell Cook. The law firm were the attorneys of record for Himmelberger-Harrison Lumber Company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Little River Drainage District, and Missouri Utilities Company. The firm litigated cases relating to insurance, personal injury, Workmen’s Compensation, estates and wills, and property disputes. As of April 2020, the law firm is known as Oliver, Oliver, and Waltz, P.C. with J. Frederick Waltz as the sole practicing attorney. Robert Burett Oliver Sr. was born on January 23, 1850, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a son of John B. Oliver and Margaret Sloan. He married Marie Elizabeth Watkins in Richmond, Missouri, on December 10, 1879. Oliver graduated with his law degree from the University of Missouri. He was an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Psi. He was elected to the Missouri State Senate for Missouri’s 26th district in 1882. He later was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1902. Oliver began his law practice of Oliver and Limbaugh in 1876 in Jackson, Missouri. He later moved the practice to Cape Girardeau in 1896. When the state capital burned in 1911, due to a lightning strike, Oliver was appointed to serve on the Missouri Capitol Rebuilding Committee along with T.J. Brown of New Madrid. They represented the 14th District. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on December 10, 1939. The couple had the following children: Robert Burrette, Charles Watkins, John Byrd, Allen Laws Oliver Sr., William Palmer Oliver, and Mary Marguerite Oliver (who married Russell L. Dearmont). Robert B. Oliver Sr. died on October 26, 1934, and is buried in the family mausoleum in New Lorimer Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Go to top (CG0010) Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Papers Page 3 John Leachman Oliver, Jr. was born in Carmel, California, on April 23, 1943, to John L. “Jack” Oliver and Elizabeth Pierce Oliver. He graduated high school from McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He furthered his education with an Associate of Business degree from Yale University in 1963 and law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1969. During his final year in law school, Oliver clerked for United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri Roy W. Harper. Upon graduation he joined the family law firm of Oliver, Oliver, and Jones in Cape Girardeau in 1969. Oliver was a member of several professional organizations including the Missouri Bar, Cape Girardeau County Bar Association, president (1987-1988), and American Bar Association to name a few. In 1976, Oliver was appointed to the then part-time position of U.S. magistrate for the Southeastern District of the Eastern District of Missouri. He won reappointment several times before resigning in 1990. In 1989, Republican Governor John Ashcroft nominated Oliver, a Democrat, to the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission. Upon his confirmation by the Missouri Senate, he served his six-year term. He also helped get the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge constructed in Cape Girardeau. The bridge was opened to traffic in December 2003. His civic involvement was robust, he was heavily involved in the Boy Scouts of America (Southeast Missouri Council), First Presbyterian Church, Downtown Cape Girardeau Rotary Club, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, Greater Cape Girardeau Historical Society, and Greater Cape Girardeau Industrial Development Association, to name a few. Oliver was married twice. First to Rosemary McWorther on September 23, 1963; one son John L. “Jack” Oliver III was born. After his divorce, he married Deborah Nesler Schumacher on October 10, 1980. She had two children from a previous marriage. Oliver died on May 12, 2005. He is buried in New Lorimer Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Allen Laws Oliver, Sr. was born on January 19, 1886, in Jackson, Missouri, to Robert B. Oliver, Sr. and Marie Elizabeth Watkins. The family moved in Cape Girardeau in 1896. He graduated from Southeast Missouri Teachers College in 1905. He earned his A.B. degree (1908) and law degree (1909) from the University of Missouri. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta and Phi Delta Phi. He also served as Major of Cadets and was offered a commission in the regular army upon graduation. Instead, he joined the family law firm of Oliver and Oliver on January 1, 1910. He was admitted to the Missouri Bar on May 25, 1909 and signed the rolls as an attorney on October 26, 1911. He served in the Missouri National Guard as 1st Lieutenant from 1909 to 1913 and later as Major in the 6th Separate Battalion of Missouri Home Guards located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, from 1917 to 1918. He was not called into active service during World War I. In 1913, he married Olivia Leachman. The couple had two sons; Allen Laws Oliver Jr. and John Leachman Oliver Sr. John would join his father the law firm in During World War II he served as the Government Appeal Agent for Cape Girardeau County and member of the state Speaker Committee Missouri Council of Defense and as Vice-President of Missouri State United Service Organization. He became a member of the Beta Psi Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity on May 12, 1939. Go to top (CG0010) Oliver and Oliver Law Firm Papers Page 4 In 1939, Missouri Governor Lloyd Stark appointed him Colonel where he served on the Governor’s Staff. He served on the alumni association for both Southeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Southeast Missouri State University) and University of Missouri- Columbia. He was very active in various civic organizations. He was the past president of the Missouri Bar from (1943-1944), director of Rotary International (1938-1939), Missouri state president of the National Sons of the American Revolution (1942-1943), president general of the National Sons of the American Revolution (1945-1946), and member of the University of Missouri Board of Visitors (1946-1953) and served as president of the board in 1953. He also served as the national representative of the Southeast Missouri Council of Boy Scouts for twelve years.