10 Facts About Andrew Oliver

Andrew Oliver was an American-born merchant and colonial administrator in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Andrew Oliver's father, Daniel Oliver, was a wealthy and politically active merchant, and his mother, Elizabeth Belcher Oliver, was the sister of Jonathan Belcher, son of another wealthy merchant and governor of the province in the 1730s.

Andrew Oliver then entered the family business, setting up a merchant business with his brother Peter that concentrated on wine and textiles.

The couple had three children before Mary died in 1732; only one, a son named Andrew Oliver, survived to adulthood.

In 1737, Andrew Oliver entered politics and won election as Boston's town auditor.

Andrew Oliver held many other local offices, and became a leader of the Hutchinson-Oliver faction, which dominated politics in colonial Massachusetts.

Andrew Oliver was elected to the provincial assembly in 1742 and in 1755 was appointed provincial secretary by Acting Governor Spencer Phips.

In 1765, Andrew Oliver was commissioned to administer the unpopular Stamp Act in Massachusetts.

Andrew Oliver was privately against the act but told people that he was in favor of it, which led colonists to rise against him.

Andrew Oliver was commissioned lieutenant governor of the colony when his brother-in-law Thomas Hutchinson became governor in 1771.