[2] Olney received his education in the South Kingstown High School,[2] and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,[2][3] graduating from the latter June 28, 1888.

[4] Olney was the third African-American to gain admission to practice law in Rhode Island, after John Henry Ballou and Maurice Baumann.

[3] While Ballou and Baumann each left the state within a few years of their admission to practice elsewhere, Olney remained throughout his career.

Upon his death, "a statement of praise for Olney by judges and the Washington County Bar Association" was "adopted and ordered spread upon the records of the court.

[2] His obituary in the Norwich Bulletin noted he was "once active in republican [sic] politics and wielded much influence in sections of Washington and Kent counties".