[2] Oliver had three older siblings, Stephen, Emma and William, as well as three younger ones, Joseph, Charles, and Effie.

[3] Oliver was educated in the Illinois Female College, where she took high rank in her studies, early showing a talent for composition.

From her father, she inherited an aptitude for versification and a temperament that was quick to receive impressions.

In collaboration with Ida Scott Taylor McKinney, she published several juvenile books in verse, entitled The Story of Columbus, In Slavery Days, and The Far West.

[2] She died August 15, 1917, in Jacksonville, Illinois and was buried at Diamond Grove Cemetery in that city.