[2] He taught school for two years in Arkansas, returning to Pennsylvania to study law.

He was admitted to the bar, and moved to Iowa in 1857, taking up his residence at Onawa, in Monona County, where he began practice law.

[1] Oliver was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives of the Tenth Iowa General Assembly in 1863, to represent the district composed of the counties of Carroll, Crawford, Monona and Sac.

[1] He became a prominent member of the Iowa House, and at the close of his term was elected to the Iowa Senate for the Forty-fifth District, composed of fifteen counties in the northwestern part of the State, serving from 1865 to 1867.

[1] His grandson, Ralph A. Oliver, was a Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.