Thomas Oliver was an Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 businessman and political figure. He represented Oxford North

Oxford North

Oxford North was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1935. It was located in the province of Ontario...

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member from 1867 to 1880.

He was born in Kildonan, Sutherland

Sutherland

Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He taught school there for two years and came to Zorra Township

Zorra, Ontario

Zorra is a township in Oxford County, situated in south-western Ontario, Canada. A predominantly rural municipality, Zorra was formed in 1975 through the amalgamation of East Nissouri, West Zorra and North Oxford townships.-Government:...

 in Oxford County

Oxford County, Ontario

Oxford County is a regional municipality and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Southern portion of the province. The regional seat is in Woodstock...

, Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 where he taught school for several years. Oliver then moved to Woodstock

Woodstock, Ontario

Woodstock is a city and the county seat of Oxford County in Southern Ontario, Canada. Woodstock is located 128 km southwest of Toronto, north of Highway 401 along the historic Thames River...

, where he became a dry goods merchant. He served on the town council, becoming reeve for Woodstock and was county warden in 1866. He was elected in the North riding of Oxford in an 1866 by-election held following the death of Hope Fleming Mackenzie

Hope Fleming Mackenzie

Hope Fleming Mackenzie was a Scottish-born cabinet-maker, shipbuilder and political figure in Canada West. He represented Lambton from 1860 to 1861 and North Oxford from 1863 to 1866 in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada as a Reformer.He was born in Logierait, Perthshire, the son...

 and served until Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

; in 1867, he was elected to the House of Commons and served until his death in Woodstock in 1880.