About Oliver Clifton

Oliver Clifton was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1847. He enlisted in the Confederacy Army at the age of sixteen but returned home once the Civil War concluded to practice law. He was elected the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi three times, but he only served in this capacity twice, from 1870 to 1871 and then again from 1895 to1897. He was elected mayor in December 1904, but died on January 1, 1905 of pneumonia before he took office. In 1875, Clifton was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives and served in that capacity for three years. By 1878, he was appointed Clerk of the Mississippi Supreme Court, a position he held for sixteen years. Clifton, too, was involved with the Mississippi Division of the United Confederate Veterans, Masons, and Knights of Pythias, all of which appear throughout his correspondence. Throughout various periods in his life, Clifton also served as editor-in-chief of the Clarion and Clarion-Ledger, and some of Clifton’s correspondence while he held this position appear in the collection.

Oliver and his wife, Marion Clifton (her maiden name was Marion Yerger), married on November 27, 1877 and had six children. Their first child, Percy Lee Clifton (1877-1966), was born a month later. There other children were Francis Hamilton Clifton (1880-1903), Yerger Hunt Clifton Sr. (1881-1941), Marian Clifton (1884-1942), Edward Rucks Clifton (1886-1900), and Chalmers Dancy Clifton (1889-1966).