Hartley, Oliver Cromwell (1823–1859)

Oliver Cromwell Hartley, legislator and codifier of Texas law, was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, on March 31, 1823, the son of William and Nancy (Tate) Hartley. He received his B.A. degree from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania in 1841 and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He served as a private in the Mexican War and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant. He later supported filibustering campaigns to the south. He married Sarah C. Davis of Bedford in 1845 and in 1846 became disabled and moved to Galveston, Texas, to practice law; that year he was appointed reporter of the decisions of the state Supreme Court. In this position, which he held until his death, he reported volumes four through twenty-one of the Texas Reports. Between 1848 and 1849 he compiled A Digest of the Laws of Texas (1850). From 1851 to 1853, he represented Galveston County in the Texas House of Representatives. In 1854 he was appointed by Governor E. M. Pease to serve on a three-man commission to codify the laws of the state, after which he published a volume of forms for use in civil proceedings. He died at Galveston on January 13, 1859. Hartley County was named for him and his brother, Rufus K. Hartley.