3253 OLIVER WENDELL OATMAN
3253
OLIVER WENDELL,8 (Oscar A.7, Oliver A.6, Darius5, Benjamin4, George3, John2, Johannes1), son of
Oscar A. and Lillian
(Wilson) Oatman, was born 29 February 1912 at the Oatman Farm on Goshen
Road south of Tillsonburg, Oxford County, Ontario, died 9 August 1973 at
Tillsonburg, and is buried in Tillsonburg Cemetery, Tillsonburg.
Oliver
attended Goshen Public School S.S. No. 5 Middleton and Tillsonburg High
School. He then worked on the family
farm at Lot 5, Concession 3, Middleton Township. As a small family farm, there were milking
cows, some pigs and chickens. Horses
were used for farming in the early days and the Oatman’s ran their own
blacksmith shop and were all accomplished farriers.
Oliver
took flying lessons at Brantford and received his pilot’s license in November,
1937. He operated heavy equipment on
construction sites east of Toronto and in Nova Scotia until he joined the RCAF
in 1942. After training at Windsor,
Brantford and Comox, BC, Oliver went overseas in 1945 and flew with 437
Squadron in Dakota III, Dakota IV and Anson I aircraft. He remained after the war in May of 1945 with
the Transport Command and returned to Canada to be released as a Pilot Officer
in 1946.
Mervin
Hicks and Oliver received a license to operate the Tillsonburg Airport, but in
1947 Oliver sold his shares to Mervin and returned to the home farm to continue
a farming operation.
Oliver
and Doris Eileen Birdsall were married
on September 18, 1948 on the front lawn of her parents home on the Bostwick
Road.
The Oatman
farm initially had a herd of milking cows, but in the mid nineteen fifties they
were sold and the farm supported a small herd of beef cattle.
Oliver
had a penchant for heavy machinery and acquired a self
propelled combine and performed custom work in the area. As his children grew and were able to operate
the equipment, they would also do custom hay cutting and baling, even loading the
customer’s barn. Oliver always had a
love of horses, and as they were replaced by machinery, he transitioned to
riding horses. He and his children
always had several horses around and the farm was a gathering place for like minded horse owners.
Children
of Oliver Wendell and Doris (Birdsall) Oatman, b. Tillsonburg, Oxford Co., ON:
5882 James Edward, b. 5 Jul 1949; m. Anna
Harris, Aug 1978, London, Middlesex Co., ON
5883 Charles Douglas, b. 1 Oct 1951; m.
Marlene Pfaff, Jan 1975, Guelph, Wellington Co., ON
5884 David Oliver, b. 4 Apr 1955; m. Mary
Lynn Palmer, May 1990, Tillsonburg, ON
5885 Jean Marie,
b. 20 Jul 1959; m. Douglas Kent.
Children, surname Kent:
A David
George, b. Dec 1986
B Stephanie
Marie b. 1993
Sources: Family
Records;
Doris Oatman, Tillsonburg,
ON
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