People
Photos
Purpose
Advertisement
Advertisement
  2. People
  3. Surname Directory
  4. H
  5. Holmboe - Holzhausan
  6. Holmes
  7. Olen - Ottie
  8. Oliver Holmes
  9. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 1841 - 1935

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was born on March 8, 1841 at Boston, Suffolk Co., MA, and died at age 93 years old on March 6, 1935 at Washington, DC. Oliver Holmes was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Name
Update name details
Last residence
Update residence details
March 8, 1841
Boston, Suffolk Co., MA
Birth
Update birth details
March 6, 1935
Washington, DC
Death
Update death details
Male
Looking for another Oliver Holmes?
Updated: December 19, 2019
Biography ID: 705939 What's this
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Oliver Holmes (1841 - 1935)
ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM
This page exists for YOU
and everyone who remembers Oliver.
Share what you know,
even ask what you wish you knew.
Invite others to do the same,
but don't worry if you can't...
Someone, somewhere will find this page,
and we'll notify you when they do.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s History: 1841 - 1935

Uncover new discoveries and connections today by sharing about people & moments from yesterday.
- Discover how AncientFaces works.

  • Introduction

    Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States In office December 4, 1902 – January 12, 1932 Nominated by Theodore Roosevelt Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court In office August 2, 1899 – December 4, 1902 Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court In office ecember 15, 1882 – August 2, 1899 Nominated by John Long Born March 8, 1841 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Died March 6, 1935 (aged 93) Washington, D.C., U.S. Political party Republican Spouse(s) Fanny Bowditch Dixwell (1840–1929) Education Harvard University (BA, LLB) Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932, and as Acting Chief Justice of the United States in January–February 1930. Noted for his long service, concise and pithy opinions, and deference to the decisions of elected legislatures, he is one of the most widely cited United States Supreme Court justices in history, particularly for his "clear and present danger" opinion for a unanimous Court in the 1919 case of Schenck v. United States, and is one of the most influential American common law judges, honored during his lifetime in Great Britain as well as the United States. Holmes retired from the court at the age of 90, making him the oldest justice in the Supreme Court's history. He also served as an Associate Justice and as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and was Weld Professor of Law at his alma mater, Harvard Law School. Profoundly influenced by his experience fighting in the American Civil War, Holmes helped move American legal thinking towards legal realism, as summed up in his maxim: "The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience." Holmes espoused a form of moral skepticism and opposed the doctrine of natural law, marking a significant shift in American jurisprudence. In one of his most famous opinions, his dissent in Abrams v. United States (1919), he regarded the United States Constitution as "an experiment, as all life is an experiment" and believed that as a consequence "we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death." During his tenure on the Supreme Court, to which he was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, he supported efforts for economic regulation and advocated broad freedom of speech under the First Amendment. These positions as well as his distinctive personality and writing style made him a popular figure, especially with American progressives.[4] His jurisprudence influenced much subsequent American legal thinking, including judicial consensus supporting New Deal regulatory law, and influential schools of pragmatism, critical legal studies, and law and economics. He was one of only a handful of justices to be known as a scholar; The Journal of Legal Studies has identified Holmes as the third-most cited American legal scholar of the 20th century. Early life Holmes was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to the prominent writer and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. and abolitionist Amelia Lee Jackson. Dr. Holmes was a leading figure in Boston intellectual and literary circles. Mrs. Holmes was connected to the leading families; Henry James Sr., Ralph Waldo Emerson and other transcendentalists were family friends. Known as "Wendell" in his youth, Holmes, Henry James Jr. and William James became lifelong friends. Holmes accordingly grew up in an atmosphere of intellectual achievement, and early formed the ambition to be a man of letters like Emerson. While still in Harvard College he wrote essays on philosophic themes, and asked Emerson to read his attack on Plato's idealist philosophy. Emerson famously replied, "If you strike at a king, you must kill him." He supported the Abolitionist movement that thrived in Boston society during the 1850s. At Harvard, he was a member of the Hasty Pudding and the Porcellian Club; his father had also been a member of both clubs. In the Pudding, he served as Secretary and Poet, as his father did.[6] He enlisted in the Massachusetts militia in the spring of 1861, when the president first called for volunteers following the firing on Fort Sumter, but returned briefly to Harvard College to participate in commencement exercises.[7] In the summer of 1861 with his father's help he obtained a lieutenant's commission in the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Holmes's early life was described in detail by Mark DeWolfe Howe, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes – The Shaping Years, 1841–1870 (1957). Civil War During his senior year of college, at the outset of the American Civil War, Holmes enlisted in the fourth battalion, Massachusetts militia, then received a commission as first lieutenant in the Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He saw much action, taking part in the Peninsula Campaign, the Battle of Fredricksburg and the Wilderness, suffering wounds at the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, and suffered from a near-fatal case of dysentery. He particularly admired and was close to Henry Livermore Abbott, a fellow officer in the 20th Massachusetts. Holmes rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, but eschewed promotion in his regiment and served on the staff of the VI Corps during the Wilderness Campaign. Abbott took command of the regiment in his place, and was later killed. Holmes received a brevet (honorary) promotion to colonel in recognition of his services during the war. He retired to his home in Boston after his three-year enlistment ended in 1864, weary and ill, his regiment disbanded. Legal career - Lawyer and state judge In the summer of 1864, Holmes returned to the family home in Boston, wrote poetry, and debated philosophy with his friend William James, pursuing his debate with philosophic idealism, and considered reenlisting. But by the fall, when it became clear that the war would soon end, Holmes enrolled in Harvard Law School, "kicked into the law" by his father, as he later recalled.[14] He attended lectures there for a single year, reading extensively in theoretical works, and then clerked for a year in his cousin Robert Morse's office. He was admitted to the bar in 1866, and after a long visit to London, to complete his education, went into law practice in Boston. He joined a small firm, and in 1872 married a childhood friend, Fanny Bowditch Dixwell, buying a farm in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, the following year. Their marriage lasted until her death on April 30, 1929. They never had children together. They did adopt and raise an orphaned cousin, Dorothy Upham. Fanny disliked Beacon Hill society, and devoted herself to embroidery. She was described as devoted, witty, wise, tactful, and perceptive. Whenever he could, Holmes visited London during the social season of spring and summer, and during the years of his work as a lawyer and judge in Boston, he formed romantic friendships with English women of the nobility, with whom he corresponded while at home in the United States. The most important of these was his friendship with the Anglo-Irish Clare Castletown, the Lady Castletown, whose family estate in Ireland, Doneraile Court, he visited several times, and with whom he may have had a brief affair. He formed his closest intellectual friendships with British men, and became one of the founders of what was soon called the "sociological" school of jurisprudence in Great Britain, followed a generation later by the "legal realist" school in America. Holmes practiced admiralty law and commercial law in Boston for fifteen years. It was during this time that he did his principal scholarly work, serving as an editor of the new American Law Review, reporting decisions of state supreme courts, and preparing a new edition of Kent's Commentaries, which served practitioners as a compendium of case law, at a time when official reports were scarce and difficult to obtain. He summarized his hard-won understanding in a series of lectures, collected and published as The Common Law in 1881.
  • 03/8
    1841

    Birthday

    March 8, 1841
    Birthdate
    Boston, Suffolk Co., MA
    Birthplace
    ADVERTISEMENT BY

  • Early Life & Education

    Harvard Graduate.

  • Military Service

    Military service Allegiance United States Branch/service United States Army Years of service 1861–1865 Rank Union Army colonel Brevet Colonel Unit 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Battles/wars American Civil War Battle of Ball's Bluff (WIA) Peninsula Campaign Battle of Antietam (WIA) Battle of Fredricksburg Battle of Chancellorsville (WIA) Battle of the Wilderness Battle of Fort Stevens

  • Professional Career

    The Common Law The Common Law has been continuously in print since 1881, and remains an important contribution to jurisprudence. The book also remains controversial, for Holmes begins by rejecting various kinds of formalism in law. In his earlier writings he had expressly denied the utilitarian view that law was a set of commands of the sovereign, rules of conduct that became legal duties. He rejected as well the views of the German idealist philosophers, whose views were then widely held, and the philosophy taught at Harvard, that the opinions of judges could be harmonized in a purely logical system. In the opening paragraphs of the book, he famously summarized his own view of the history of the common law: The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience. The felt necessities of the time, the prevalent moral and political theories, intuitions of public policy, avowed or unconscious, and even the prejudices which judges share with their fellow-men, have had a good deal more to do than syllogism in determining the rules by which men should be governed. The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.[2] In the book, Holmes set forth his view that the only source of law, properly speaking, was a judicial decision enforced by the state. Judges decided cases on the facts, and then wrote opinions afterward presenting a rationale for their decision. The true basis of the decision was often an "inarticulate major premise", however. A judge was obliged to choose between contending legal arguments, each posed in absolute terms, and the true basis of his decision was sometimes drawn from outside the law, when precedents were lacking or were evenly divided. The common law evolves because civilized society evolves, and judges share the common preconceptions of the governing class. These views endeared Holmes to the later advocates of legal realism, and made him one of the early founders of law and economics jurisprudence. The Common Law is the only major scholarly work written by a practicing attorney.[citation needed] Holmes famously contrasted his own scholarship with the abstract doctrines of Christopher Columbus Langdell, dean of Harvard Law School, who viewed the common law as a self-enclosed set of doctrines. Holmes viewed Langdell's work as akin to the German philosophic idealism he had for so long resisted, opposing it with his own scientific materialism.[18] State court judge We cannot all be Descartes or Kant, but we all want happiness. And happiness, I am sure from having known many successful men, cannot be won simply by being counsel for great corporations and having an income of fifty thousand dollars. An intellect great enough to win the prize needs other food beside success. The remoter and more general aspects of the law are those which give it universal interest. It is through them that you not only become a great master in your calling, but connect your subject with the universe and catch an echo of the infinite, a glimpse of its unfathomable process, a hint of the universal law. —Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, "The Path of the Law", 10 Harvard Law Review 457, 478 (1897) Holmes was considered for a federal court judgeship in 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, but Massachusetts Senator George Frisbie Hoar persuaded Hayes to nominate another candidate. In the fall of 1882, Holmes became a professor at Harvard Law School, accepting an endowed professorship which had been created for him, largely through the efforts of Louis D. Brandeis. On Friday December 8, 1882, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts associate justice Otis Lord decided to resign, however, giving outgoing Republican governor John Davis Long a chance to appoint his successor, if it could be done before the Massachusetts Governor's Council adjourned at 3 pm. Holmes' partner George Shattuck proposed him for the vacancy, Holmes quickly agreed, and there being no objection by the Council, took the oath of office on December 15, 1882. His resignation, after only a few weeks and without notice, was resented by the law school faculty, giving rise to persisting estrangement.[citation needed] On August 2, 1899, Holmes became Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court following the death of Walbridge A. Field. During his service on the Massachusetts court, Holmes continued to develop and apply his views of the common law, usually following precedent faithfully. He issued few constitutional opinions in these years, but carefully developed the principles of free expression as a common-law doctrine. He departed from precedent to recognize workers' right to organize trade unions and to strike, as long as no violence was involved, and coercion was not exerted through impermissible means such as secondary boycotts, stating in his opinions that fundamental fairness required that workers be allowed to combine to compete on an equal footing with employers. He continued to give speeches and to write articles that added to or extended his work on the common law, most notably "Privilege, Malice and Intent",[19] in which he presented his view of the pragmatic basis of the common-law privileges extended to speech and the press, which could be defeated by a showing of malice, or of specific intent to harm. This argument would later be incorporated into his famous opinions concerning the First Amendment. He also published an address, "The Path of the Law", in which he enlarged upon his view of the law from the perspective of a practitioner concerned for the interests of his client, who might be a bad man unconcerned with moral absolutes. Supreme Court Justice - Overview Holmes's Supreme Court nomination On August 11, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Holmes to a seat on the United States Supreme Court vacated by Justice Horace Gray, who had retired in July 1902 as a result of illness. The nomination was made on the recommendation of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the junior senator from Massachusetts, but was opposed by the senior senator and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, George Frisbie Hoar. Hoar was a strenuous opponent of imperialism, and the legality of the annexation of Puerto Rico and the Philippines was expected to come before the Court. Lodge, like Roosevelt, was a strong supporter of imperialism, which Holmes was expected to support as well. As a result of Hoar's opposition, there was a delay in the vote for confirmation, but on December 2, 1902, Roosevelt resubmitted the nomination and Holmes was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 4, receiving his commission the same day. On the bench, Holmes did vote to support the administration's position favoring the annexation of former Spanish colonies in the "Insular Cases". However, he later disappointed Roosevelt by dissenting in Northern Securities Co. v. United States, a major antitrust prosecution; the majority of the court, however, did rule against Holmes and sided with Theodore Roosevelt's belief that Northern Securities violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The dissent by Holmes permanently damaged his formerly close relationship with Theodore Roosevelt. In the year of his appointment to the United States Supreme Court Holmes was known for his pithy, short, and frequently quoted opinions. In more than twenty-nine years on the Supreme Court bench, he ruled on cases spanning the whole range of federal law. He is remembered for prescient opinions on topics as widely separated as copyright, the law of contempt, the antitrust status of professional baseball, and the oath required for citizenship. Holmes, like most of his contemporaries, viewed the Bill of Rights as codifying privileges obtained over the centuries in English and American common law, and was able to establish that view in numerous opinions of the Court. He is considered one of the greatest judges in American history, and embodies for many the traditions of the common law, which are now challenged by Originalists who insist the text of the Constitution trumps any common law precedents that depart from the original understanding of its meaning.[14] From the departure of William Howard Taft on February 3, 1930 until Charles Evans Hughes took office on February 24, 1930, Holmes briefly acted as the Chief Justice and presided over court sessions. Noteworthy rulings Otis v. Parker Beginning with his first opinion for the Court in Otis v. Parker, Holmes declared that "due process of law," the fundamental principle of fairness, protected people from unreasonable legislation but was limited only to those fundamental principles enshrined in the common law and did not protect most economic interests.

  • Personal Life & Family

    Supreme Court Justice.
  • 03/6
    1935

    Death

    March 6, 1935
    Death date
    Unknown
    Cause of death
    Washington, DC
    Death location
    ADVERTISEMENT BY

  • Gravesite & Burial

    mm/dd/yyyy
    Funeral date
    Arlington National Cemetery
    Burial location

  • Obituary

    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1902-1932 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR., was born on March 8, 1841, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1861. Holmes served for three years with the Massachusetts Twentieth Volunteers during the Civil War. He was wounded three times. In 1866 he returned to Harvard and received his law degree. The following year Holmes was admitted to the bar and joined a law firm in Boston, where he practiced for fifteen years. Holmes taught law at his alma mater, edited the American Law Review, and lectured at the Lowe Institute. In 1881, he published a series of twelve lectures on the common law, which was translated into several languages. In 1882, while working as a full professor at Harvard Law School, Holmes was appointed by the Governor to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He served on that Court for twenty years, the last three as Chief Justice. On December 4, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Holmes to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Senate confirmed the appointment four days later. Holmes served on the Supreme Court for twenty-nine years and retired on January 12, 1932. He died on March 6, 1935, two days short of his ninety-fourth birthday.
    ADVERTISEMENT BY
    Looking for more information?
  • share
    Memories
    below
Advertisement
Advertisement

8 Memories, Stories & Photos about Oliver

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A photo of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
17.8k+ favorites
12/12/2019
It is heart-beaking to me that with over 300 million people in the United States no one before me wanted to post a photograph or a memory of this great jurist.
He deserves a tribute as a Judge from me because he has been treasured by me since I was a freshman in high school. I hope you enjoy my tribute. I also loved his father's poetry.
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Cancel Share
Loading...one moment please loading spinner
- See how biographies work.
Be the 1st to share and we'll let you know when others do the same.
ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM
Advertisement

Oliver Holmes' Family Tree & Friends

Oliver Holmes' Family Tree

Parent
Parent
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Mar 8, 1841 - Mar 6, 1935
Partner
Child
Sibling
Advertisement
Advertisement
Friendships

Oliver's Friends

Friends of Oliver Friends can be as close as family. Add Oliver's family friends, and his friends from childhood through adulthood.
Advertisement
Advertisement
2 Followers & Sources

Connect with others who remember Oliver Holmes to share and discover more memories. People who have contributed to this page are listed below and in the Biography History of changes. Sign in to to view changes.

ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM
Advertisement
Other Biographies

Other Oliver Holmes Biographies

holmes, oliver (1899 - 1978) Holmes, Oliver (Born 1891) Holmes, Oliver (Born 1891) Holmes, Oliver (Jun 9, 1908 - Sep 23, 1963) Holmes, Oliver (Nov 27, 1953 - Nov 7, 1959) Holmes, Oliver (Jun 25, 1920 - Mar 16, 1996) Holmes, Oliver (Nov 19, 1950 - Sep 23, 2001) Holmes, Oliver (Jan 8, 1915 - Apr 1977) Holmes, Oliver (Aug 30, 1942 - Apr 9, 2009) Holmes, Oliver (Aug 6, 1915 - Mar 22, 2006)
Holmes, Oliver (Jul 17, 1899 - May 1978) Holmes, Oliver (Nov 28, 1883 - Jul 1966) Holmes, Oliver (May 12, 1929 - Jul 19, 2006) Holmes, Oliver (Sep 25, 1889 - Oct 1964) Holmes, Oliver (Dec 19, 1926 - Nov 12, 2007) Holmes, Oliver (Died Feb 1957) Holmes, Oliver (Sep 23, 1913 - Jul 4, 1992) Holmes, Oliver (Apr 19, 1923 - Sep 1979) Holmes, Oliver (Jun 20, 1885 - May 15, 1966) Holmes, Oliver (Aug 22, 1893 - Mar 1978)

Other Holmes Family Biographies

VanTassel, Bethel (Born Feb 19, 1909) Holmes, Martha (Born Mar 9, 1877) Holmes, Ceta (Born Apr 9, 1916) Mc Farlane, La Verna  (Born Jan 28, 1914) Kroetch, Marian (Apr 21, 1929 - Sep 5, 1995) Holmes, John (Born Jun 17, 1832) Holmes, Clarissa (Born Oct 22, 1837) Holmes, Clarissa Angella (Born Oct 22, 1837) Holmes, Alma (Born May 21, 1872) Holmes, Charles (Born 1940)
Holmes, George (Born 1910) Holmes, Oscar (Born Feb 10, 1861) Holmes, Myrtle Joyce (Born Dec 26, 1870) Holmes, Keith (Born Jan 21, 1898) Dunkin-Holmes, Carrie (Born Sep 11, 1869) Holmes, Benjamin (Born Jun 28, 1861) Holmes, Porter (Sep 2, 1894 - Sep 15, 1969) Holmes, Jefferson (Born Dec 9, 1827) Musselwhite, Hallie (Feb 20, 1933 - May 25, 1993) Holmes, Barbara (Born 1935)
Advertisement
Advertisement
Show more
  2. People
  3. Surname Directory
  4. H
  5. Holmboe - Holzhausan
  6. Holmes
  7. Olen - Ottie
  8. Oliver Holmes
  9. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Back to Top
Advertisement
Advertisement