William Allan OLDFIELD, Congress, AR (1874-1928)

OLDFIELD, William Allan, (husband of Pearl Peden Oldfield), a Representative from Arkansas; born in Franklin, Izard County, Ark., February 4, 1874; attended the public schools and was graduated from Arkansas College at Batesville in 1896; taught school; enlisted in 1898 as a private in Company M, Second Regiment, Arkansas Infantry, during the war with Spain; was promoted to first sergeant of the same company and later to first lieutenant, and was mustered out with that rank in March 1899; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1900 and commenced practice in Batesville, Ark.; prosecuting attorney of Independence County 1902-1906; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1906 to the Sixtieth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-first and to the nine succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1909, until his death; chairman, Committee on Patents (Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses); minority whip (Sixty-seventh through Seventieth Congress); had been reelected to the Seventy-first Congress; died in Washington, D.C., November 19, 1928; interment in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Batesville, Ark.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present