Oliver Hart Dockery (August 12, 1830 nearRockingham, North Carolina – March 21, 1906), son ofAlfred Dockery, was a farmer and a politician, elected as a RepublicanCongressional Representative fromNorth Carolina after the Civil War. Before the war he was elected in 1858 to one term in the State house of representatives.

Oliver H. Dockery
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's3rd district
In office July 13, 1868 – March 3, 1871
Preceded by	Warren Winslow
Succeeded by	Alfred Moore Waddell
Personal details
Born	(1830-08-12)August 12, 1830 Rockingham, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	March 21, 1906(1906-03-21) (aged 75) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Other political affiliations	Populist
Alma mater	Wake Forest College University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Oliver Hart Dockery was born in 1830 in Rockingham, North Carolina. He attended public school andWake Forest College; was graduated from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1848. He studied law, but never practiced. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and became involved in politics. He was elected as a member of theState house of representatives in 1858 and 1859.

During the American Civil War, he served for a short time in theConfederate service, but withdrew and advocated sustaining the Federal Government. Upon the readmission of North Carolina to representation, he was elected as aRepublican to the Fortieth Congress; reelected to the Forty-first Congress and served from July 13, 1868, to March 3, 1871. He was chairman, Committee on theFreedmen's Bureau (Forty-first Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress. After that he returned to agricultural pursuits. In 1875, following the increasing violence of the election campaign of 1874, when a Democratic governor was elected, he was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1875.

Dockery was an unsuccessful Republican nominee forGovernor of North Carolina in1888. He was appointed by the national Republican administration as United Statesconsul general atRio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 14, 1889, and served until July 1, 1893. After the administration changed, he resumed agricultural pursuits.

He tried to return to politics in 1896, He put his name forward to bePopulist Party candidate forLieutenant Governor of North Carolina but did not win the nomination. (That year RepublicanDaniel Lindsay Russell was elected as governor, when a Populist candidate drew off some Democratic votes.) In 1898, he contestedJohn Bellamy's election to the U.S. House of Representatives on the grounds of fraud and voter intimidation. But he was unable to overturn the election result.[1]

Dockery died inBaltimore, Maryland, March 21, 1906. He was interred in his family cemetery atMangum, North Carolina.

• 40th United States Congress
• 41st United States Congress

• Works by or about Oliver H. Dockery at theInternet Archive
• U.S. Congressional Biographical Directory entry
• OurCampaigns.com biography