Wealth.

Peter Oliver was born in Boston on 26 March 1713, the second son of Daniel and Elizabeth Oliver, a prominent Boston couple. He graduated from Harvard College in 1730, married Mary Clark in 1733, and had six children. Oliver and his brother Andrew operated a Boston importing business for several years though his interests were not in trade but in science and literature. In 1744 Oliver bought an iron works in Middleborough, a small town about thirty miles from Boston. The mill made cast-iron household products and cannonballs. It proved so successful that Oliver was able to build Oliver Hall, one of New England's finest mansions, with woodwork and artwork imported from England, and elaborate gardens.

Judge and Councilman.

Even though Oliver had no legal education, in 1744 he was appointed a justice of the peace. In 1747 he was named to the court of common pleas, where...