William James Oliphant

Pvt. William J. Oliphant, Co. G, 6th Texas Infantry Regiment.

William J. Oliphant (1845–1930) was an American Confederate States Army veteran and photographer from Austin, Texas. He published the first photographs of buffalo hunts in North America.

Early life William James Oliphant was born on September 30, 1845, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. His father, William S. Oliphant (1813–1890), was a jeweler.

He studied photography under Alexander Gardner (1845–1930) and Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840–1882) in Washington, D.C. Indeed, together with Hamilton B. Hillyer (1835–1903), he was one of the earliest photographers in Austin to have a studio in the city. Additionally, he published photographs taken by other photographers.

From the 1880s to the 1920s, Oliphant worked for the government. He worked for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts from 1881 to 1886, the Internal Revenue Service from 1887 to 1890, and for the Travis County Tax Assessor's Office from 1905 to 1927. The Oliphant-Walker House in Austin, Texas, where William J. Oliphant resided.

Personal life Oliphant resided at the Oliphant-Walker House in Hyde Park, a suburb of Austin. He married twice. His first wife was Lizzie J. Walker (1848–1873). After she died in 1873, he married Alice Olive Townsend (1852–1908) in 1877. They had four children. One of his daughters married Walter Prescott Webb, a Texas historian.

James Oliphant, a journalist with Reuters News in Washington, is William J. Oliphant's direct descendant.

Death and legacy Oliphant died on November 11, 1930, in Austin, Texas. He was buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas.

The William J. Oliphant chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Austin, Texas is named in his honor.