Individual Details
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
(8 Mar 1841 - 6 Mar 1935)
Holmes attended private schools in Boston and then, like his father, Harvard. Young Holmes was not overly impressed with the Harvard of that time, finding the curriculum stultifying (Henry Adams later remarked that "Harvard taught little, and that little ill."). He exercised his literary talents as editor of the Harvard Magazine, and in numerous essays. His graduation was even in some doubt, as he had been publicly admonished by the faculty for "disrespect" towards a professor. Holmes evidently took this as an affront and left to train for the Civil War. His unit was not immediately sent to the front, and Holmes was persuaded to return and receive his degree.
After graduating from Harvard, Holmes began his Civil War service. He was wounded in battle three times and also suffered numerous illnesses. Though he was later to glorify wartime service, he declined to renew his term of service when it expired. Holmes apparently, and justifiably, felt that he had done more than his duty, and had survived one battle too many to continue tempting fate.
Holmes returned to Boston, decided to study law, and entered Harvard Law School in 1864. Though at first uncertain that law would be his profession, he soon became immersed in study and decided that the law would be his life's work. He committed himself to the law, but not necessarily to the private practice.
After passing the required oral examination, Holmes was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1867. For the next fourteen years he practiced law in Boston. But his love for legal scholarship, rather than the mundane daily practice, was evident during this period. He worked on a new edition of Kent's Commentaries, a mammoth endeavor that took some four years, and became the editor of the American law Review.
Holmes married Fanny Dixwell in 1872. They had known each other since Holmes was about ten years old, as she was the daughter of the proprietor of the private school he attended. Their marriage was to be childless, and endured until her death in 1929.
Holmes's most famous work, The Common Law, published in 1881 grew out of a series of twelve lectures he was invited to deliver, which required that he explain the fundamentals of American law. Holmes questioned the historical underpinnings of much of Anglo-American jurisprudence. The work contains Holmes's most famous quote, "The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience." Holmes had come to believe that even outdated and seemingly illogical legal doctrines survived because they found new utility. Old legal forms were adapted to new societal conditions.
Shortly after publication of The Common Law, Holmes was offered a post teaching law at Harvard. After some intense negotiation, mainly centered on money, because Holmes was not wealthy and needed the income to live, he accepted the professorship. But after teaching only one semester, he resigned to accept an appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the state's highest court. The opening had arisen at the end of the current Republican governor's term, and as he was to be succeeded by a Democrat, the appointment had to be accomplished with dispatch. Holmes's departure from Harvard caused some consternation, however, as he was one of only five full-time professors, and an endowment had been specially raised to fund his professorship.
Holmes served on the Supreme Judicial Court for twenty years, becoming chief justice. He loved the work-the legal research and the "writing up" of cases. Holmes found the work easy, at least for him. He could see immediately to the heart of an issue, and his intellectual powers were far superior to his colleagues. Holmes was never accused of modesty, especially concerning his superiority to his fellow judges. Though he was happy on the Supreme Judicial Court, he desired greater fame and challenge.
The opportunity for ultimate professional advancement came in 1902, when Holmes was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to the United States Supreme Court. His appointment might never have happened, except that the "New England seat" on the court became vacant during Roosevelt's term, and Roosevelt and Holmes were both friends with Massachusetts Senator, Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge persuaded Roosevelt that Holmes was "safe," meaning favorable towards Roosevelt's progressive policies. Roosevelt would later regret the appointment, after Holmes participated in striking down some of Roosevelt's initiatives.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. would serve on the Supreme Court longer than any other person-thirty years. He was called "The Great Dissenter" because he was often at odds with his fellow justices and was capable of eloquently expressing his dissents. Louis Brandeis often joined him in dissents, and their views often became the majority opinion in a few years' time. Holmes resigned due to ill health in 1932, at age ninety. He died in 1935 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to his wife.
Holmes's legal philosophy evolved over the sixty-odd years he wrote on the law. At first, he attempted a rational, systematic, or "scientific" conceptualization. But over time, he came to realize that the law was more of a compendium of decisions reflecting individual judges' resolutions of actual cases. Thus, the growth of the law was by experience molded to actual controversies in the society of the day.
Widely considered a "liberal" because he believed in free speech and the right of labor to organize, Holmes was very conservative in his response to injury cases. He was a champion of "judicial restraint"-deferring to the judgment of the legislature in most matters of policy.
Holmes is considered one of the giants of American law. Not just because he wrote so well, but also because he wrote so much, and for so long. A lawyer seeking a quote from Holmes is never left wanting. Even the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington, D.C. bears his writing, "Taxesare the price we pay for a civilized society."
Events
Families
Spouse | Fannie Bowditch Dixwell (1840 - 1929) |
Father | Prof. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809 - 1894) |
Mother | Amelia Lee Jackson (1818 - 1888) |
Sibling | Amelia Jackson Holmes (1843 - 1889) |
Sibling | Edward Jackson Holmes (1846 - 1884) |
Notes
Census (family)-shared
Oliver W Holmes M 50 Massachusetts - PhysicianAmelia HolmesF42Massachusetts
Oliver W HolmesM19Massachusetts - Harvard College
Amelia J HolmesF16Massachusetts
Edward J HolmesM13Massachusetts
Mary RooneyF32Massachusetts - Servant
Margeret DowdenF35Maine - Servant
Cynthia EldridgeF32Maine - Servant
Census (family)-shared
Oliver W Holmes M 60 Massachusetts - Prof. Anatomy & Phys.Amelia L Holmes F 52 Massachusetts - Keeping house
Oliver W Holmes M 29 Massachusetts - Lawyer
Amelia J Holmes F 26 Massachusetts
Mary E Quinn F 32 Ireland - Domestic servant
Mary A Keeny F 35 Massachusetts - Domestic servant
Annie Lee F 26 Ireland - Domestic servant
Census (family)
Oliver W Holmes Head M 69 Massachusetts - Justice, U.S.S.CFanny B Holmes Wife F 69 Massachusetts
Annie GoughServantF20Ireland
Mary SheaServantF29Ireland
Catherine CollinsServantF29Ireland
Josephine GainneyServantF33Ireland
Norah KingServantF39Ireland
Census
Oliver W Holmes - Justice, U.S. CourtBurial
Plot: Section 5, Lot 7004 Grid V/W-36Endnotes
1. "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZCC-NYD : 14 December 2017), Amelia Holmes in entry for Oliver W Holmes, 1860..
2. "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD3L-QYT : 12 April 2016), Amelia L Holmes in household of Oliver W Holmes, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 73, family 473, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,142..
3. "Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N437-LM6 : 7 December 2017), Oliver Wendell Holmes and Fanny Bowditch Dixwell, 17 Jun 1872; citing , Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 1,433,030..
4. "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCMD-KJW : 4 November 2017), Oliver Wendell Jr. Holmes and Fanny Bowditch Dixwell, 17 Jun 1872; citing Marriage, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 2,108,898..
5. "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH8T-9PT : 11 March 2018), Oliver W. Holmes and Fanny B. Dixwell, 17 Jun 1872; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 818,082..
6. "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24F-4R7S : 16 March 2018), Oliver W Holmes, 1889; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #, Passport Applications, 1795-1905., 332, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)..
7. "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKL8-NH1 : accessed 25 April 2018), Oliver W Holmes, Precinct 3, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 49, sheet 3A, family 73, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 150; FHL microfilm 1,374,163..
8. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMKG-HG7 : accessed 25 April 2018), Oliver W Holmes, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 82, sheet 23A, line 19, family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 294; FHL microfilm 2,340,029..
9. Find A Grave Memorial# 494.