William M. Olin
American politician (1845-1911)
William Milo Olin (September 18, 1845 – April 15, 1911) was an American journalist and politician who served as the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Olin was born in Warrenton, Georgia to parents from Massachusetts, and in 1850 his family moved back to Massachusetts, where he attended school in Worcester and Grafton. Enlisting in the 36th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1862 during the American Civil War, he eventually rose through the ranks to lieutenant colonel, assistant adjutant general, and Adjutant General. After the American Civil Was Olin went to work for The Boston Advertiser. In the fourteen years Olin worked for the Advertiser he was, in succession, a reporter, editor and Washington, D.C. correspondent of that newspaper. He was later a private secretary to Massachusetts Governors Thomas Talbot and John Davis Long and U.S. Senator Henry L. Dawes. A Republican, he served as Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1892 until he died in Boston on April 15, 1911. At the time of his death, he was chief of staff of the National Grand Army of the Republic.
The public source identifies “William M. Olin” as american politician (1845-1911). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Olin and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8014920. VIAF identifies the subject as 21624114. The Library of Congress control number is n2008163491. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1845, 1911, 1850 and 1862.
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This entry incorporates text from “William M. Olin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.