Oliver Whitehead Catchings
Submitted by Lori Thornton

Catchings, Oliver Whitehead,  junior member of the well known and prominent law firm of Catchings & Catchings, of Vicksburg, was born in Raymond, Hinds county, Miss., Sept. 20, 1872, and is a son of Thomas C. and Florence O. (Shearer) Catchings, both of whom were likewise born in Hinds county.  The father is one of the representative members of the bar of Mississippi and is senior member of the firm of Catchings & Catchings.  An individual sketch of his career appears in the present connection.  Oliver W. Catchings received most liberal educational advantages, having been graduated from the law department of the famous old University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, as a member of the class of 1893.  He was for five years engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Washington, D. C., his father having been a member of congress at the time, and since then the two have been associated in a representative practice in Vicksburg, being one of the leading law firms of the State.  In 1905, the subject of this review was appointed judge of the Ninth judicial district of the State, comprising Claiborne, Issaquena, Sharkey and Warren counties, and his service on the bench has been marked by wisdom, discrimination and by manifestation of broad and comprehensive knowledge of law and precedent, his rulings being invariably fair and impartial.  On April 28, 1897, Judge Catchings was united in marriage to Miss Grayson Wendling, daughter of George R. and Josephine E. (Stephenson) Wendling, of West Virginia, and they have one daughter, Josephine Elizabeth.

Source: Rowland, Dunbar, ed. Mississippi, Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, in three volumes. Vol. 3. [Contemporary Biography] Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing Association, 1907. pages 131-32
 

 

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