William M. Olin

William M. Olin (1845 - April 15, 1911) was a Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. He 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.cite news|title=Col. William M. Olin Dead|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902E4DD1031E233A25755C1A9629C946096D6CF|publisher=New York Times|date=April 16, 1911] Enlisting in the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry in 1862 during the American Civil War, he eventually rose through the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel, Assistant Adjutant General, and Adjutant General. In the 1870s he was employed by Washington and Boston newspapers. He was later a private secretary to Massachusetts Governors Thomas Talbot and John Davis Long and U.S. Senator Henry L. Dawes. A Republican, [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D0DE4D91531E033A25754C0A9669D94659ED7CF|title=Forgot to Denounce the A.P.A.|publisher=New York Times|date=October 7, 1894] 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.

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