Editing Oliver Hardy (section)

==Early life and education==
Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy on January 18, 1892,<ref>{{cite book|last=Everson|first=William K.|title=The Films of Laurel and Hardy|location=New York|publisher=Citadel Press|date=1967|isbn=9780806501468|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PK9ZsmT9B5IC|page=11}}</ref> in [[Harlem, Georgia]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Canby|first=Vincent|date=1990-06-16|title=Critics Notebook; Laurel With and Without Hardy|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/16/movies/critics-notebook-laurel-with-and-without-hardy.html|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=2021-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814223534/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/16/movies/critics-notebook-laurel-with-and-without-hardy.html|archive-date=August 14, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His father, Oliver, was a [[Confederate States Army]] veteran of the [[American Civil War]] who had been wounded at the [[Battle of Antietam]] on September 17, 1862, and was a recruiting officer for Company K, 16th Georgia Regiment. The elder Oliver Hardy assisted his father in running the remnants of the family's cotton plantation. He then bought a share in a retail business and was elected full-time Tax Collector for [[Columbia County, Georgia]]. Hardy's mother, Emily Norvell, was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell, who was descended from [[Hugh Norvell]] of [[Williamsburg, Virginia]], and Mary Freeman. The elder Hardy and Norvell married March 12, 1890; it was her second marriage and his third.

The family moved to [[Madison, Georgia]], in 1891, the year before Norvell's birth.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last1=Wilson III|first1=Robert J.|date=2003|title=Oliver Hardy in Georgia, 1903-1913|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40584685|url-status=live|journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly|volume=87|issue=3/4|pages=359–388|jstor=40584685|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929151327/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40584685|archive-date=September 29, 2021|access-date=February 19, 2018}}</ref> He was likely born in Harlem, though some sources say that his birth occurred in [[Covington, Georgia]], his mother's hometown. His father died less than a year after his birth. Hardy was the youngest of five children. His older brother Sam drowned in the [[Oconee River]]; Hardy pulled him from the river but was unable to resuscitate him.<ref>"This is Your Life", Episode December 1, 1954.</ref>
[[File:Oliver Hardy Historical Marker Milledgeville, Ga.jpg|thumb|Historical marker in Milledgeville, Georgia, that tells the story of Hardy's time in that town]]
As a child, Hardy was sometimes difficult. In the fifth grade he was sent to [[Georgia Military College]] in [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]]. In 1905, when he was 13, he was sent to [[Young Harris College]] in north Georgia for the fall semester which he completed successfully in January 1906, however he was in the junior high component of that institution what is today known as an academy. At that time there were no two-year junior colleges. He had little interest in formal education, although he acquired an early interest in music and theater. He joined a theatrical group and later ran away from a boarding school near Atlanta to sing with the group.  His mother recognized his talent for singing and sent him to Atlanta to study music and voice with singing teacher [[Adolf Dahm-Petersen]]. He skipped some of his lessons to sing in the Alcazar Theater for $3.50 a week. In 1912, he signed up for a course or two at University of Georgia as a law major for fall semester just to play football. He never missed a game.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

As a teenager, Hardy began styling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy", adding the first name "Oliver" as a tribute to his father. He appeared as "Oliver N. Hardy" in the [[1910 United States census|1910 U.S. census]],{{#tag:ref|He was recorded as "Oliver M. Hardy" (not "N"), an "electrician" at an "electric theater". He was mistakenly listed as the "son" of Roy J. Baisden in his census listing.|group=N}} and he used "Oliver" as his first name in all subsequent legal records, marriage announcements, etc. Hardy was initiated into [[Freemasonry]] at Solomon Lodge No. 20 in [[Jacksonville, Florida]] which helped him with room and board when he was starting out in show business. He was inducted into the [[Grand Order of Water Rats]] along with Stan Laurel.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.gowr.co.uk/roll-of-honour/|title=Roll of Honour|access-date=April 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418162039/http://www.gowr.co.uk/roll-of-honour/|archive-date=April 18, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>