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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hempstead County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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James H. Holt has been a resident of Hempstead County, Ark., since 1847, and since reaching a proper age has identified himself with the agricultural interests of this region. His birth occurred in Wilson County, Tenn., in 1843, his father, Jesse W. Holt, being also born there in 1810, but his mother, whose maiden name was Harriet C. Gregory, was born in Mecklenburg County, Va., in 1816, being taken, at the age of three years, to Wilson County, Tenn., where she met and married Mr. Holt, their union taking place in 1837. Upon their removal to Arkansas they purchased the farm on which the subject of this sketch is now living, and here Mr. Holt spent the rest of his life, dying in 1867, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church for many years. He was a school commissioner in Tennessee and Arkansas, was a member of Pleasant Valley Lodge No. 30, of the A. F. & A. M., of Nashville, was treasurer of his lodge for a number of years, and by occupation was a successful farmer. His father, who also bore the name of Jesse, was a North Carolinian, and came with his parents to Tennessee, where he married and spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in March, 1844. He was in one of the Indian wars, and took part in the battle of Horseshoe Bend. His father, Jesse Holt by name, was of Irish parentage, and died in Wilson County, Tenn., having been a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The grandfather, John Gregory, was born in Mecklenburg County, Va., was reared and married there, and when Mrs. Holt was three years of age removed to Wilson County, Tenn., where he followed the occupation of a school teacher, but was killed in 1820 by being thrown from a horse. Richard Gregory, his father, was of Scotch descent and a Virginian. Mrs. Holt’s maternal grandfather was born on the Atlantic Ocean while his parents were enroute from Dublin, Ireland, to Nova Scotia in 1786. He was married in Virginia, became a Missionary Baptist minister, and died when 250 miles from home while filling one of his appointments. His parents, Samuel and Lecran Creath, were natives of Dublin, Ireland, the former becoming a soldier in the Revolutionary War after coming to America. At the breaking out of the war he was living in Nova Scotia, but declared himself a friend to the cause of the colonists, and for this was dragged to Halifax and was imprisoned for seven years, his sole diet during this time consisting of moldy bread. After his release he was given twenty days to leave the country. He left a fine farm comprising 500 acres, and went to New York, and spent the rest of his life in the United States. While in prison his wife had to support herself and her four small children, and nobly did she perform her duties. The immediate subject of this sketch, James H. Holt, was the second of four sons and three daughters, three sons and one daughter now living, and his early days were spent on a farm and in attending the common schools near his home. In 1861 he joined Company I, Nineteenth Arkansas Infantry, State Troops, and for the first year served in Northern Arkansas and Missouri, after which he joined the Regular Confederate service, and was captured at Arkansas Post in January, 1863. He was imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Ill., for five months, after which he was taken to City Point, Va., exchanged, and then joined the Army of the Tennessee, participating in the engagements at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap, Resaca and New Hope Church, being wounded in the last-named engagement, and furloughed home, after which he served on post duty at Fulton, Ark., until the close of the war. After his return home he was married in 1866 to Margaret E., daughter of Simpson and Isabella Hutchinson, who were born and married in South Carolina. About 1857 they removed to Pike County, Ark., and here the father died in 1886, his wife having passed to her long home in 1882, he a Methodist and she a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Holt was born in South Carolina, and died in 1882, a Baptist, having borne seven sons, six of whom are living. Mr. Holt’s second marriage took place in 1884, to Mrs. Sallie E. Gamble, a daughter of William C. and Rebecca A. Goodlett, born, respectively, in South Carolina and Alabama, their marriage taking place in Ouachita County, Ark., where they also died, the mother in 1863 and the father soon after the close of the war. Mrs. Holt was born in this county, and has borne Mr. Holt three children, a son and daughter living. Since four years of age Mr. Holt has lived on his present farm, which comprises 515 acres, 200 of which are under cultivation. For thirteen years he has been a school director, and in his political views is a Democrat. He belongs to Pleasant Valley Lodge No. 30 of the A. F. & A. M., at Nashville, and he is also a member of the Farmers’ Alliance, and has been a member of the Missionary Baptist Church for over thirty years. His wife belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

 

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This family biography is one of 131 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hempstead County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Hempstead County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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