My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM HOLLAND, whose portrait appears elsewhere in this volume, and who has lived in this county since 1831, was born in 1819, in Robertson county, Tenn., and is a son of Daniel Holland, an old-fashioned gentleman, of great personal popularity, who settled in this county in 1831, and who died in 1852. The mother of William Holland, whose name was Rebecca Skinner, was a native of Robertson County, as was also her husband. She died in Calloway County, Ky., two years subsequently to the death of her husband. They had a family of twelve children, of whom William is the eldest, and of whom but seven are now living: William, Jesse, Andrew J., Elizabeth (Boaze), B. C. Holland, Lydia (Bowman), Temperance (Mahan). Referring to the early education of our subject, we have but to present a mental picture of the primitive log schoolhouse, with stick chimney, clapboard roof and door, puncheon floor and seats and writing-desk of same material; the latter placed beneath an improvised window, made by removing a section of one log, over which opening was often placed a greased paper, in lieu of glass, and we then have a view of the “temple of learning” common to his boyhood, and the benefits of which were shared by very many of the old settlers now living. Though hedged about in his early youth with many disadvantages common to pioneer life, our subject developed a fondness for reading, which, combined with his native business energy, has made him conspicuous among his fellows, and the impress of his influence has long been felt in the moulding of character, and the advancement of the common good in the community in which he has lived so long. As a citizen, as a magistrate, as a conservator of the interests of widow and orphan, and in the administration of his own private business, Mr. Holland has proven himself an efficient and an honest man. He has been twice married; first in 1841 to Miss Martha J. Miller, who was born in 1821, and died in 1882. As a result of this union, seven children are living, viz.: George M., Mary A. (Roberts), John G., Robert B., Layfayette W., Stanford S., and Rebecca E., wife of S. S. Nix. The second marriage occurred, in 1883, to his present wife, Martha Martin.