Napa County CA Archives Biographies.....Holden, Samuel E. 1845 - 
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Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

SAMUEL E. HOLDEN, one of the most promising and enterprising of the business men
of Napa County, where he has resided for the past fifteen years, was born at
West Concord, New Hampshire, February 3, 1845. He was educated in the public
schools of that town and at the Wesleyan University, of Middletown, Connecticut,
graduating at that institution in 1869. In September, 1862, at the age of
seventeen years, Mr. Holden enlisted in the Sixteenth Regiment of New Hampshire
Volunteers, which served in the Department of the Gulf, under General N. P.
Banks, during the first Red River campaign, and also at the siege of Port
Hudson. This regiment was sent up the Atchafalaya River from the Teche country,
and took possession of Fort Burton, at the junction of the Atchafalaya with the
canal, which was the means of supply, from the Attakapas country and Texas, of
the Confederate force at Port Hudson. This cut off the Rebel supplies from the
west, while Banks invested them closely on the east. But while occupying this
position the Mississippi and its tributaries were very high, and the Rebels cut
off the levees and flooded the whole country, thus creating a malaria which
nearly annihilated the regiment. It is said that they lost as many men from
malaria contracted in those Louisiana swamps as any other New Hampshire regiment
lost in the same length of time from battles and disease combined.

  Mr. Holden is a member of Kit Carson Post, No. 74, of Napa. His father,
Benjamin F. Holden, was for many years engaged in woolen manufacture at Concord,
New Hampshire, and founder of the firm of B. F. & D. Holden, afterward
incorporated, and now doing business under the name of the Concord Manufacturing
Company. Mr. S. E. Holden still retains an interest and a directorship in this
company. In early life most of his spare time and his vacations from school were
spent in the factory, where he not only acquired a habit of industry, but also
gained a valuable acquaintance with wool and the machinery for its manufacture.

  After his graduation in 1869, Mr. Holden studied law for three years with
Minot, Tappan & Mugridge, of Concord, New Hampshire, and was admitted to the
Grafton County Bar in 1872. He formed a partnership with Hon. S. K. Mason, of
Bristol, New Hampshire. During his residence in Bristol, a charter was obtained
for the Bristol Savings Bank, and Mr. Mason was elected President, and Mr.
Holden Treasurer. This bank, without capital stock, and in a small town of 2,000
inhabitants, in the course of three years accumulated deposits to the amount of
$60,000. He held this position until he left the State. In 1869 he was married
to Miss Mary E. Taylor, daughter of J. S. Taylor, of Sanbornton, New Hampshire.
They had one child, Hattie M., who died in infancy. In 1875 the failing health
of his wife determined him to bring her to this State, but the change was too
late to be of any benefit, and she died at Napa two months after leaving her New
Hampshire home. In 1879 he was married to Miss Anna Smythe, daughter of Hon.
Robert Smythe, of Mt. Vernon, Iowa. They have three children, Robert Smythe,
Harold Emery and Philip Sawyer. They lost one daughter, Grace E., who died in
1887, at the age of four years. Mr. Holden is a member and steward of the
Methodist Episcopal Church; also a member of the Masonic order, Napa Lodge, and
of Golden Gate Commandery, Knights Templar, of San Francisco. Mr. Holden's first
business connection subsequent to his arrival in Napa was as book-keeper for,
and later as a member of, the firm of B. F. Sawyer & Co., now the Sawyer Tanning
Company, of which he is president and one of the directors. He was actively
interested in the organization and establishment of the Napa City Water Company,
and is its president. His early familiarity with the manufacture of woolen goods
doubtless explains his interest in the Napa Woolen Mill, and it fits him
especially for the presidency of that corporation; and finally, as a member of
the board of trustees of Napa College, he has acted as its president since the
death of Judge Chancellor Hartson.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


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