Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Von Holt, Harry M. September 15, 1863 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr jessicanorr@gmail.com January 10, 2012, 6:28 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd. Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

HARRY M. VON HOLT, Business Director. An officer and director of many of the 
largest corporations in Hawaii, and with extensive personal business 
interests, H. M. von Holt since his early youth has been keenly and actively 
interested in the commercial and industrial development of the islands.
  Born in Honolulu, Sept. 15, 1863, at a time when the old customs and modes 
of life had changed but little, Mr. von Holt became well acquainted with the 
Hawaiian race and today speaks the language fluently. His affection for the 
Hawaiian people, and his interest in their welfare, have influenced him to 
make it possible for many Hawaiian boys and girls to obtain educations, a 
personal philanthropy never before made public.
  Mr. von Holt’s family is one of the oldest in Hawaii in point of residence. 
His father, Hermann J. F. von Holt, came to the islands from Germany in 1851, 
and his mother, Alice (Brown) von Holt, a daughter of the late Thomas Brown, 
was brought to Hawaii from England in 1844, when she was but four years of age.
  Mr. von Holt received his elementary schooling at St. Alban’s college and 
the Royal School in Honolulu, and went to Portland, Ore., in 1876, where he 
entered the Bishop Scott Academy, now Hill’s Academy, remaining for four years.
  Returning to Hawaii in 1880, he engaged in the real estate and insurance 
business in the same office he now occupies at 97 Merchant St., at that time 
devoted to the enterprises of James Campbell, famous kamaaina, and still the 
office of the Estate of James Campbell.
  When Mr. von Holt married Ida E. Knudsen in Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 8, 1890, 
two of the oldest families of Hawaii were united. Mrs. von Holt is the 
daughter of Valdemar and Annie (Sinclair) Knudsen, notable pioneer residents 
of Kauai.
  Upon his return to Hawaii from a tour of the world, Mr. von Holt took a 
position with the newly organized Oahu Railway & Land Co. He became 
superintendent of the ranch department in 1889, a director in March, 1891, and 
has been vice-president of the corporation for about twenty years past.
  In recognition of a quarter of a century’s service as consul in Hawaii for 
The Netherlands, Mr. von Holt was created Chevalier of the Order of the Cross 
of Orange-Nassau in 1921 by Queen Wilhelmina.
  Closely associated with the provisional government of Hawaii, in the 
revolutionary period, Mr. von Holt was chairman of the central committee of 
the Reform Party and a member of the old Honolulu Rifles and the Citizens’ 
Guard. After Hawaii was annexed by the United States, Mr. von Holt was active 
in the Republican party for many years. He has served as a member of the Board 
of Agriculture and Forestry and the Board of Education.
  In addition to his other business interests Mr. von Holt is vice-president 
of the First National Bank, Hamakua Mill Co., Kauai Railway Co., and Hawaiian 
Pineapple Co.; second vice-president of the Kekaha Sugar Co.; director of the 
Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., the Hawaiian Electric Co., and McBryde 
Sugar Co.; president of August Dreier, Ltd., and trustee of the Charles 
Notley, James Campbell, J. C. Cluney and Godfrey Rhodes Estates, and the 
August Dreier and Emma Dreier Trust Estates.
  For years Mr. von Holt has been active in the Episcopal church and St. 
Andrew’s Cathedral. He is now a member of the council of advice and was 
formerly vestryman.
  Mr. and Mrs. von Holt are the parents of five children, Mary Elizabeth, now 
Mrs. Robert E. White; Herman Valdemar, Hilda Karen, Ronald Kamehameha and 
Katharine Annie, now Mrs. Henry B. Caldwell of Wahiawa.
  Ronald von Holt, now assistant superintendent of the ranch department of the 
Oahu Railway & Land Co., was the last child born under the Hawaiian flag. His 
birth date is Aug. 11, 1898, the day before the Islands were formally annexed 
by the United States. Mr. von Holt’s grandchildren, a son and daughter of Mrs. 
White’s and a son of Mrs. Caldwell’s are of the fourth generation of von Holts 
in Hawaii.
  Mr. von Holt is a member of the Pacific, Oahu Country, Commercial and 
Outrigger Canoe Clubs and the Chamber of Commerce.


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