Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Holden, Newton P M D 1820 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 6, 2007, 3:06 pm Author: Portrait & Bios Album, 1890 NEWTON P. HOLDEN, M.D. This well-bred and well-informed gentleman was a successful practitioner of the profession of medicine for many years, but is now living a retired life at Frankfort Station. He has accumulated a fortune, and is enjoying merited repose after a life spent in activity and usefulness. His portrait, presented on the opposite page, represents one of the oldest settlers in the township, the wealthiest man therein, and also one of the oldest practicing physicians of the county. Having always led an active life, he is not content to idle away his time, but occupies himself in looking after his financial interests, and in traveling. He loans money, and now has over twenty farm mortgages in different States, and he likewise has real estate which he rents. Dr. Holden is of New England birth and ancestry, and of English extraction. His father, Phineas H. Holden, was born in Middlesex County, Mass., and was Captain of a canal boat on the Middlesex Canal. He shipped the brick which was used in the construction of the first factory built in Lowell. Being the son of a New England farmer, he had a good knowledge of agricultural pursuits, to which he finally turned his attention. He owned eighty acres of land in New Hampshire, but in 1836 removed to Northern Illinois, settling in Will County, in what was then called New Lenox Precinct, but is now Frankfort Township. He entered a tract of Government land, and although poor when he came here, ere long became the owner of a fine farm. In his political views, he was first a Whig and then a Republican, and his religious belief coincided with that of the Universalist Church. He breathed his last at his home in 1872. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Betsey Parker. She was born in Westfield, Mass., and was the daughter of Levi Parker, a blacksmith and a Revolutionary soldier. He was First Lieutenant in a Massachusetts regiment, participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was present at the hanging of Maj. Andre. His daughter, Mrs. Holden, was reared in the Bay State under the care of parents who were devoted members of the Baptist Church. She, like her husband, died in the Prairie State at the home of their son, our subject. The parental household comprised nine children, of whom our subject is the second in order of birth. The others are: Elizabeth, now Mrs. Wilson, of Ft. Madison, Iowa; Emeline, wife of Dr. Freer, who died in Chicago; Sarah, deceased; Mrs. Jane Brown, of Chicago; David L.,of Matteson; Charles C. P., in Chicago; George M., of Ft. Madison, Iowa; and Levi P., of Hampton, Iowa. The latter enlisted in the Twentieth Illinois Infantry, in April, 1861, and after serving three months was discharged only to re-enter the army as Major of the Eighty-eighth Infantry, known as the Second Board of Trade Regiment. Although he had horses shot under him on more than one occasion, he escaped any personal injury. David L. also served his country, being a member of the Fifty-third Illinois Infantry, from 1863 until the close of the war, and having the rank of Commissary Sergeant. Dr. Holden, the subject of this notice, was born in Grafton County, N. H., June 20, 1820, and was reared upon a farm, in the work of which he participated from his tenth year. He received a good education under the privileges afforded by the subscription schools. In 1831 the family removed to Hartford, Vt., where they remained some five years, and then, in the spring of 1836, accomplished their journey to what was then the Far West. Our subject was in his sixteenth year when the removal took place, and the scenes and incidents of the journey are well remembered by him. A canal boat was their first conveyance, and upon it they journeyed from Whitehall to Buffalo. There they embarked on a steamer for Ft. Dearborn, now Chicago, while ox-teams conveyed them from that trading post to their new home in Will County. Young Holden assisted his father in the improvement of the farm, and when seventeen years old became a mail carrier, his route being from Joliet to LaPorte, Ind., through Crete, Crown Point and Valparaiso. He made the trip once a week, traveling on horseback and being obliged to swim the rivers, often losing his way on account of the bad roads, which delayed him until nightfall, when he found it impossible to keep his route in the darkness. In 1840 he was sent to Chicago to pay a debt which his father owed to a man in that place, and there he remained a year, working as clerk in an hotel. Chicago was then but a small town, which gave little promise of its present large population, grandeur of improvements and great commercial importance. Dr. Holden says that he feels old when he recalls the Chicago which he first knew, and thinks of the great changes which have taken place. Returning to his father's home in the fall, Dr. Holden began teaching before he had reached his majority, his first school being in New Lenox. He continued his pedagogical labors in Frankfort Township during the summer and winter terms, the scene of his labors being a log schoolhouse with slab benches and the other primitive appointments of which we have heard so much. Deer roamed over the prairies adjacent, and Indians were camped at Wilton not far distant. In 1841 Dr. Holden spent one term in studying in the Chicago Academy and two terms at Joliet. During the summer he read Latin with Father DuPondaris, and in the fall he again turned his attention to teaching. He taught in Plainfield in 1842-43, after which he gave up that profession to study one on which his heart had long been set. He went to Bristol, now Yorkville, Kendall County, and began the study of medicine under Dr. Wheeler, with whom he read three years. When Rush Medical College in Chicago was opened he entered that institution, being one of the students who were present during the first course of study. After three years of application he was graduated, in February, 1846, immediately after which he entered into partnership with his former instructor, Dr. Wheeler, at Bristol. The connection proved agreeable, and Dr. Holden was succeeding well in his labors, when his comfort was so interfered with by the ague—Bristol being situated on the Fox River and subject to malarial influences—that in 1850 the partnership was dissolved. The discovery of gold on the coast having aroused his desire to see something of life in that far country, the young doctor started across the plains with five horses and two wagons. He crossed the Missouri River at Nebraska City, April 2, and followed the Platte River westward, reaching Placerville, Cal., July 2, his outfit being a part of the first train over the plains. He engaged in mining and prospecting during the winter, and selling his outfit in December, 1851, went to San Francisco, and returned to the Prairie State via the Isthmus of Panama, New Orleans and St. Louis, taking the stage from the latter point to Springfield, Ill., and locating again in Bristol. The ague fastened its clutches upon the Doctor once more, and he made a second journey to California with a similar outfit as that of his first journey, having a splendid time en route. The spring of 1852 was the date of his second overland journey, and he remained in the West some time, practicing his profession on the Yuba River, and the succeeding summer in the Napa Valley. He returned again to the States in the fall of 1853 by steamer, and then settled in Mokena. He was the first physician there, and prior to the opening of his office there had been none nearer than Joliet. He soon had a fine practice, and although the next year he went to his father's farm to take care of his parents, he continued his professional labors, riding all over the country. The chief means of travel was on horseback, and with physicians this was especially common, as the roads were not the best, and they could get along much better in this way than with vehicles. Not only did Dr. Holden have an extensive practice in several townships, but he also carried on the farm, and made it successful in a financial way. He kept about five hundred head of sheep, and from time to time purchased additional land until his possessions amounted to over five hundred acres. He applied himself thoroughly to whatever he undertook, and being always busy, accomplished a vast amount of professional and agricultural labor. In 1873 he removed to Chicago, where he spent the greater part of his time until January, 1878. In December, 1875, he was appointed County Physician of Cook County, and held the office two years, during which time he had plenty to do and had no assistant. When he left Chicago he returned to the farm with the intention of retiring from his profession, but for some time he was not able to do so, as he was continually called upon for his services. He managed the farm until 1881, when he sold it, and removing to town, finally gave up his active pursuits. He owns some three hundred acres of land between the Michigan Central Cut-off and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroads, which forms a large pasture, well watered by Hickory Creek, and rented to advantage. He is also the possessor of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Hardin County, Iowa, near Iowa Falls. The wife of Dr. Holden is a finely educated and cultured lady, who in her maidenhood was engaged in teaching, doing honor to the profession to which she devoted herself. She bore the maiden name of Caroline Parrish, and was born in Honeoye Falls. N. Y., January 17, 1826. When ten years of age she accompanied her mother and stepfather to the Prairie State, coming all the way in a buggy. She distinctly remembers the incidents of the journey, and vividly recollects seeing parties with heavy loads get stuck in the mud. Upon reaching Chicago they stopped at the Tremont House, which was at that time the best hotel in the city. Miss Parrish attended a young ladies' select school at Aurora, and after completing her studies taught until her marriage, which was celebrated in Bristol, Kendall County, June 30, 1847. Doctor and Mrs. Holden are the parents of four children, only one of whom is yet spared to them. The only daughter, Sarah, possessed musical talent of a high order, and was sent to the Conservatory of Music at Boston, to perfect herself in the art to which she was inclined. She studied there two years, but died soon after her return home. The second child, Wright, was graduated at the High School in Englewood, and studied law with Judge Dickey. He was admitted to the bar at Ottawa, and became a practicing attorney in Chicago. While on his way to New Mexico he was taken alarmingly ill in Newton, Kan., and there passed away. Milton, the second son, is a broker in Michigan, and deals in railroad stocks and grain. Franklin was graduated at Rush Medical College in Chicago, with the class of '86, he receiving the highest standing of any of the class. He was appointed House Surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, but the confinement which his many duties occasioned affected his health, and six months after he assumed the position he was stricken with fever which developed into consumption and caused his decease. He went to Pueblo, Colo., hoping to be restored to health, but it was too late, and his parents and friends were compelled to bow to the severe affliction occasioned by his loss. Dr. Holden has served as Highway Commissioner one year, as Township Clerk an equal length of time, and as School Director ten years. His political adherence is given to the principles and candidates of the Democratic party. As would be expected of a man of his mental attainments and earnestness of character, he has ever manifested a deep interest in all that tends to develop the material prosperity and add to the mental and moral growth of the community of which he is a member. Mrs. Holden has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since she was sixteen years old. The parents of Mrs. Holden were Loomis C. and Sarah (Dodge) Parrish. Her paternal grandfather, Abraham Parrish, a native of Massachusetts, was a Captain in the War of 1812, and became an early settler of Monroe County, N. Y., where he bought a tract of the Holland Purchase near Lima. He reared thirteen children, most of whom settled in Michigan. Two of his brothers were taken prisoners by the Indians, and kept in captivity some years, during which time they became familiar with the Indian language. They acted as interpreters at the time of the Purchase, receiving for their services a large tract of land. Loomis Parrish was reared in the Empire State, learned the trade of a tanner and currier, and became partner in a large tannery at Honeoye Falls, where he died about 1836. Asahel Dodge and his daughter Sarah, afterward Mrs. Parrish, were natives of Connecticut, whence they removed to Monroe County, N. Y., during the maidenhood of the daughter. After the death of her first husband she married S. B. Craw, who removed to Illinois in 1835, occupying a large farm on the Fox River, where he erected the first barn in the vicinity. In 1850 he went to California, dying of cholera on his homeward way. The widow subsequently removed to Quincy, and married a Mr. Bradford. In that city she died in 1885, at the age of seventy- seven years. Mrs. Holden is the only child of the first union, and the second resulted in the birth of two children—Clare E., now Mrs. Wheeler of Quincy, and Wilbur F. Craw, who belonged to the Western Army Corps in the late war, and died from dropsy. Additional Comments: Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/holden1369nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 14.4 Kb