Marshall-Nemaha County KS Archives Biographies.....Holtham, William James 1848 - 1915
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 4:40 am

Author: B. F. Bowen

WILLIAM JAMES HOLTHAM.

    In the memorial annals of Marshall county there are few names held in better
remembrance than those of the late William J. Holtham, the first railway station
agent and postmaster at Frankfort and for many years a well-known merchant of
that city, and his father-in-law, the late Albert G. Barrett, one of Marshall
county's very first settlers, founder of the town of Barrett and for many years
the real outstanding figure in the history of this county, his activities in the
wray of promoting the various interests of the county in pioneer days having
made him a participant in pretty much every serious movement that marked that
development in the days when the plains were being claimed to civilization. Mr.
Holtham’s widow, a daughter of Mr. Barrett; is still living at Frankfort, which
city she has seen grow from a mere railway station on the bleak plain, to its
present substantial state. She has been a resident of Marshall county from the
days of her childhood and has thus been a witness to the wonderful development
that has been made here during the past generation; a development to which she
has contributed her part, ever helpful in the promotion of all movements having
to do with the advancement of the common welfare and the extension of the social
and cultural life of the community of which she has been a member since pioneer
days.

    William James Holtham was a native of England, born in the city of London on
September 5, 1848, and was but two years of age when his parents. William and
Caroline Rosamond Holtham, came to America and proceeded on out to Indiana,
locating at Evanston, in Spencer county, in the southern part of that state, not
far from the Ohio river, whence they presently came farther West and located at
Atchison, this state, where the elder William Holtham, who was a trained
brickmason, became an active building-contractor. It was thus that William J.
Holtham was reared and educated at Atchison. He early became attracted to the
telegraph key and became an expert telegraph operator, at seventeen years of age
drawing one hundred and seventy-five dollars a month, and was one of the first
of the operators of the Western Union Telegraph Company to be sent across the
plains to Denver. During that period of his career as an operator, Mr. Holtham
had many thrilling experiences and while accompanying the construction crew of
the Western Union while the line was being constructed west to Denver, not
infrequently was compelled to tap the line to report evidences of Indian
outrages discovered along the way. He was a sort of a protege of Charles
Stebbins, the magnate of the Western Union Company at that time, and when the
railway came through this county in 1868 he was made agent of the railway
company and telegraph operator at the new station of Frankfort. At the same time
he opened a general merchandise store at Frankfort, with the firm name of
Holtham & Nelson, and was made the first postmaster of the new town. In 1870 his
store was destroyed by fire and he shortly afterward decided to go to the coast.
He was married in that year and for a time after the destruction of his store he
engaged in farming in the vicinity of Frankfort, but presently he and his bride
went to California, where he was engaged in railway service until 1882, in which
year he returned to Frankfort and the next year, 1883, engaged in business there
and was thus engaged until his retirement on account of ill health, from active
business in 1914, a successful merchant and one of the ablest factors in the
upbuilding of his home town. Mr. Holtham was a Republican and ever took an
active interest in local politics, but was not included in the office-seeking
class. He was a member of the Episcopalian church and his widow is a member of
the Presbyterian church. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and was also
a member of the local lodges of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of the
Knights and Ladies of Security and of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Holtham died
on October 28, 1915, and was buried at Frankfort, his funeral being in charge of
the Masons.

    On January 1, 1870, William J. Holtham was united in marriage to Winifred
Barrett, who was born in Harrison county, Ohio, July 24, 1850, daughter of
Albert G. and Mary (McKeever) Barrett, the former of whom was born on July 17,
1816, and the latter,. June 14, 1821, and whose last days were spent in this
county, for many years among the most prominent and influential pioneers of this
section of Kansas. Albert G. Barrett was of Quaker stock and was reared in Ohio
in accordance with the rigid tenets of that faith, the uprightness of his life
during the years of his residence in this county ever reflecting the lessons of
rectitude and faithfulness in man's relation to man he had learned in his youth.
He was married at Cadiz, Ohio, in 1843, and continued to make his home in that
community until 1856, when he came with his family and a number of other
colonists from Ohio to Kansas and settled in what afterward became organized as
Marshall county. Two years before, in 1854, Mr. Barrett had come out here in
company with some others and had started a grist- and saw-mill on the banks of
the Vermillion in the southwestern part of township 4, range 9, east, the first
mill erected in this county and the only one within forty miles of that point:
beginning business there as a company, under the name of the Barrett Milling
Company. -The other members of the company presently became discouraged at what
appeared to be the barrenness of the outlook and Mr. Barrett bought their
interests in the mill, determined to operate the mill alone, having become
convinced that it could not be long until this section of Kansas would be
filling up with settlers. He then returned to Ohio and in 1856 brought out his
family and quite a number of others whom he had been able to interest in the
subject of homes out here on the plains, and it was thus that he founded the
town of Barrett, where he spent the rest of his life.

    There were ten families in the Barrett colony, all Abolitionists and
anti-slavery folk, and during the troublous days preceding and during the Civil
War, Mr. Barrett, who was the acknowledged leader of the anti-slavery movement
in this part of the state, often was in serious danger. He was elected a member
of the territorial Legislature and for many years was an influential factor in
Republican politics in this part of the state, one of the earnest factors in the
movement which started Kansas out as a free state in 1861. When the Civil War
broke out he was determined to, enlist his services and go to the front, but his
friends persuaded him that his duty lay at home, where his personal influence
ever could be exerted in behalf of the things for which he so notably stood, and
he contented himself to remain, a member of the Home Guards. He later took an
active part in the work of organizing Marshall county and served for two terms
as treasurer of the county. In 1859 Mr. Barrett built the first hotel at
Marysville, the old American House, and later erected there the Barrett House,
long one of the leading hostelries in northern Kansas. He organized the first
school in Marshall county, the school in old district i at Barrett, and built
the first school housej ever afterward giving much attention-to-the development
of the public-school system in the county. Upon coming out here Mr. Barrett
entered a section of land at the point where the town which bears his name grew
up, and ever afterward made his home there. The house which he erected there was
the first really substantial house erected in Marshall county. It was built of
oak, finished with walnut, and was for years a social center for all that
section of the county. That old house is still standing, a beautiful place, and
is now occupied by one of Mr. Barrett's daughters, Mrs. Van Vliet. Mr. Barrett
was a member of the Masonic fraternity and the first lodge of that ancient order
in Marshall county was organized in that house. During the early days the town
of Barrett was the center of pioneer activities throughout this part of the
country and Mr. Barrett's part in those activities was a most wholesome
influence in the formative period of the now well-established and populous
community. In connection with his general mill work, he also was a skilled
cabinet-maker and for some years after coming here made all the coffins that
were necessary in this part of the country. He invested largely in lands and was
the owner of several valuable farms, giving to each of his children large farms.
Mr. Barrett made considerable money and was a generous contributor to all proper
causes hereabout for many years, ever willing to share his bounty in a good
cause. He had a sister, Mrs. Winifred Walker, and five brothers, Thomas,
William, Uriah, John and Joseph, who joined him after he had become well
established in business out here and the Barrett family thus became early one of
the most numerous in Marshall county. Albert G. Barrett died at his home in
Barrett in April, 1900, a little more than a year after the death of his wife,
the death of the latter having occurred on January 20, 1899. They were the
parents of five children, of whom Mrs. Holtham was the third in order of birth,
the others being as follow: Mrs. Jane Love, who is now Irving at Taft,
California; William, of Hubbell, Nebraska: Cyrus M., who died at his home in
Barrett, where his widow and family are still living, and Mrs. George Van Vliet,
of Barrett.

    Mrs. Holtham has been a resident of this county since the days of her
childhood, having been but six years of age when her parents established their
home here. She grew up at Barrett and was a student of the first school taught
there by Doctor Blackburn, who was the first physician in Marshall county. For
some years after her marriage to Mr. Holtman she lived in California, but since
returning to Frankfort in 1882 has continued to make that place her home and is
very comfortably situated there. Mrs. Holtham is a member of the Presbyterian
church and has ever taken a warm interest in church work. • She is a member of
the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and is one of the charter
members of the local organization of the Woman's Relief Corps, in the affairs of
both of which organizations she takes an active interest. To Mr. and Mrs.
Holtham one child was born, a son, Charles Albert, who died in California. They
later adopted two children, Samuel, who died at the age of twenty years, and
Jennie Barrett, who married R. M. Emery, Jr., of Seneca, Kansas.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)

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