Osceola County MI Archives Biographies.....Holden, Charles H. April 18, 1832 - 
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Jan Cortez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00020.html#0004939 January 21, 2008, 9:09 pm

Author: Chapman Brothers, Chicago

Charles H. Holden, of Reed City, Mich., the subject of this sketch, was born 
April 18, 1832, at Groton, Grafton Co., 

N.H.  His father, Josiah Rhodes Holden, was born in Groton, Feb. 22, 1797, and 
was married to Johanna Reed Danforth, 

Jan. 24, 1824.  She was born in Londonderry, H.H., March 10, 1800.  Of their 
six children but three survive:  Hon. 

E.G.D. Holden, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Mrs. Fannie L. Fowler, wife of a 
prominent lawyer and capitalist at Manistee, 

Mich.; and C.H. of this sketch.  When the latter was an infant of two months 
his parents matured a long considered plan 

of removing West, and set out for Illinois.  Reaching Buffalo, they took 
passage for Cleveland, having learned of the 

disturbed condition of the country in that then undeveloped and remote 
section, where fabled resources awoke the 

smoldering fires of dormant ambitions, and lured the footsteps of the young 
and ardent towards its goal of promise.  The 

difficulties with the Sacs and Foxes culminated in the conflict known as 
the "Black Hawk War."  The rumors which found 

their way easterly, at first vague and filled with an undefined terror, 
gradually assumed the tangibility of fact, and 

the tide of immigration sayed its waves in the nearer and more peaceful 
commonwealth of the Buckeye State.  The summer 

sped on and various complications detained those who had paused to await the 
end of the Indian trouble, amd when the 

region of the Northwest was again free from the turmoil of strife it was to 
late to press on to the original 

destination.

The approach of autumn portended winter which with its associations bore 
little of encouragement to navigators to 

untried regions, and many families clung to the ties which, though so recently 
formed, borrowd from circumstances an 

added strength, and settled to await the advent of another spring.  Josiah R. 
Holden was among the heads of families who 

had gained a foothold, but born of a sorrow which to hi seemed irreparable.  
In one short week the grim messenger, 

death, invaded that happy family and took to its icy embrace two boys, one-
half of his family group, - the first and 

third, - leaving the second and the subject of this sketch, then an infant.

In 1834 they started from Cleveland for Chicago, which then comprised Fort 
Dearborn and two trading posts.  They made 

the trip on the first steamer that made the passage of the Straits at 
Mackinaw.  Ten days after reaching Chicago they 

went to Will Co., Ill. and located on 160 acres of prairie and timber land 
situated on the Du Page River in the vicinity 

of Joliet.

The senior Holden entered into the work of the pioneer settler with all the 
vigor, hopefulness and energy of purpose he 

inherited from his ancestral stock and which associations of the place of his 
birth had fostered and preserved in their 

native strength.  He erected a hotel and had succeeded in establishing a line 
of business connections which promised 

future realizations in proportion to the spirit and deserts of their 
originator, when the financial crisis of 1837 

supervened, and by its reduction of values, aided by the complications 
attendant upon the miscellaneous currency, 

appropriately styled "wild cat money," overwhelmed the relations of business, 
and Mr. Holden was forced to dispose of 

his estate at a sacrifice, which was synonymouse with financial ruin.

Leaving his family settled at Plainfield, in Will County, he went to Arkansas 
to retrieve his losses, and after an 

absence of three years returned and removed his family to Moorsville, near New 
Albany, Indiana.  In 1845 they came to 

Michigan and settled on a farm of 160 acres situated twelve miles from the 
city of Grand Rapids.  The territory of Kent 

County, which is now one of the finest samples of the probabilities of 
Michigan, as well as a manifest of the character 

of her pioneers and their efforts, was then undeveloped, and Mr. Holden of 
this sketch, then a boy fo 13, was the 

father's assistant in the work of clearing the home farm.  The parents yet 
survive and reside in Grand Rapids, aged 

respectively 87 and 84 years.  Their two sons are in the fullness of their 
manhood and have crowned the ambitious hopes 

of the father and the unfaltering trust of the mother with the honors of their 
distinguished and successful careers.  

Hon. E.G.D. Holden, of Grand Rapids is one of the "eminent men of Michigan," 
and wrought every step of his upward career 

by hard, systematic work, until he has a record which reflects luster on his 
entire generation.  His election to the 

position of Secretary of State of Michigan is among the signal triumphs in the 
register of the Peninsular State.

Charles H. Holden has descended from illustrious ancestry, and belongs to a 
race that has been made conspicuous by 

distinctive traits.  The student of history may always turn from his futile 
and bewildering guest in search of a 

reliable basis whereon to found a just opinion of the large majority of the 
characters of history to the records of the 

Puritans.  Though they have been the objects of derision, contumely and 
vituperation, no assault has availed to hurl the 

class from its opinion.  It has stood statuesque in the history of the world 
since the days of Elizabeth, and its 

appellation is the synonym for sound morality and unswerving purpose.  The 
records of business since the period of the 

earliest dissenters, in all avenues, exhibit traces of their inflexible 
methods.  They have been the foudners of some of 

the most substantial and popular financial projects; they have shone 
peerlessly in literature; they have walked 

unflinchingly to the block and bared their throats to the headman's ax with 
firm fingers, and invited the fatal blade 

with the same calmness in which they were wont to stretch themselves for 
repose on luxuriant couches in palatial homes.

It is a grand type of hymanity, and its fineness of grain is stil inbred in 
our own composite nationality.  It is like 

the essence of the cassava, preservative and antiseptic, and from its 
reproduction in succeeding generations it receives 

a fresh impetus, and take sin renewed vitality.

The name of Holden first appears in the records of the New World in 1609, when 
Richard Holden, a refugee Puritan, from 

the town of Leyden, came to America, followed in 1611 and in 1612 respectively 
by Justinian and Randall Holden, of the 

same persecuted fraternity.

The earliest traceable ancestors of the family of C.H. Holden was John Holden, 
born in 1692, from whom the line is 

intact.  In the maternal line he is of Scottish origin; his mother being 
descended from the Greggs of Ayrshire, and 

traced to 1690.

The earliest independent purpose of Mr. Holden, of this sketch, was to obtain 
an education, and he availed himself of 

every advantage of the public schools in the sections of Illinois where his 
parents resided, and after their removal to 

Kent County, Michigan, alternated his seasons of labor with study at the terms 
of winter school.  He served the family 

interests faithfully and well, and at 18 his father gave him all the aid he 
could toward the accomplishments of his 

plans, - the control of his time, - that he might pursue his educational 
project untrammeled.  He had sufficient means 

to enter the academy at Plainfield, Ill., where he spent a year preparatory to 
becoming a student at Oberlin, Ohio.  At 

the latter place he took a classical course of study, in which he was occupied 
three years, earning money to defray his 

expenses by teaching winters; the fourth, or final, year of his collegiate 
course was passed at Knox College, Ill.

On leaving college he was free from debt; his industry had earned all he 
needed, and his frugality had expended his 

earnings to the best possible advantage, and best of all he had the eminent 
satisfactioon of knowing that what he had 

accomplished was his own work, and at the cost of no sacrifice at home.

He entered the office of Patterson & Champlin at Grand Rapids, Mich., as a 
student of law, and read under their 

supervision two years, gaining much advantage from their office relations; 
after which one year was spent in Columbia 

Law College, Washington, D.C., where he was graduated.  After a year's 
practice in Grand Rapids he finally located at 

Grand Traverse, and in the fall of 1858 was elected Prosecuting Attorney and 
Circuit Cout Commissioner for that county.  

The territory then embraced within its limits now comprises the counties of 
Leelanaw, <sic> Antrim, Kalkaska and Benzie. 

 The district politically was Democratic, yet he was elected over his 
competitor, Frank Stevens, by 23 majority, being 

the only one on the Republican ticket that was elected in the county that year.

He was re-elected in 1860 and officiated until the President's second call for 
troops, when he felt the need of arduous 

service in behalf of the national integrity, and he abandoned a prosperous 
business and raised a company of volunteers, 

afterwards known as the "Lake Shore Tigers,"  Co. A, 26th Mich. Vol., and was 
mustered as its First Lieutenant on the 

11th day of September, 1862.  During the spring of 1863 his regiment 
participated in the Blackwater campaign near 

Suffolk, Va., against Longstreet.  During the draft riots at New York City in 
July, 1863, his regiment was ordered to 

New York, and Mr. Holden was placed on the staff of Gen. Canby, as Commissary 
of Subsistence.  The arduous work of 

providing for 30,000 troops hastily concentrated at the City of New York 
during this emergency required rare executive 

skill and prompt action in meeting and providing for the wants of the 
soldiers.  How well he discharged the duty of this 

trust may be inferred from the fact that he, a volunteer officer, was retained 
in preference to old line regular 

officers, who never looked with favor upon the volunteer service.  During this 
period Mr. Holden handled millions of 

dollars for the Government in purchasing supplies for the army and in 
disbursements to the various hospitals in and 

about the city, and, be it said to his credit, every dollar was accounted for 
to the last farthing, as the records of 

the Department will show.  On the 15th of October his regiment was ordered to 
join the Army of the Potomac and became a 

part of the First Brigade, First Division, Second Corps, under Gen. Hancock, 
in which capacity the regiment remained 

until the close of the war.  The cessation of the hostilities afforded 
opportunities to retrieve errors and for the 

recognition and acknowledgement of meritorious services.  Mr. Holden received 
two brevets first as Major, and lastly 

Lieutenant Colonel.  On being relieved of his obligations as a soldier, he was 
appointed to a position by the Secretary 

of the Treasury in the Loan Branch, Treasury Department, where he was attached 
to the bureau for printing and disbursing 

the 7-30 bonds.  Later he was attached to the Second Auditor's office, where 
he remained until 1870.

In June, 1869, he was chosen to represent the 5th Ward, afterwards 20th 
District, Washington, D.C., in the City Council; 

he was re-elected in 1870, and chosen President of the Board of Common 
Council, being the 69th and last Council of said 

city.  During his administration and management of the trust reposed in him by 
his constituency, he advocated and 

perfected many plans, such as parking the avenues and a system of drainage, 
which has since been adopted, placing the 

city upon a plane its founders intended it should occupy and become the 
handsomest city on the continent.  The plan here 

inaugurated was taken up and carried forward by the new life which had been 
infused by the new order of things, and 

Washington of to-day is the pride of the nation and the most beautiful city in 
the world.

During the years 1869-70-71-72, Mr. Holden contributed to the city in 
beautiful brick blocks, aggregating over a hundred 

residences, with an outlay of capital involved f more than half a million 
dollars.  He was also largely engaged in the 

purchase and sale of real estate.  It is said of him that he rarely, if ever, 
made a mistake in buying real estate; his 

purchases always panned out with a profit, and in a few years he had risen to 
the foremost rank among the live business 

men of Washington City.

But success in any vocation is not absolutely assured.  The panic of 1873 had 
its depressing effect on values, and with 

it the consequent roll of disaster, the business men of the entire country 
were the chief sufferers; fortune vanished as 

if by magic, and lack of confidence and general distrust pervaded the business 
world.  Mr. Holden was not alone in 

adversity, and when the storm had spent its fury  he found himself bereft of 
his entire fortune!

In 1878 he visited the West, determined to retrieve past losses, by commencing 
again at the bottom in new and untried 

fields, unaided save by the light of experience.  Reed City, Osceola Co., 
Mich., was the point selected, and in the 

month of June, the following year, he opened an office for the transaction of 
business as an attorney and dealer in real 

estate, and continued the management of his relations alone until Oct. 31, 
1881, the date of the admission of Charles A. 

Withey, the firm style becoming Holden & Withey.  This firm is now the most 
prominent in Northern Michigan and is 

largely interested in real estate operations in connection with a large and 
lucrative law practice.  Mr. Holden has done 

much to improve, enlarge and beautify Reed City; he has been instrumental in 
adding additions and a beautiful park to 

the city; last season he purchased the Heath-House Block, and more than doubed 
its dimensions and leased it for a term 

of years to Norman Johnson, M.D., Manager of the Michigan, Wisconsin and 
Minnesota Hospital Company.  This institution 

is now one of the largest and best conducted hospital sin the State.  It is 
also a sanitarium.  The edifice is brick, 

four stories in height above the basement and covers a little over an acre of 
land, and is the most attractive structure 

in the city.  The firm owns a large amount of village and farm property; they 
also issue a monthly, the title of which 

is Real Estate Bulltin.

In the year 1869, while a resident of the National Capital, Mr. Holden became 
a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is 

now a member of Lafayette Chapter; also Columbia Commandery, No. 2, Knights 
Templar, and Knights of Pythias, all local 

organizations of Washington City.  In 1883 he was elected Commander of Stedman 
Post, No. 198, G.A.R., of Reed City, and 

is now serving his second term; he is also Commander of the Soldiers and 
Sailors' Association of Northwestern Michigan, 

an organization including within its limits the northwest quarter of the State.

Mr. Holden was married Feb. 9, 1859, to Fannie E. Brooks, daughter of Horatio 
and Elizabeth Brooks, of Grand Rapids, 

Michigan.  Four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Holden died in infancy.

The portrait of Mr. Holden which is presented on a preceding page is a fitting 
accompaniment to the biographical annals 

of Osceola County.  His youth's first endeavor was as a pioneer laborer in the 
development of Northern Michigan, which 

has supplied some of the best elements in the progressive history of this 
country; and to it he has brought the energies 

of his manhood's prime, which are among its most valuable factors in it 
spresent condition of promise, - fast 

approaching fulfillment and the fullmess which characterizes adjacent, as well 
as remote, sections of the Peninsular 

State.

Additional Comments:
1884 Portrait & Bio Album of Osceola Co.

Chapman Brothers, Chicago

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