E.S. Holmes
History of the State of Montana, by Joaquim Miller, 1894 

E.S. Holmes, agent for the Northern Pacific Express Company at 
Billings, was born in New York in 1843, a son of Sylvanus 
and Mary Stone Holmes. The maternal ancestry are of German 
descent, and were among the early settlers of New York. 
When our subject was quite young his parents move to 
Pennsylvania, where his father served as Circuit Judge 
and U.S. Marshal for many years. The son was well qualified 
for public position had he settled his mind in that 
direction, being of strong, vigorous physique as well as 
large mental capacity. 

He became ambitious to move westward, but, when the 
disruption of the Union was threatened, his patriotism 
overcame pleasure, and accordingly, in 1864, he 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania 
Volunteer Infantry, Company H. He filled the important as 
well as hazardous position of Color Sergeant. At the close 
of the struggle, 
Mr. Holmes was discharged at Richmond, Virginia and returned 
to Pennsylvnaia. Again Western fever beset him, and in the 
spring of 1867 he arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he 
had opportunities to invest a small sum, which long before 
this would have yielded millions of dollars by increase in 
value, but like many others, he treated the 
offer with disdain. Mr. Holmes worked for wages in the 
construction of the St. Paul and Mississippi railroad, 
afterward engaged in business at Fergus Falls, was 
employed for a time as express messenger on the Milwaukee 
and St. Paul Railroad and held the same position on the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, prior to accepting the local 
agency 
at Billings, assuming the duties of the latter office in 
1884. Mr. Holmes is liked by all who know him, and has had a 
wide experience in frontier life. 

He was married in 1868 to Lizzie Walrath, as native of 
Illinois, and they have one son, Robbie. Mr. Holmes has 
filled the chair of Noble Grand in Star Lodge, No. 41, 
I.O.O.F. and is also a member of the A.O.U.W. He was 
reared under the influences of the Congregational Church. 
In political matters, he acts with the Republican party. 


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