BIO: John S. HOLDEN, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 744 & 745.
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  JOHN S. HOLDEN, a successful agriculturist and representative citizen of Pike 
Township, residing on his farm of 120 acres which lies one mile northeast of 
Curwensville, was born in Clinton County, Pa., July 6, 1835.  His parents were 
William and Ellen (Johnson) Holden.
  William Holden was born in England, where he secured his education, and 
although but seventeen years of age when he came to America, had already been 
employed by a large establishment as a bookkeeper.  He reached Lock Haven, Pa., 
in 1786, and was engaged by Judge Fleming as a scrivener, and afterward was a 
merchant near that town and later engaged in farming.  He moved from Clinton to 
Elk County and from there to Clearfield County, settling on the farm now owned 
by Charles Addleman, afterward living on the farm now owned by the Thompsons.  
He had acquired a large amount of land, some 400 acres, and was considered one 
of the men of fortune in his day.  During his last years he was somewhat 
incapacitated, being accidentally crippled, but he survived to be eighty-two 
years of age, during the larger portion of his life having been a typical 
Englishman, stout and hearty.  He opened one coal bank in Pike Township and in 
other ways was very progressive and enterprising.  At first a Whig in politics, 
he later became a Republican.  The only offices he would accept were those of 
school director and membership on the election board.  He married Ellen Johnson, 
who was also a native of England, and they had six children born to them in 
Clinton County and one in Clearfield County, namely:  Algernon, who died in 
Clearfield County at the age of eighty-three years, married Susanna Bloom; 
Johnson, who resided near Curwensville at the time of death; William, who died 
during the Civil War, was a member of the 149th Pa. Vol. Inf.; John S.; 
Catherine, who resides near Curwensville; Margaret, who is deceased; and 
Alexander, who was a hardware merchant at Coalport at the time of death.  The 
mother died at the age of eighty-eight years and both she and the father were 
buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.  They were members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church.
  John S. Holden went to school through boyhood, attending sessions held in what 
was known as the Holden school-house, his father having donated the building for 
school purposes, for a period of twenty-one years.  Afterward he engaged in 
farming, his first purchase of land being the old McClure farm of 140 acres, 
situated in Pike Township.  He lived there for some years and then came to his 
present farm, which is one of great production, averaging 700 bushels of grain a 
year.  He has sold the coal, not wishing to develop it himself, and has some 
thirty acres of the land in valuable timber.
  Mr. Holden was married in 1867 to Miss Jane Hile, who was born in 
Pennsylvania, a daughter of William and Ellen Hile, and died in July, 1903.  She 
was a member of the Presbyterian church, an excellent woman in every relation of 
life.  Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holden:  Horace, who resides at 
Lewisburg, Pa., married Mary Shaffer and they have four children - Cleo, 
Alexander, Catherine and Freda; Carrie, who is the widow of David Snyder, 
resides at Curwensville and has three children - Esther, Cora and Marion; 
Laurence, who resides in Clearfield, married a Miss Hiles and they have had five 
children - John, Maria, Catherine, Louisa and Robert, deceased; Ellen, who is 
the wife of Harry Smeal, of DuBois, has one son, Paul; Mrs. Cora Tyce, who lives 
in Kansas City, Kansas; and Catherine, who is the wife of Donald Hiles, of 
Illinois.  Mr. Holden has been a lifelong Republican and has served as school 
director.