Lincoln County, West Virginia   Biography of  Hon. Joseph W. HOLT

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West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, Supplement Vol. 7, Hardesty's,
Lincoln County, published by Jim Comstock, Richwood, WV 1974

    Hon. Joseph W. Holt. His grandfather was an Englishman, and came to 
Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth century. He had three sons, 
Joseph, John (the father of Hon. Joseph Holt, who was postmaster general and 
secretary of war during the administration of President Buchanan), and 
Samuel, the father of him whose name appears at the head of this article. 
Joseph W. Holt was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in the year of 1824, and 
at the age of three years was taken into the family of his grandfather, James 
Howard, where he continued to reside until his fifteenth year, when he was 
placed in the store of Edward Carter, in the town of New London, Campbell 
County, Virginia. In the employ of this gentleman he continued four years, 
and was then sent to the town of Danville, where he entered the academy, and 
remained a student one year, and was then placed in the private school of 
Rev. Samuel Anderson, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian church at Danville. 
After completing his studies he repaired to Lynchburg and entered the 
extensive mercantile establishment of Nichols & Neal, as a salesman. here he 
remained some time, and after engaging in business awhile on his own account, 
closed business and went to New Castle, where he began the study of law.
    In 1850 he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of his chosen 
profession in partnership with his preceptor. This relation existed until the 
latter was elected judge of the district. Six months after Mr. Holt was 
admitted to the bar he was elected prosecuting attorney of Craig County, and 
as such continued until the close of the late war; then removed to Kanawha 
County, West Virginia, where he engaged in teaching for a time, then a second 
time removed, and located in Hamlin, Lincoln County, where he resumed the 
practice of law. In 1880 he was chosen a member of the House of Delegates, 
and was reelected in 1882, thus serving in the regular sessions of 1881 and 
1883, and in the special session of 1883. He has three sons, the oldest of 
whom, James W.,is a Presbyterian minister, now in charge of Gap Mills, 
Hillsdale, and Salem Church, in Monroe County, West Virginia; Samuel W. is a 
merchant in Randolph County, West Virginia; and Edward I., the youngest, is 
editor and proprietor of the Lincoln Clipper.