Taylor County, West Virginia Biography of Alfred A. HOLT ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 81-82 ALFRED A. HOLT, a native of Grafton, has been one of the enterprising business men of that city for a number of years. In continuous experience he is one of the oldest druggists, and has a number of other interests that have their share in making that one of the important centers of commerce in West Virginia. Mr. Holt, who was born March 15, 1875, represents a prominent family. He is the second child of James W. and Anna J. (Jordan) Holt. His father, whose record is given in more detail elsewhere, was the Henry Watterson of the news- paper profession in Taylor County. Alfred A. Holt finished his education in the Grafton High School in 1896, and then became assistant postmaster under his father. He was in that office six years, and then during an interval, while developing some plans for independent busi- ness, he spent several months in the employ of Armour & Company. He then joined with Harry Magill and Dr. W. B. Stuck in the purchase of the property of the Grafton Drug & Chemical Company. On establishing a retail store on the West Side he retired from the former business, but subse- quently again became its owner by purchase, and directed its affairs until it was acquired by Dr. Stuck and Fred B. Watkins. Mr. Holt now devotes his chief time to his growing and prosperous retail drug business on the West Side. The build- ing in which this is located, erected by him in 1912, is a three- story brick, with two business rooms and four apartments. It was not regarded as a profitable investment at the time, but it proved so with the increasing population and the great demand for living quarters. Most of the capital Mr. Holt put into this building he acquired through an investment and enterprise in the lumber regions of Greenbrier County, where he was one of the stockholders in the Maryland Lumber Company, which manufactured lumber for the jobbing and wholesale trade. Mr. Holt inherits his politics from his father, who was one of the active republicans of the county and exercised a great influence in making Taylor County a stronghold of that party. He cast his first presidential vote for McKinley in 1896 and his last for Harding in 1920. Fraternally he is a past chancellor of Grafton Lodge, Knights of Pythias, has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge, and is a member of the Moose and Elks. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church. In Taylor County August 28, 1904, Mr. Holt married Miss Lena Hazel Leonard, daughter of William B. and Lucy (Thorn) Leonard. Her father, who has been a life-long resi- dent of Taylor County, is passenger car foreman for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Grafton. Mr. and Mrs. Holt have one daughter, Alice Margaret, born in 1916.