Person:Hon Holman (1)

Portrait and biographical album of Clinton and Shiawassee counties, Mich., containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state. Chicago : Chapman bros. 1891. URL: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/bad0873 pages 273-274 CHARLES HOLMAN. Mr. Holman has been a resident here since the spring of 1857 and has held office longer than any other official the county has known. He was Register of Deeds from January 1867, until January 1881, having been re-elected six times. He has been interested in business projects and has from his earliest residence here manifested an earnest zeal for the improvement of this section and its advance in all that is best in modern civilization. Financially speaking, he succeeded in the affairs of life, and in his declining years he is unharrassed by the anxiety as to the wherewithal to supply his needs. Better than all else, his character as a man is one which can be spoken of as a model for younger men to copy, and in religious work he is one of the most active and efficient men of Corunna. The Holmans came originally from England but the Granite State was the home of the family for several generations. In Marlboro, N.H., Sullivan Holman, father of Charles, was born in January 1801. After he grew to manhood he went to New York, where he married Harriet Hall, a native of Phelpstown and daughter of Joseph Hall, who was a Captain in the Colonial Army during the Revolution. In 1833 Mr. Holman removed to this State and for a time made his home in Birmingham, then went to Clinton, Lenawee County. He was engaged in the manufacture of fanning mills, but when old age overtook him he gave up his work. He is now living with our subject and is ninety years old. Our subject is the first born in the parental family and has one sister living - Mrs. Harriet Weston, whose home is in Alma. There were two other children - Henry and Edward - but they died young. In Lyons, Wayne Co., N.Y., April 11, 1830, Charles Holman was born. He has no recollection of a home outside this State, to which he was brought in a wagon, via Canada, when scarcely more than an infant. His boyhood was spent in what was a sparsely settled district of Lenawee County and his home was a log house with a shop in the same yard. His father was one of the first to establish a home in that locality and the scenes to which Mr. Holman looks back on as the first that he can recall, were of quite a primative nature. He attended the district school and later spent a year in Romeo Academy. The summers were given up to work on the farm, from the time he was strong enough to be of service, and during the winter he worked diligently with his books. When eighteen years old Mr. Holman began teaching and two winters were given to the professional work. Grand Rapids was then a small place and the olny mode of travel thither was by stage and a boat on the Grand River. The young man went there and spent a summer working at the carpenter's trade. In the fall he returned to Lenawee County and for three years was a clerk in the store of B.J. Bidwell. He then went to Macomb County and for three years operated a rented farm near Romeo. He next came to Shiawassee County, and making his home in Owosso in the spring of 1857, he began teaming, drawing lumber between St. Charles and Owosso. He teamed two years and then took a position with Fowler & Esslestyn who carried on what was known as the West India stave business. Their establishment was the principle one for such a purpose in this locality, and Mr. Holman remained with them for seven years. In the fall of 1866 he was elected Register of Deeds on the Republican ticket and qualified for his office in January following. While attending faithfully to the duties of his position he carried on a real estate business, handling property in Corunna and the outlying districts of the county. The home of Mr. Holman is one in which the refining influence of woman is very apparent. It is presided over by an educated lady who became his wife in Romeo, Macomb County, in 1853. She was previously Miss Cynthia F Holman, being a daughter of Asa Holman, an early settler and prominent farmer of Macomb County. She was educated in a ladies' seminary in Detroit and under the home roof received careful instruction in matters of domestic economy. The happy union has been blessed by the birth of six children, three of whom are still at home. These are Nettie, who is an invalid; Helen, a high school girl belonging to the class of '93, and Charles, Jr. The eldest of the family is Waldo, whose home is in Owosso and who is a traveling salesman for the granite-ware firm of Manning, Bowing & Co., of New York. The second child is Farrand, who is engaged in the jewelry business in Owosso, and the third is Mrs. Josephine Haney, wife of H.H. Haney, a traveling salesman. When the Republican party was organized Mr. Holman identified himself with that body and has been an unfailing supporter of its principles from that day to this. He has been a delegate to county and State conventions and was Chairman of the County Republican Committee some four years. He has long been connected with the School Board of Corunna and is now holding the position of Secretary, and for four years he has been Secretary of the Pioneer Society. Following the example and teaching of his homored father, he is identified with the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an Elder. He has been Sunday school Superintendent and was a member of the building committee when the present house of worship was put up.

(Harriet Hall's father was Major Joseph Hall, who served in the War of 1812. Her grandfather was Captain William Hall who served in the Revolution. CAG)

obit 13 May 1897 issue Corunna Journal

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Shiawassee District Library, Shiawassee County Surname File, http:/www.sdl.lib.mi.us/surname/.