Ephraim Edward Holt

EPHRAIM EDWARD HOLT, a well known citizen and successful business man of Weir City, and the owner of a first-class grain and feed store, was born at Portland, Maine, June 24, 1840, and is a son of Ephraim and Julia A. (Kemp) Holt.

Ephraim Holt was born at Bethel, Maine, where he died in 1843; his wife was born at Gorham, Maine, and died in 1848, leaving three orphan children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only survivor. For some years Ephraim Holt was engaged in the coal and wood business in the city of Portland.

Ephraim Edward Holt attended the schools of Gorham, Maine, to which place he had removed, with his mother, at the age of five years, and began his business career in boyhood on the old Cumberland and Oxford Canal, at Gorham. Several years later he learned the shoemaker's trade and followed this in that city. When he was 21 years of age, he worked in lumber camps and at other occupations. In 1865, he enlisted in the Civil War, entering the 29th Unassigned Regiment, Maine Vol. Inf., under Captain Ring, in which he remained from February until the following May, without, however, seeing any active service.

In 1868 Mr. Holt came to the West, settling first in Grundy County, Iowa, and for one year worked by the month for farmers. In October, 1869, he came to Kansas and bought a partly improved quarter section of land in Crawford County. He made many improvements here and followed farming until 1880, when he sold out and went to Colorado. There he worked for a year in the silver mines near Bakersville, in Clear Creek County. Upon his return to Kansas, he worked for a time in a general store at Monmouth, and then went on the road in the interest of a nursery house. He continued to sell nursery stock over the country for five years, seeing much of the country and learning its resources. In 1887 he located at Weir City, embarking in the confectionery and lunch-room business, in which he continued for seven years. In 1894 he purchased the already established grain and feed business of W. R. Colean, and this he has made an important feature of the city's business life.

In 1892, Mr. Holt was married to Mrs. Anna (Perry) Godfrey, widow of Joel Godfrey. In politics, he is a Republican and during the administration of the late Dr. D. W. King, as mayor, he served four years as treasurer of Weir City. Previously, while residing in Crawford County, he served as one of the trustees of Osage township. He is a Mason and a United Workman, and belongs also to the Grand Army of the Republic.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, instructor from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 5/5/97.