T.B. Holtzman, the subject of this sketch, came to Kansas in 1873, without capital but with an abundance of that goodly heritage, pluck and enterprise. He began life on a farm in a very humble way, having lived in a dugout for three months. He then built a one-room house known as a "box house," paid seven dollars per thousand for the shingles and hauled them fifty miles. Mr. Holtzman was single at that time - when girls were at a premium. His father filed on land adjoining and a few years later they built a comfortable stone house on his homestead.

Mr. Holtzman is a native of West Virginia, born on a farm in Preston county in 1849. His parents were John and Hannah (Trowbridge) Holtzman. His father's birthplace was Maryland, but early in life he removed with his parents to West Virginia. John Holtzman with his family emigrated to Missouri in 1871, and two years later to Kansas. He died in 1892, at the age of sixty-two years. The Holtzmans, as the name implies, were of German origin. The Trowbridge ancestors were an old English family and settled in Virginia in an early day. His mother died in 1885. Mr. Holtzman is the only living child of a family of three children, the other two having died in infancy. Mr. Holtzman and his father bought twenty-five head of cattle and a yoke of oxen. This purchase consumed all their capital, but their stock increased year by year until now he owns two hundred head which is one of the finest bred Shorthorn herds in the state. He has raised many hogs, marketing several car loads per year, often netting him twenty-five hundred dollars annually. In 1893 his hogs brought eight cents per pound. He gives considerable attention to fruit raising. Mr. Holtzman's farm is a sort of market, as he buys much of the surplus feed that is raised in his neighborhood. He also raises horses and mules and has some fine stock in that line. Mr. Holtzman is an extensive land owner. In 1882 he bought forty acres adjacent to his original claim from the proceeds of a load of hogs. In 1894 he purchased two hundred and forty acres lying one and three-quarters miles south and one-half mile west of his homestead, and in 1893 inherited his father's land. In 1901 he bought three hundred and thirty acres of land in Lawrence township, a fine property with one hundred and twenty-five acres under cultivation, watered by never-failing springs and intersected by Salt creek. Mrs. Holtzman homesteaded land which she still retains. It is situated opposite the home place. They own a total of eleven hundred acres of valuable land. This estate has by the magic hands of industry become one of the most admirably conducted farms in Cloud county and yields a handsome income. The buildings of this fine country place all indicate there is a thorough and practical farmer at the helm. In 1882 Mr. Holtzman erected a handsome modern dwelling of nine rooms, surrounded by a well-kept lawn and located on one of those high points that afford a commanding view of the surrounding country for many miles. A year later he erected a commodious barn.

Mr. Holtzman was married in 1877 to Maggie, a daughter of Sanford and Mary (Patterson) Halbert. Her father was an old Virginian, born in 1808, and came to Kansas with his family in 1871, and filed on land near the Holtzman homestead, where he died in 1893, at the age of eighty-seven years. Her mother was born in Pennsylvania in 1812, and died at the age of thirty-six years.

Mr. and Mrs. Holtzman are the parents of two children, the eldest is a son, Homer, who is interested with his father on the farm and gives promise of becoming like his sire, a success in life. He has been educated in the home district and one year in the Salina Wesleyan College. The daughter, Mae, a bright and promising young girl, is a student in the Great Western Business College of Concordia, taking a commercial course. She also possesses a good deal of musical talent. Mr. Holtzman is in sympathy with the Republican party and works for its principles.