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A WHO'S WHO OF HOLTS

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Having trouble keeping up with the Holts? It can be pretty confusing unless you get a basic grasp of which family members were involved with each cotton mill. The following is not meant to be a family history or genealogy. It simply identifies each Holt who was involved in the cotton mill industry and the respective mills. In particular, those Holts who were directly involved in the Glencoe Cotton Mill are identified in bold type.

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Edwin Michael HOLT (1807-1884)

The son of Michael HOLT III and Rachael RAINEY, Edwin married Emily FARISH in 1828. They had ten children. Five of the sons, listed below, were involved in the cotton mill industry. With William Carrigan, Edwin started the Holt and Carrigan Cotton Factory on Alamance Creek in 1837. In 1851, Edwin became sole owner of the company and it became known simply as the Alamance Factory.

 

1. James Henry HOLT (1833-1897)

James married Laura Cameron MOORE of Caswell County. With his brother, William, he built the Carolina Cotton Mill on the Haw River. It started production in 1869. They later bought an old tobacco processing plant just up the river from the Carolina Mill and built the Glencoe Cotton Mill on the site around 1880.

 

1. Robert 'Bob' Lacy HOLT (1866-1923)

Robert ran the Glencoe Mill after his father died in 1897. Robert, with his brother James Jr., started Windsor Cotton Mills, Burlington, 1891. Robert never married.

 

2. Lelia Daisy HOLT (1879-1976)

Lelia married Walter Guerry GREEN. Since her brother, Robert, had no children, Walter ran the Glencoe Mill after Robert’s death.

 

3. Walter Lawrence HOLT (1859-1913)

With his brother, Edwin, started Elmira Cotton Mills, Burlington, 1886.

 

4. Edwin Cameron HOLT (1861-1944)

With his brother, Walter, started Elmira Cotton Mills, Burlington, 1886.

 

5. Samuel Michael HOLT (1862-1924)

With his brother, William, started Lakeside Mills, Burlington, 1893.

 

6. James Henry HOLT Jr. (1864-1928)

With his brother, Robert, started Windsor Cotton Mills, Burlington, 1891.

 

7. William Irwin HOLT (1868-1916)

With his brother, Samuel, started Lakeside Mills, Burlington, 1893.

 

8. Ernest Augustus HOLT (1873-1931)

Ernest assisted in the running of the Carolina and Glencoe mills.

 

2. Thomas Michael HOLT (1831-1896)

The Thomas M. Holt Manufacturing Company owned three mills in the town of Haw River. Thomas built the Granite Mill in 1858. Two other mills, the Cora and the Thomas M. Holt, were added in the 1880s and 1890s. He also served as Governor of North Carolina.

 

3. William Edwin HOLT (1839-1917)

With his brother, James Sr., William built Carolina Cotton Mills which started production in 1869.

 

4. Lynn Banks HOLT (1842-1920)

Banks, along with his brothers James Sr. and William, was made a partner in his father’s Alamance Factory. The name was then changed to E. M. Holt’s Sons.

 

5. Lawrence Shackleford HOLT (1851-1937)

Lawrence started the E. M. Holt Plaid Mill, named for his father, in 1884.

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Source: Hughes, Julian, Development of the Textile Industry in Alamance County, Burlington Letter Shop, 1965 

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