John Holmes
John Holmes was born in Adams County, November 30, 1820, the son of Thomas Holmes and Margaret McClannahan, his wife, and was one of a large family of sons and daughters. His father was a stern man with much of the iron bound New England Puritan in his make up, and hence the son John was indoctrinated in that school. He was taught economy and was born with a wonderful energy inherited from a long line of ancestors and the same trait was also cultivated in him by his father. He was taught the dignity and importance of labor, and no man ever lived in Adams County who worked harder, more hours in the twenty-four, or with more energy than John Holmes. He believed for himself and those who worked for him in securing more results in the same time than any of his neighbors. He was born with a thirst for knowledge, which was never quenched in his long life. Whatever about him. which could be learned, whether from books or from men, he learned it. In boyhood, he travelled six miles to a school, morning and evening and thought nothing of it. He soon qualified himself as a teacher and taught Winter terms after becoming of age. His salary was sixteen dollars per month and board. July 22, 1846, he was married to Elizabeth Treber, daughter of Jacob Treber, one of the pioneers of the county. She brought into the life partnership the same sterling qualities he possessed, energy, economy, and a determination to succeed. They located on a farm on Lick Fork, known as the "Hilling Place," which he had bought for $1.60 per acre. Here their two eldest children were born. In 1851, they moved two miles east of West Union on the Peebles road, and here Mr. Holmes carried on a saw mill and a farm. They resided in this home eighteen years, and here eight more children were born to them. Mr. Holmes was an ambitious man, not only for himself but for his children, and he felt there were greater rewards for him and them in the fertile prairies of Illinois, and in the Spring of 1869, he removed with his family to a farm in Mercer County, Illinois. Mr. Holmes and his wife, while residing in Adams County, were faithful members of the regular Baptist Church and trained their children in the same. Mr. Holmes was a citizen respected by all who knew him and performed every duty he owed society, or any part of it. He was very fond of argument and discussion, for the reason that in that way he learned to look at all sides of a question. If he could add anything to his store of knowledge, it pleased him just as much as though he had secured a sum of money.
He was a good conversationalist, and all who spent any time in his companionship were benefited. He was a close student of politics and of business and desired to be completely informed about them. From his majority in 1841 until 1856, he was a Whig and became a Republican when that party was formed and adhered to it the remainder of his life. He was anti-slavery from the time he was of age. He helped fugitives on their way from their bonds in obedience to the "higher law," and in defiance of human law. In Illinois, he was a prosperous farmer and stock raiser and lived the same useful life he had lived in Adams County.
John Holmes was a successful man, made money and accumulated property. Living according to the principles he did, it could not have been otherwise. He never forgot his old friends in Adams County and was always delighted to visit the home of his childhood, youth and manhood. He died on the sixth day of January, 1896, beloved and respected by all who knew him. His wife, born March 12, 1824. died March 24, 1897. The best commentary on the life of John Holmes and that of his wife is in their children, eight, of whom five sons and three daughters survive them. The eldest son, Louis D., is a distinguished lawyer in Omaha, Neb.; Thomas J., is an active and prominent lawyer in Chicago, Ill.: John F., Charles E. and William H., are prosperous farmers in Mercer County, Ill. The three daughters are married to excellent husbands and are women of great force of character.
John Holmes impressed the ideals of his own life on those of his sons and daughters, and in that way has conferred great blessings on posterity. At the time of his death, he had twenty-two grandchildren, all of whom are being taught the same high principles which actuated and governed his life and made him a useful and model citizen.
From "A history of Adams County, Ohio: from its earliest settlement to the present time" By Nelson Wiley Evans, Emmons B. Stivers, 1900