Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

John R. Holden

Male 1828 - 1900  (51 years)


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  • Name John R. Holden 
    Born 1 Jul 1828  , Wayne, Tennessee, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died From 1880 to 1900  , , Idaho, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I3515  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Permelia Jane Adair,   b. 27 Jun 1837, Fulton, Clarke, Alabama, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Dec 1883, Dry Fork, Uintah, Utah, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 46 years) 
    Married 31 Dec 1849  Kanesville, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Divorced Yes, date unknown 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1099  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Censuses:
      1850 US:Pottawattamie Co. (District No. 21), Iowa, p. 78a, entry 218:
      John Holden, age 21, M., born Tennessee, noted as being over age 20 and illiterate.
      Pamela, age 15, F., born Alabama.
      Note entry No. 217 just before John Holden: Samuel Adair, 46, Laborer, S.C.; Nancy, 39, Va.; John, 18, Ala.; George, 15, Ala.; Samuel, 12, Ala.; Rufus, 7, Mississippi; Mary, 13, Tenn.; Robert, 7, Tenn.; Benjamin, 5, Tenn.; Jemima, 4, Iowa; Joshua, 1, Iowa. This census locates Samuel in Iowa in 1850 with a previously unknown wife [at least unknown among Utah histories]. It appears Nancy brings into this marriage three children of a previous marriage [Mary, Robert, and Benjamin] who were all born in Tennessee. The following census has all of the right children in the proper order except Permelia (Pamelia) who is not listed; however, the next entry [#218] has John Holden, 21, Tenn. and Pamelia, 15, Ala. This is Pamelia, George's twin sister, who is misrepresenting her age as not 13 [due to a marriage to this John of which most Utah family histories were not previously aware] but as 15 which in turn perhaps leads the family to say that George is also 15 and not 13. I also looked several pages either way of this entry to look for other Holdens which I did not yet find but who I believe were somewhere in Iowa at the time.

      1851 Iowa State: Pottawattamie County. FHL film 1022203. The entire state was counted but only Pottawattamie listed everyone by name in the household and their ages; other counties only listed the head of the household and a numerical count without names of the various ages by sex in the household. No date is given when the census was taken but it was certified in Dec. 1851; however, the other counties show a Sep 1851 date which also appears more likely for Pottawattamie as well in light of ages given some children with known birthdays in October. Census return:
      Holden, John R. 23, Permelia 14. Also in household is Permelia Bardsley 31. [Living next door is Permelia's father Samuel Adair.]

      1852 Iowa: not listed in FHL book heads of household index for the 1852 Iowa census.

      1860 US: Searched Nephi, Juab, Utah and Payson, Utah, Utah without results.

      1870 US: Chicken Creek Settlement, Juab, Utah, p. 2, 14 Jul 1870, household/family no. 8:
      R. John Holden, 42, $400/200 farmer, b. OH.
      Samantha A., 31, IL.
      Samantha L, 1, UT.
      Polly Ann, 2, UT.
      John R., 3/12, UT.

      1880 US: Township 40, Nez Perce, Idaho, FHL film 1254173, NA film T9-0173, p. 253C:
      John R. Holden, 51, b. TN, farmer, parents b. TN.
      Semantha, wife, 41, b. TN, keeping house, parents b. TN.
      Polly A., dau., 12, b. UT, parents b. TN.
      John R., son, 10, b. UT, parents b. TN.
      George E., son, 4, b. UT, parents b. TN.

      1900 US: East Moscow, Latah, Idaho, p. 199, household 334:
      Samantha A. Holden, b. May 1839, 61, widow, 6 total children 4 living, b. Illinois, farmer.
      George E., son, b. May 1876, single, Utah, Tennessee, Illinois, farmer.

      2. There is a likely and probable but thus far unproven connection between the John Holden who married Permelia Adair and the John Holden who shows up later in Utah/Idaho records married to Cemantha Russell. The following comments are some research to date into this question. Per 30 Jul 2003 email from Don Smith ; he believes John Holden and Permelia must have divorced early and that he did come to Nephi in Utah in the early 1850's with several members of his family per the Utah Territorial Census. Don also found in the "Registry of Persons Residing in the Various Wards as to the Bishop's Reports, Great Salt Lake City, 28 Dec 1852" the following all living in Nephi, Utah: John Holden, Joshua Holden, and William Riley Holden. There is in Ancestral File a John R. Holden, son of Joshua Holden (b. 7 Jan 1800 at Pendelton, Montgomery, North Carolina and d. 7 Apr 1862 at Nephi, Juab, Utah) and Mary Talley (b. 7 Jan 1802 of Lincoln County, Tennessee and d. 5 Apr 1851 at Bluff Branch, Pottawattamie, Iowa), born 1 Jul 1828 at Wayne County, Tennessee and married to Samantha A. ___; there is also a William Riley Holden, b. 1826 in Tennessee and d. in Moscow, Latah, Idaho. The 1880 census cited above shows the John being the exact appropriate age of 51 in 1880 versus 21 in 1850; both censuses show Tennessee as birthplace. The same 1880 census shows the above referenced brother, William R. Holden, age 54, living next door - this confirms the John and William in the 1852 Bishop Report cited above are the same two living in Idaho in the 1880 census. A search of the 1860 US census for Nephi, Juab, Utah (households 1466-1468) shows three related families living next to each other, Joshua Holden (the father), William R. Holden (the brother), and David and Mary A. Cook (brother-in-law and sister); however, John R. Holden does not show in Nephi in that census.
      a. Also note that as of 2 Apr 2003, there are several sites on Rootsweb Worldconnect posted by individuals appearing to be direct descendants of John R. and Samantha A. Holden giving some additional information. No site yet reports a first marriage to Permelia Adair. Samantha's name is given as Cemantha Ann Russell, b. 26 May 1839 in Cass Co., Illinois, m. 11 Dec 1861, d. 17 Feb 1913 in Moscow, Latah, Idaho, with parents as Amasa Russell and Hannah Celinda Knight. Up to 6 children appear to be born to the couple as follows not necessarily in this order:
      Joshua Amasa
      Hannah Mariah
      Cementha Lurana, b. 5 Sep 1862 in Payson, Utah, Utah, d. bef. 1916 at Goldendale, Washington.
      Polly Ann, b. 4 Feb 1868 in Celina, Utah, d. 27 Sep 1931 in Moscow, Latah, Idaho.
      John Riley, b. 4 Apr 1870.
      George Ernest, b. 25 May 1876, d. 1942 at Clarkston, Washington.
      b. An online search of Mormon pioneer overland travel companies from 1847-1868 provides one promising search result: "J. Holden and 4 unnamed others" with no age nor further information except sources listed as: Journal History, Supp. after 31 Dec 1852, p. 2; Deseret News, 18 Sep. 1852, p. 2; John Somers Higbee, Reminiscences and Diaries, 1845-1866, vol. 3. They were part of 190 individuals of the 1852 John S. Higbee/James W. Bay Company who departed from Kanesville, Iowa (present day Council Bluffs) on 31 May 1852 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley between 13-20 Aug. 1852. Website: . There was no listing for P. Adair or Holden; however, the site notes that not all companies had listings.

      3. Reviewed Rootsweb.com Worldconnect 15 Apr 2003.

      4. Journal History, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, 20 Jan 1848, p. 25: "Following is the petition for a post office on the Pottawattamie lands, referred to, with the signatures attached. To the Honorable Postmaster Gerneral of the United States. Sir: There are many thousand inhabitants in the vicinity of the Log Tabernacle, which is situated on the Government purchase of the Pottawatamies and in the State of iowa, whose interest is materially injured, and whose journey, business and improvements are retarded or destroyed by non intercourse; there being no Post Office within forty or fifty miles of said Tabernacle, and the public good requires a convenient office: Therefore, We your Petitioners, Citizens of the United States and residents of said vicinage, pray your Honor to cause, such an office to be located at or near said Tabernacle without delay, to be called the Tabernacle Post Office... [Approximately 2,000 plus all male signatures including] Wm. G. Perkins, Jude Allen, Daniel Tyler, Wm. Stoker, Israel Barlow, William Thompson [and William Thompson, Jr.], Joseph Mangum, William Richey, John B. Richey, William B. Richey, John R. Holden [Wiley Holden and Joshua Holden are immediately adjacent - relations?], Andrew Allen [with Ira Allen, Franklin Allen, Joseph Allen immediately adjacent - relations?], John Coon [with Samuel Coon, Eli Coon, Jacob Coon, and Joseph Coon immediately adjacent - relations?].

      BIRTH:
      1. Surmised from 1850 census.

      MARRIAGE:
      1. Per book "Early American Marriages: Iowa to 1850" by Jordan R. Dodd per Ancestry.com subscription: John R. Holden to Parmelia Jane Adair on 31 Dec 1849 in Pottawattamie Co., Iowa.

      2. Per FHL book 977.771 V2p" Pottawattamie Co., IA Early Marriages 1848-1869" and Internet site www.genexchange.org for Pottawattamie IAGenExchange marriage records indicate: "Parmelia Jane Adair, John R. Holden, 31 Dec 1849."

      DEATH:
      1. His wife Samantha shows as a widow in 1900 living in Moscow, Latah, Idaho (see 1900 census cited above).

      ACTION:
      1. Look up early Utah territorial census to confirm Don Smith's research note above.