Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers.  "An
Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,
Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties")  Spokane, WA: Western Historical
Publishing Co., 1905.  p. 903.
 
WILLIAM HOLDER

     is now one of the thrifty tillers of the soil and lives in the vicinity of
Paisley, Crook county, Oregon, his home being eleven miles south of that place.
He was born on August 11, 1854, near Cornwall, Benton county, Oregon, His
father, Adam Holder, was born in Pennsylvania, crossing the plains from Iowa in
1853 to Benton county and in 1859 settled in Corvallis, where he followed
blacksmithing. In 1885, he came across the mountains to Sherman county where he
is now living, aged eighty-two years. He married Julia A. Kompp, who was born on
the Rhine, in Germany. She came to the United States when a girl and lived in
Iowa where she was married. She is now seventy-two years of age and is still
living. Her father, August Kompp, was an officer in the German army. Our subject
has one brother, Lewis D., of Sherman county, Oregon, and one sister, Mrs.
Pinkie Johnson, deceased. William was educated in the public schools and the
agricultural college at Corvallis. In 1881 he went to Sherman county and engaged
in farming. In 1894, he was elected sheriff of Sherman county, his name
appearing, on the Republican ticket and he was the first Republican sheriff of
the county. So well did he fill the office that two years later he was chosen
again to the same position and in 1898, the people determined to give him a
third term and accordingly he was overwhelmingly elected. This gives him six
years of continuous service in that important once and he left a record of
uprightness and faithfulness seldom exceeded.  In 1900, Mr. Holder went to
Shaniko, where he operated a newspaper for a while, then he bought the
Prineville Review and conducted it for a time. After that, we find him in charge
of the Paisley Post and in the fall of 1903, he purchased one hundred and sixty
acres of good land where he now resides, one-third of which is in cultivation
and it is a splendid estate. It possesses some natural meadow, has an abundance
of water for irrigation, has all the improvements and conveniences as house,
barn, orchard and so forth.
     Mr. Holder has been twice married and has six children: Nellie, the wife of
Erwin Pike of Sherman county; Minnie, wife of Prof. Frank Henry, of Moro,
Oregon; Carl, Neva, Eulalia, and Thomas.
     Mr. Holder is past grand of the I. 0. 0. F. and present noble grand. He is
a member of the encampment, also of the W. W., the Maccabees and the K. P. He
has been representative to the grand lodges of the I. 0. 0. F. and the
Maccabees. He is a man of energy and intelligence, well informed on the
questions of the day and a progressive, public minded citizen.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2011 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.