My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM B. HOLT was born January 15, 1824, within eight miles of where he now lives, being one of ten children, the fruits of the union of Jacob Holt and Elizabeth Byrom. The father was one of the early pioneers of the county; he was born in 1799 and died in 1874. He was married four times and had a family of twenty-seven children. The mother was a daughter of Henry Byrom, one of the earliest citizens of Franklin County, who came from South Carolina and died in this county. He reared a family of ten children, and was a highly respected old citizen of the county. William B. Holt was reared on the old-time farm and has seen the county develop from a howling wilderness to its present state of civilization and cultivation. He delighted in the sports of hunting and fishing. When twenty-two years of age he was married, in the year 1846 to Miss Sallie Holt, who bore him nine children, eight now living: James H., Eva E., deceased, Turley C., the wife of Rufus Daniel; William J., John A., Thomas M., Joe L., Mary J., wife of Henry Furgerson; and Martha A., wife of James Chilton. He engaged in farming and has continued it ever since. For fifteen years after his marriage he ran a blacksmith shop, and then engaged in gunsmithing, which he has continued ever since. He now owns 450 acres of good land. Himself, wife and six children are members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Holt has taken notice of things that have passed by him, and enjoys his old days in thinking over pioneer times.