Ebenezer Gregg Danforth Holden, a former attorney of Grand Rapids and insurance agent, is the youngest of five sons, and was born February 18, 1834, in a pioneer’s cabin at Kirkland, Cyahoga county, Ohio. His parents Josiah Rhodes and Joanna Reed (Danforth) Holden, natives of New Hampshire, were married January 24, 1824. They lived together sixty-three years, when death took the father at the advanced age of ninety.

On the father’s side the genealogy of the family in America has been traced back 280 years, and on the mother’s 171—the father being a descendant from English Puritan stock and the mother from Scotch-Irish, whose origin, under the surname of Gregg, appears in the history of Londonderry, Ireland, as early as 1690. Oliver Holden, of Charlestown, Mass., was the author of the world renowned hymn, Coronation. The Hon. Samuel Holden, president of the Bank of England, though he never saw America, erected a chapel at Harvard university in 1744, which is still is use and has always been known as the Holden chapel. The brick of which it is built were brought from England, as none were then made in America. The donor of this then magnificent building also endowed the college with 2,000 pounds sterling a year, which, by his will, continued to be paid many years after his death, or until the opening days of the Revolution cut odd fraternal relations between the two countries. Many of the Holden descendants in America have been educated at old Harvard, but the subject of this sketch never saw it or the chapel until 1877. The Holden chapel is now used as a lecture room, and after the lapse of 145 years is still in good preservation—its street gable being finished with a carved bas relief of the Holden arms. The parties last above named and many others of note were among the ancestors, near and remote, of the Holden of this sketch, whose life, until he became his own man, was that of a pioneer’s boy, his father, moving from Ohio to Illinois while ’Gregg’ was yet an infant, and finally becoming a settler in the South Woods (now the township of Byron), Kent county, Mich., November 18, 1845. He died and was buried there.

E. G. D. Holden has been in nearly every state in the Union, but had forty-four years of residence in Kent county, and is now a resident of Florence, Oregon. At the age of seventeen years, with only about two months’ schooling all told, he set about educating himself, and succeeded so well that he entered college, later taught school, and studied law—the records of Kent county circuit court showing him to have been admitted to the bar March 5, 1859.

Being republican in politics, he early took an active interest in the success of his party. He was eight years secretary of Kent county republican committee, and six years its chairman. He was six years chairman of the congressional committee, and served four years as a member of the state central committee. Amid the deflections of 1872, as chairman of the county committee, he achieved one of the most noted victories his party ever rejoiced ever in this county. Every Ward in the city went republican except one, and every township in the county except one, and the combined opposition majority in these was only nine. The republican county candidates were elected the same year by from 2,000 to 3,000 majority.

He was prosecuting attorney from 1863 to 1867, and secretary of state from 1875 to 1879, both inclusive—two full terms., Although twice nominated for secretary of state, no state convention ever cast a ballot for him. He was always nominated by acclamation.

For more than fifteen years he was intimately connected with the schools of Grand Rapids, as trustee, moderator, and director of the West Side Union School. He was one of the first to favor the consolidation of all school interests under one management, and rejoiced when this union was accomplished. Teachers and scholars never had more stanch friend than he.

He was grand master of the Odd Fellows of Michigan seven years after his initiation, but subsequently severed his connection with that order, owing to the position assumed by the grand sire, in regard to the uniform degree of the Knights of the Patriarchal Circle. He has since been at the head of the latter order in the United States, serving one term, and was an officer on the staff of the supreme commander, with the rank of brigadier-general.

In 1870, in connection with his partner at that time, he originated and assisted in organizing and incorporating the Grand Rapids Savings Bank, and was a member of its first board of directors. He engaged in the local insurance business in May, 1860, and for more than thirty-five years adhered steadily to insurance work. He has been special agent, state and general agent and adjuster for many companies, and as such has traveled extensively. His two sons, Charles and Henry were admitted to partnership in May, 1888—the new firm making law and real estate a part of their business, and having an office on each side of the river.

Mr. Holden married, August 24, 1858, Miss Melissa E. Smith, of Marion, N. Y., who, like himself, was the child of New England parents. They have three children—the two sons above mentioned, and Mary H., the wife of Judge Willis B. Perkins, of the firm of Judkins & Perkins, attorney at law in Grand Rapids. Mr. Holden is not a member of any church; is liberal in his religious views, believes in the good and true everywhere, and recognizes these essentials in all creeds, but gives none an exclusive jurisdiction.

Mr. Holden is an exceedingly well-proportioned man, stands five feet ten inches, and weighs 180 pounds; is still a very active man and is a severe student. He has been much

on the lecture platform, and his contributions to the press, both prose and verse, have been many and varied. The nom de plume of "Robert Roland" was at one time quite familiar to the public, and though he has not abandoned it, yet of late generally puts out his productions over his somewhat lengthy nomen. He is a voracious reader, and a ready, rapid writer. He has a cordial hand, a cheery word and a smile for every friend, and goes about everything he undertakes with a certain assurance of success