Lewis Francis Holt (1812-1859), Louisiana Plantation Owner

The Holt family history is interesting and probably typical of the wealthy southern plantation owners of the 1800s prior to the Civil War. While researching my husband Mike's maternal ancestry I discovered articles about Thomas and Lewis F. Holt, sons of John and Isabella Hardeman Holt,  that piqued my curiosity about this family. I found enough information to follow the life of Lewis Francis Holt from his birth to his death.

Early Life in Tennessee

There is no blood relation between my husband and the Holt family. Lewis F. Holt's daughter, Tennessee A. Holt, married John Hall Wilkins, Sr. on 31 January 1867 in Rusk County, Texas. John Hall Wilkins, Sr. was the overseer on the Holt plantation near Brentwood, Tennessee. On 26 February 1869 Tennessee gave birth to twins, John Hall Wilkins, Jr. and Tennessee Holt Wilkins. She died in March 1869 at 26 years of age leaving twins less than two months old. John Hall Wilkins, Sr. married again on 11 August 1870 to Rebecca Jeffries, the widow of a Confederate Civil War soldier. John and Rebecca are Mike's great-great-grandparents. Their oldest son, Dee Jeffries Wilkins, is the father of my husband's grandmother, Nelda Mae Wilkins.

Lewis Francis Holt was born in Williamson County, Tennessee on 9 July 1812. He grew up on the Holt Farm near Brentwood, Williamson County, Tennessee and was known to friends and relatives as "Luke" Holt. The Holt family were pioneers in Williamson County having emigrated there from North Carolina before 1800. Many of the early inhabitants of Williamson County were veterans of the Revolutionary War who had been paid for their service in land grants. In 1835, Thomas Holt built a large house on land originally granted to his grandfather, Christopher Holt, for his service in the Revolutionary War.  By 1859, Thomas Holt owned 682 acres and 14 slaves and operated a plantation which grew crops of cotton and soybeans. In the 1850 U.S. Federal Census his real estate was valued at $10,000 - quite a large sum for that period. The land continued as a plantation until the end of the Civil War. According to the history of the Holt House, "After the war, the farm continued to produce crops such as cotton and soybeans, with many of the former slaves and their families staying on as hired farmers and caretakers of the land. The Holts built homes, a school, and a church for the African-American community that worked and lived on the farm, which functioned into the 1980s when nearly 80% of the 1,200-acre farm was sold to develop a residential subdivision." Thomas Holt's great-grandson, Charles Witherspoon III, shuttered the historic home in 1965. In 2016 the house and nine surrounding acres were sold to a local couple, who planned to restore and renovate the home while honoring its historic legacy. The history and photos of Holt House in Brentwood, Tennessee can be found at www.holthousetn.com.

The Civil War severely affected Williamson County, Tennessee. Three battles were fought within the county: the Battle of Brentwood, the Battle of Thompson's Station and the Battle of Franklin which had some of the highest fatalities of the war. The large plantations suffered greatly and the economy was devastated. The worst of the tragedies for the county was the loss of many of the youth who were killed during the war. The McGavock Confederate Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee contains the bodies of 1,481 soldiers and is the largest private Confederate cemetery in America.

On 27 March 1834, Luke Holt married Emily Cummins in Williamson County, Tennessee. Their first two children, daughters Mary Perkins Holt (1835-1858)  and Rachel C. Holt (1837-1879), were born in Williamson County, Tennessee.

Migration to Caddo Parish, Louisiana

In1839, Luke Holt moved his family to Caddo Parish, Louisiana to begin building his own plantation and establishing himself there as a planter.  L. F. Holt is on the 1840 U. S. Federal Census in Caddo Parish, Louisiana with his wife, two daughters, and five slaves.

Marriage Record for Lewis F. Holt and Emily Cummins

1843 Land Patent for 477 acres in Caddo Parish

On 1 April 1843, Lewis F. Holt acquired two land patents in Caddo Parish, Louisiana between the towns of Bethany and Greenwood. One patent was for 477 acres and the other was for 238.89 acres.
Over the next 10 years, he had purchased land patents for almost 1,200 acres of land in Caddo Parish. He had a partnership with his brother Thomas who continued to live in Brentwood, Tennessee but they shared two land patents, dated 1 September 1849, in Caddo Parish totaling 160 acres.

Greenwood, Louisiana was established in 1839 after the forced removal of the Caddo Indians to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). In 1840 the small village of Bethany boasted of one log store, a tavern, a grain mill run by water, and a tanning yard. Shreveport was only a day's journey away and had a large cotton and agricultural market due to the navigable Red River by steamboats.
There were a lot of travelers passing through Bethany because it was so near Shreveport and also a stopping point for settlers moving to the Republic of Texas. The Holt plantation bordered Texas and the town of Bethany. The northern part of Bethany is in Caddo Parish, Louisiana and the southern part in northeastern Panola County, Texas - it is an unincorporated community.

A Death in the Family

From the years 1841 to 1846 the Holts added four more children to their family. Three more daughters, Isabella R. Holt (1841-1870), Tennessee A. Holt (1843-1869), Caroline Emily "Emma" Holt (1846-1924) and one son, John Thomas "Clay" Holt (1844-1879).

According to the 1850 U.S. Federal Census-Slave Schedules, Lewis F. Holt owned 54 slaves. He had built quite a large plantation and his family grew as well. Tragedy visited the Holt family in February of 1850 when Emily Cummins Holt died at the age of 37. The cause of Emily's death is unknown. Luke was left alone with six dependent children age 15 years to 4 years of age. He had many relatives and help on the plantation to take care of everyday tasks but the children needed a mother. On 5 June 1851, he married Laura Peltiahs Beall who was born in Floyd County, Georgia in 1833. She was not yet 18 years old and Luke was 39 years old when they married but this was not uncommon in those times and she did quite well by marrying a wealthy plantation owner. Luke and Laura added three more children to the family, Thaddeus Solon Holt (1852-1920), Romaldus Edwin Holt (1855-1919), and Mary Lewis Holt (1858-1891).

The Holt family carried on and I found very little information until 12 March 1856 when a notice was placed in the newspaper announcing the "closing up immediately all the outstanding affairs of the late firms of T. & L. F. Holt, Holt & Moore, Holt & Hall, and of L. F. Holt". There is no more information regarding this announcement but he did not sale his home or land at this time.

Tragedy Strikes Holt Family

Unfortunately, the life of Lewis Francis Holt ended tragically on the 27 May 1859. According to an article in the newspaper, Daily True Delta, dated 10 June 1859, "On the 27th ult., near Bethany, in Caddo parish, Mr. L.F. Holt, a respectable planter of this parish, was shot by Shed Boren. After Mr. Holt was shot, Mr. J. F. Camp struck him two or three times. Mr. Holt expired in a few minutes. The perpetrators of this outrageous deed immediately made their escape. Should they be taken, a legal investigation will take place, as the coroner's inquest found a true bill."

Murder of Mr. L. F. Holt of Caddo Parish

There is no explanation regarding the reason for the attack on Luke Holt nor any background information on Shed Boren or J. F. Camp. I did find a newspaper article that proves that Shed Boren was arrested and in prison for the murder of L. F. Holt and this article in the Bossier Banner, dated 29 July 1859, detailing the most unusual and unimaginable demise of Shed Boren. There was no mention of what happened to Mr. Camp but hopefully, he did not escape punishment for his part in the murder. I have wondered why on earth he felt the need to strike Mr. Holt so many times after he had been shot! 

Ghastly Suicide 

Laura Beall Holt, at the age of 26 years, was a widow with seven children at home and a large plantation. In 1860 Laura Holt and all of the children were living with her step-daughter Rachel Holt and her husband James Beall. James was Laura's nephew - very small world back then and there were many family connections through blood or marriage. Rachel and James Beall had three children of their own so there were three adults and ten children living together in one household in Shreveport, Louisiana. Laura Holt died in 1864 and once again six children were left without parents. It is probable that they remained in the household of James and Rachel Holt Beall until they married. James was a physician and farmer and the children most likely had an inheritance to help support them.

Estate of Lewis Francis Holt

It is unknown who took over the plantation following the death of Luke Holt. On the 1860 U. S. Federal Census-Slave Schedule there is no Holt surname listed as a slave owner. The house and land remained the property of the Holt family as proven by the succession sale mentioned below. The Civil War started two years after Luke Holt's death so whoever maintained it after his death probably had a difficult time once war broke out. The next news regarding the estate was the sale of the property.

Laura P. Beall, Administratrix of Lewis F. Holt Estate

A surprising statistic: In 1860 the state of Louisiana's slave population made up 47% of the total population and in Caddo Parish, the slave population was 60.8 % of the total population.

Probate Sale of the Lewis F. Holt Plantation
2 March 1867

The estate of Lewis F. Holt included the 1200 acres of land in cultivation, a comfortable house, all the necessary outhouses, a good water well, and a gin-house - no not that kind y'all - one that gins cotton. There were two other tracts of land, one containing 40 acres more or less, and one containing 73 acres more or less. William C. Agurs bought the 1200 acre plantation from the Holt heirs for $10,282.05. William C. Agurs was married to Mary Perkins Holt from 1855 until her death in 1858. She was the oldest child of Lewis F. and his first wife, Emily Cummins Holt. William and Mary had one son John Lafayette who was born in 1856. Shortly after the death of his wife Mary, William and his son moved to Texas. He married Frances Moore on 3 February 1859 and lived in Harrison County, Texas until he enlisted in the Civil War with 17th Regiment of the Texas Cavalry. After the war, he purchased the Holt Plantation in a succession (probate) sale in January 1867 and moved back to Caddo Parish. His wife Frances died in April 1868 at the plantation and he remarried for the third and last time to Margaret Martin in September 1869. William died in 1878 and in the 1880 U. S. Federal Census Margaret Martin Agurs was still living on the plantation in the village of Greenwood. Sometime between 1880 and 1900, Margaret had moved to Shreveport where she was listed on the 1900 U. S. Federal Census. I have been unable to find any more information online regarding the Holt plantation in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. There are probably many manuscripts and records available locally in Caddo Parish regarding the history of all the plantations which are gone forever and those still standing as a reminder of life in the old south.

Descendants of Lewis F. Holt & Emily Cummins

1. Mary Perkins Holt (1835-1858), married William Culp Agurs (1822-1878) on 23 February 1855.
2. Rachel C. Holt (1837-1879), married James Thaddeus Beall (1833-1872) on 23 February 1855.
3. Isabella R. Holt (1841-1870), married James Christopher Hudson (1826-1863) on 17 Dec 1859.
4. Tennessee A. Holt (1843-1869), married John Hall Wilkins (1829-1899) on 31 Jan 1867.
5. John Thomas "Clay" Holt (1844-1879), married Lavinia Waty Cunyus (1847-1914) on 16 Mar 1861.
6. Caroline Emily "Emma" Holt (1846-1924), married John Martin Thompson (1829-1907) on 18 Jul 1871.

I haven't spent a lot of time researching the lives of Lewis F. Holt's children after his death but a few bits of information were easily found. The records indicate that all of the Holt children and their families migrated to East Texas by mid-1860s. The earliest record of the Holts in East Texas is the marriage record of Tennessee A. Holt and John Hall Wilkins in 1867 in Rusk County, Texas. Rachel Holt and James Beall are in the 1870 U. S. Federal Census living in Henderson, Rusk County, Texas. Living with them are their five children, Rachel's sister Isabella Holt Hudson and her son Cuthbert, age 9, John T. Holt (Rachel and Isabella's brother), Romaldus Holt (Rachel, Isabella, and John's half-brother), John Hall Wilkins, Jr. and Tennessee Wilkins, 1 year old twins who are the children of her late sister Tennessee A. Holt and John Hall Wilkins, Sr. I have not found John Hall Wilkins, Sr. on the 1870 census but he married Rebecca Jeffries about two weeks after the census was taken and probably the twins were reunited with their father at that time. Isabella's husband, James C. Hudson, was a Confederate soldier who died at the Battle of Chickamauga, 20 January 1863 leaving behind a wife and 2-year-old son. Caroline Emily "Emma" was the only child I could not find on the 1870 census. Most likely she was living in Rusk County at the time because she married there in July of 1871 and all of her family was there. It's possible she was living with another family or that the census taker just missed her.

That is all I have on the Holt family but I hope to follow-up soon with the story of the Wilkins family and the ancestry of my husband's maternal grandmother.


Sources:

John William Wilkins (1928-2010), Wilkins Family historian, researcher, and genealogist. Articles located at the Longview Public Library, Genealogy & Local History Department, Longview, Texas.

Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (https://glorecords.blm.gov/default.aspx).

"Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93F-496Z-D?i=265&cc=1619127).

Ancestry.com. Texas, Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1965 [database on-line]. (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60183).

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Library of Congress. The South-Western, (Shreveport, La.). 1852-1870, March 19, 1856, Image 3. Image provided by Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016483/1856-03-19/ed-1/seq-3/).

Library of Congress. The South-Western, (Shreveport, La.). 1852-1870, June 15, 1859, Image 3. Image provided by Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016483/1859-06-15/ed-1/seq-3/).

Genealogy Bank. Bossier Banner, July 29, 1859, Benton, LA, Vol. 1, Page 3. (https://www.genealogybank.com).

Holt House (http://www.holthousetn.com/).

Find A Grave, (https://www.findagrave.com/).

Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8057).

Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census-Slave Schedules [database on-line]. (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8055).

Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7667).

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line].(https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7163).

Ancestry.com. Louisiana, Compiled Marriage Index, 1718-1925 [database on-line].
(https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=7837).

Handbook of Texas Online, Christopher Long, "BETHANY, TX (PANOLA COUNTY), accessed November 5, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrb27.