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Hiram Holmes, deceased, was born March 9, 1809, in Kingston, Mass., a descendant of the old Puritan stock who
came over in the Mayflower. He was a son of Charles and Rebecca (Briggs) Holmes, the former a native of Kingston,
Mass., arid the latter a native of Halifax, Mass. He received a liberal education, and after leaving the academy
at Bridgewater. Mass., he taught school several terms in Massachusetts. He then began the study of medicine, but
on coming West, in 1830, he took up surveying, and acted as agent for parties who were buying land in the State
of Illinois. At the breaking out of the Black Hawk war he volunteered as a private soldier, but was soon promoted
and served during the war as Sergeant and Adjutant. He first came to La Salle in pursuit of the enemy, and assisted
in the construction of a fort near where the city now stands. He built a large flour-mill at Audabon, now Pana,
near Hillsboro, where he married, in 1842, Beulah Prentice Tufts, of Charlestown, Mass., a teacher in the Hillsboro
Academy. He was so favorably impressed with La Salle County that he located in Eden Township in 1844, where he
served as Justice of the Peace several years, till his wife's death in 1853. She left three children - Hiram, born
at Hillsboro in 1844, married Emma Foster, and resides in La Salle City; Beulah, married Captain J. A. Lee and
resides in Topeka, Kan., and Horace, married and living in Detroit, Mich. Mr. Holmes was again married in 1855
to Mrs. Sarah E. Gilbert, born in Gloucester, Mass., a daughter of Captain William H. Dolliver, and to this union
were born three children - Edward D., a resident of Dakota; George B., on the homestead, and Anna. After his second
marriage he settled at Peru, remaining there five years. Having purchased land immediately south of La Salle, he
removed his family there in the summer of 1860 where he followed farming till his death in November, 1874. He was
esteemed by a large circle of friends, endearing himself to all by his kind and courteous manner. He was a staunch
temperance man till his death. He left a farm of 160 acres of valuable land which is underlaid with the best of
coal. Mrs. Holmes and her son George carry on the farm.
FROM:
History of La Salle County, Illinois
Inter-State Publishing Co.
Chicago 1886
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