BIOGRAPHY - John H. Holmes
JOHN H. HOLMES is the resident and managing partner of the firm of
Keiser, Holmes & White, Elevator Company, of Gibson City. This company was
organized in December, 1886, and does a general grain and lumber business.
They have an elevator at Gibson which has a storage capacity of forty-five
thousand bushels; one at East Lynn, of twenty-five thousand bushels, and
handle grain at Switch D. They handle during the shipping season a total of
three hundred thousand bushels of grain. Their lumber business, which is
extensive, is limited to the Gibson City yard.
Mr. Holmes was born in Pike County, Ill., on the 22d of May, 1851, and is a
son of Cyrus and Calista (Bennett) Holmes. His father was born in Waltham,
Mass., in 1817, and his mother was a native of the State of New York. Mr.
Holmes, Sr., came to Illinois when about seventeen years of age, and the
mother of our subject removed to this State in girlhood. They were married
in Princeton, Ill., and made their home in Pike County, where Mr. Holmes
engaged in farming. He continued that occupation in Pike County until 1869
then moved on a farm near Ludlow, Champaign County, where he remained until
his death, in 1886. Mrs. Holmes survived her husband five years, being
called to her final rest in February, 1891. They were highly respected
people and received the confidence of the entire community where they made
their home.
Our subject was reared on his father's farm until twenty-one years of age,
and received his education in the country schools of Pike County. On the
31st of December, 1873, he was married in Ludlow, Ill., to Miss Mary Cloyd,
a daughter of Archie Cloyd, and a native of Mercer County, Ky. Unto Mr. and
Mrs. Holmes have been born four children, but three are now deceased. Belva,
their eldest, died at the age of six years; Bertha, deceased, was of the
same age as her sister; Fay died when eleven months old, and Stella, their
only living child, is the youngest.
In 1877, Mr. Holmes removed with his family to what is now known as Fall
River, Kan., and there made his home until 1880, when he returned to
Illinois and engaged in agricultural pursuits for two years. He came to
Gibson City in August, 1882, and engaged in buying and shipping hay until
1886, since which time he has been buying and shipping grain. He has been
very successful in his present business, and is one of the industrious and
enterprising citizens of Gibson.
In political sentiment, Mr. Holmes is a stanch Republican, and while in
Kansas was Township Treasurer, and since coming to Gibson City has served
one term as Village Trustee. Our subject and his estimable wife are
consistent members of the Christian Church, and have been identified with
that body for the past twenty-four years. As a business man and citizen, Mr.
Holmes takes rank among the enterprising and public-spirited citizens of
Gibson, and has, by strict integrity and correct business and social habits,
won the esteem and respect of those who know him best.
Extracted 28 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from Portrait and Biographical Record of Ford County, Illinois, published in 1892, pages 283-284.
