F R A N C I S T H O L D E R . THE HOLDER MEMORIAL G I VE N T O The C inton Historica Society F I T H L D E R R A N C S . O . A N D R E W E mm a . A H E . C L I N T O N , M A S S C U S T T S I 905 C H-R TH E NEW'O R ' PUBLIC Ll A S T O R L e , n o x AN . T i L D E N FO U N D Afl o ns . 1 9 l 3 C L I N T O N , M A S S P R E S S O F W. C O U L T E R I T E M O E J , F F I C . C O N T E N T S , N D H I A N C E S T O R s . F RANC I S T . H OLDER A s C ' T H E C LINTON H I S TORI AL SOC IET . - T H E L A'ING O F THE C ORNER STONE . — a m e s D un a n . Address Rev . J C . c T ERM S A N D N ATU RE O F THE GIF T . h e t E m l e Statement o f A r c it c i Gr e w y . T D H E EDI C ATION . — i Words o f Welcome J onathan Sm t h . — n Address ';The Old and the New H o . Alfred S . Roe . Address ' The Influence o f the Q uaker o n o ur — National Development Prof . C harles F . Holder . — Poem Caroline H . H older . ' — H Presentation Of eys John . Coyne , for Francis T . Holder . c o f ' — h h h Acceptan e eys Jonat an Smit , for T e Clinton H istorical Society . T H L C E U N HEON . — Toasts and Responses Wellington E . Pa rk hurst , Toastmaster . I L L U S T R AT I O N S . F I T . R A N C s H O R h e . LDE , t donor Frontispiece C HRI S TOPH R C . STO o f E NE , President The Clinton O p p o s i t e Pa ge c 1 — 1 2 8 . 1 6 Historical So iety , 94 90 D AVID H OLDER . R U TH BA s s E T T H OLDER . T H E H OLDER M EM ORIAL . T H E C ENTRAL HALL . O ATHA S M ITH o f T h e J N N , President Clinton His t o ri c a l Society . P ' S o f T h e W I GTO E . AR H U R T ELL N N , Treasurer Clinton Historical Society . F n H l n H i n ra c is T . o de r a d s A c e s tors . E R A N C I S T . H O L D R , the donor o f the Holder f Memorial , is descended from the Holders o H older t h ness , Christopher Holder , the first Of e Holder 1 6 1 . family to live in Am erica , was born in 3 H e inherited considerable prop erty and received a liberal education . Being converted by George F o x to a belief in the principles advocated by the Q uakers , his zeal for the cause led him to become a minister o f the faith . His eloquence as a speaker and the power o f his pen united with his social position to make him a leader among the Friends du ri ng the thirty- five years Of his ministry . The call came t o him t o visit America and testify ' there to the truths revealed to him by the inner light . h h h o n Embarking wit eig t ot er Friends the Speedwell , he 1 reached Boston in the summer o f 656 . H e and his associ o n ates were arrested at the landing , and being brought before Governor Endicott were committed to prison , where they remained eleven weeks . Then they were sent back t o England . t N othing intimidated , Christopher Holder returned o America the next year . At Sandwich , Massachusetts , he and John Cop eland labored for W eeks and gathered as the result o f their labors the first society of Friends ever formed in America . H aving preached in various towns they at last ' T h e wri t er a ck n o wl e d ge s h i s i n d e bte d n es s t o t h e H o l d e rs o f H o l der b h a l e F . H o l d e . n e s s . y C r s r 6 t o o f came Salem , the stronghold bigotry . There in the First Church after the service Christopher Holder a t tempted to address the congregation , but was dragged from the church , brought before Governor Endicott and c o n de m n e d to receive thirty lashes . Bowden says , that after ' u t the sentence was carried o on Boston Common , torn ” and lacerated , they were conveyed to their p ri son cell . While in j ail Christopher Holder, John Copeland and Rich ' D o udn e f ard y prepared their Declaration o Faith , the first Quaker document o f the kind ever written . An order was issued that Holder and Copeland should be whipped every week . In all , during seven weeks , Holder received three hundred and fifty lashes administered with ' a triple ” knotted cord . Then they were threatened and banished from the colony . The next year , however , they returned again from England , and while visiting Sandwich were arrested and whipped . Later in the same year Holder and Copeland ' ” t o went Boston to testify , but they were arrested before c o n they had an Opportunity to Speak , and each was demmed to have his right ear c ut o ff by the hangman . When this sentence had been executed they declared ' ' In the strength o f Go d we suffered j oyfully for the ” sealing o f the testimony which the Lord hath gi ven us . After this they were whipped every week for nine weeks , n f and then banished o pain o death . Yet in the next year we find Christopher Holder in America once more . He was immediately arrested , and three o f his associates were put to death . He , however , n was spared , surely o t because he was less bold in pro claiming his faith , for none was more bold than he , but , o n o f possibly , account the influence Of his friends in Eng / i land . When b a n shed again he acted with other Q uakers in securing an order from Charles II to Endicott that all Quaker prisoners should be set free and that toleration should be granted to the sect . During his later years Christopher Holder had a hom e . 7 in Rhode Island and another in England , but much o f the F o x time he was travelling with George and others , spread ing in England and various portions o f America the doc trines to which he was so devoted . He died in England 6 in 1 88 . The most striking characte ristic of this fou nder o f Q ua ke r i s m in America was his singleness Of purpose . To f spread the doctrines o the inner light , he sacrificed the o f ease o f wealth , the pleasures social p osition and the allurements of scholarship . H e persistently attacked the o f stronghold o f bigotry and , amid countless privations - mind and body , in lon g continued imprisonments , under constant threats o f death , he fought for freedom o f con f science and the gospel o p eace . Though Christopher Holder spent the closing y ears o f his life in England , his descendants continued to live in America . For the next three generations the Holders were among the leading Quakers of New England , and were also prominent in its business interests . D aniel Holder , the f great grandson o Christopher , was a shipbuilder in Nan tucket . Thomas H older , his son , who was born in Nan 2 8 1 tucket September , 7 54, married Sarah Gaskell , a n f Quaker mi ister o high repute . H er home was in that part 1 o f Mendon now called Blackstone . About 778 Thomas Holder and his family moved to Berlin and built the house there still known as the Holder Homestead . H e died in 1 0 1 8 0 . Berlin January , 3 o f David Holder , the fifth the eight children of Thomas 1 2 H older , was born at the Holder H omestead September , 1 788 . He attended the district school and Leicester Acad emy , and afterwards taught school . H e m arried Ruth o f o n e Bassett Uxbridge , who had been of his pupils , and had also been brought up in the Quaker faith . They made their home in the south part o f Bolton o n the Hudson road in a house o f two tenements now known as the George D ow ’ place . David s older brother , Joseph , lived in the other o f half the same house .