The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-06-28
COL. THOMAS NJ. HOLT.
THE MAN WHO WILL BE OUR
NEXT LIEUT.. GOVERNOR.

THE MAN WHO WILL BE OUR
NEXT LIEUT.. GOVERNOR.
A Sketch of his early life. Where h;
was Born Parentage, Education and
his Labors for North Carolina's In.
dustriaI Advancement.
from the Ners and O5seruer.)
There are few men among us who
have done more for the welfare of the
State than Col. Thomas M. Holt. He
is not unknown to his fellow citizens
we have all heard of him. He is a
living proof of the possibilities OF
North Carolina. He is in himself a
successful demonstration pf what can
be accomplished by North Carolina
sense, North Carolina training and
North Carolina industry applied to
North Carolina raw material. His
hand has been :, factor and his sue
cess at once IL product and an expon-
ent OF the new life and startling pro-
gress of our State, and his life is a
part and parcel of the history OF the
rise and progress of material develop
ment in North Carolina. He is known
as an able, conscientious, patriotic
gentleman, and perhaps as the most
conspicuous leader in the great indus
trial movement that is pushing North
Carolina so steadily forward along
the line of progress-as a splendid
exemplar to the youth of the State of
industry, economy, personal integrity,
party fidelity and devotion to the
public good. Upon our manufaetur-
Ing and agricultural possibilities must
be based our hopes for prosperity and
greatness as State, and our candidate
ought to be a man of the people and
sprung from them, and one who is IN
sympathy and accord with them. The
public record Of Col. Holt shows that
he is such man, and that in his pub
lie life he has advocated every meas
ure that tended to the material adj
vancement of his State.
Thomas Michael Holt was born
July 10, 1881, in that part of Orange
county, North Carolina, which was
atterward1 erected into the county of
Alamance. His birthplace was on
the IMMORTAL field of Alamance, where
the Regulators shed the first hood in
behalf of American liberty. Michael
Hot. of Haw Fields, was his grand
iathep, and was a colleague Of JAS.
Mehane in the North Carolina legis-
iature, in which body he early took
str ng and advanced ground in favor
of internal improvements, and even
at that early day advocated what is
known as the North Carolina system,
yis a railroad from the Tennessee
line to Morehead City.
He received his primary education
partly at home under a private teach
er and partly at the Caldwell Institute,
then located at Hillsboro, N. c., ur der
Rev. Alexander Wilson, a Presby
ttaslrian divine, eminent inF scholarship
and for success as an instructor oi
youth. There he was prepared foI
the Sophomore Glass in the Unive ri
ty of North Carolina, which he cit
tired in June, 1S49. Among his as
ao5iates at the University were Sena-
foE Vance, Hon A.. NJ, Wadecll.
Judge Settle, Judge w. A. Moore
Prof w. C. Kerr, Hon. Thomas e
Fuller and Hon. r. III. Battle.
Leavingt he University, young Ii-li
vent to Philadelphia to isarn business
and book keeping, being placed IN
Wholesale dry goods house in that ats
by his father, who designed from tn
first to make business man of hin
Instead Of a professional man. H'
remained in business until OctoDel
l1th, 1851. His father, Edwin M
Holt, who, it may he remarked, was
pioneer of the manufacturing industr.
in Alamance and the surrounding
country. having established the frs
plaid mills built eouth of the Potomac
River, had bought out the interest Q
his partner in the cotton manufactur
ing firm of Holt & Carrigop. Th
establishment was known as the Ala
nance Cotton Factory, was located O
Aiamance creek, and was erected l
1881,
Mr Holt, upon ionpletion OF u
purchase, took his son in with him, 7
assist In the management of the bus
ness, which was successfully COMO ucte
hx father and son until 1860 i
that year Col. Holt bought his pre-
ent cotton factory, ON Haw rive
Alamanee county, known as the Grar
fte Cotton Mills. It was then sma
concersnu,1Eiith only 52S spindles.
has now S,444 spindles and 434 loon
and consumes daily from 10 TO
bales of cotton, and furnishes suppol
to at least 200 men, women and CHI
dren, and is the largest factory IN q
State owned by one man. The goos
manufactured there are honest goo
and are sold all over the Unite
States-from New York to Galvesto
from Ihe Atlantic cbast to the Koes
Mountains.
The Holt family is largely enga
ed in manufactures, owning some
factories. all of which are IN Aaman
county, except one. The subject
this sketch was brought up on Tar
and in his youthful days was requr'
hy his practical father to plow ~
bind wheat and do other manna
bor ON the farm, thus laying the lou
dation of his present robust heal
snd teaching him the habits Of znklz
Try yhieh haye been the secret of !
slicJess III after years. All men Ct {
HhElD Saxon race Rave a fondn'
f6r the cultivation of the sosI =
with his early training, it will not
surprising that Col Holt is IN exce
tion to the rule. In 1866 be bong
= large farm in Davidson counts :
hated en- the adkin river aad no
asIinAood, 1t contains solae to'