In August of the year 1835 Silas Holt came to Michigan and took up one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government, which is the farm now owned by William Howlett, part of it being in Bunkerhill and the rest in Ingham township. Here he built a log house and stable and made his home. Here he lived until his death of his wife in the early seventies. He then sold the farm and went to live with his son, John in Bunkerhill township, where he died in 1879 in the month of December. Although he always owned and lived upon a farm, he was a carpenter by trade and always worked at it. He was formerly a Whig but became a Republican when the party was formed out of the old Whig party. He was active in political interests but would never consent to hold office. He belonged to no church or fraternal organization. His wife was a member of the Baptist church.
Byron Holt was the fourth child in a family of nine: G. A., born May 17, 1836, a farmer and lives in Locke township. His wife was Martha Muscat and they have three children; Rominer, born November 16, 1827, married Hattie Hopkins, worked in a foundry in Dansville, became a farmer and moved to Kansas, then to the state of Washington and finally to Oklahoma, where he died in September, 1902; Mary Adeline, born February 2, 1830. She married first Manley Gray and the John Spencer. She is a widow and lives with her son in Mason; Samantha, born December 25, 1833, was the wife of Elam Hopkins and afterwards married Melvin Titus. She is a widow and lives in Mason; Almira E., born March 7, 1836, the wife of Hiram Burrell. She is a widow and lives with a son in Ohio; Squire, born January 14, 1838, his wife was Hannah Lord and he is a resident of Munity, Michigan; Harriet Viola, born February 1, 1840, wife of George Lord of Stockbridge, died January 23, 1905; John Charles, born July 15, 1842, his first wife was Etta Shipple and the second, Sarah Bradfield. He lives in Bunkerhill township.
Our subject was educated in the district school of Ingham township, and April 15, 1855, was married to Minerva N. Felton, who was born in Oneida county, N. Y., September 14, 1833, and was the daughter of Abner and Elizabeth (Briggs) Felton, natives of New York. The father was born March 12, 1792, and died March 9, 1860, and the mother, August 28, 1793, and died March 2, 1860.
Mrs. Holt was the ninth in a family of ten children, two now living: Manforn, born February 3, 1817, whose first wife was Susan Riggs and the second, Jane Herrington, lived in Stockbridge; Daniel, born December 29, 1817, died in 1900. His wife was Margaret Hayes and they lived in California; Hannah, born March 17, 1819, the wife of Sam Hayes; Susan, born May 24, 1822, the wife of Rube Smith, formerly lived in Stockbridge, now lives in Kalamazoo county; Mercy, born April 26, 1824, died December 18, 1845, the wife of Ira Beebe; Clarissa, born February 9, 1827, the wife of Robert Wilson, lives in North Lansing; Eliza, born May 11, 1828, the second wife of Ira Beebe. Her second husband was Horace Lyons; Jedson, born July 10, 1831, died December 9, 1893; our subject's wife; Abner, born April 19, 1839, married Nancy Douglas. He died March 26, 1889.
Byron Holt bought eighty acres of the one hundred and sixty which his father owned and after his marriage he built a log house and stable and made his home here. He has since added forty acres and built a fine house and barns. Our subject and his brother, Squire, enlisted in Co. B., 26th Regiment of Michigan Infantry in August, 1862, and served until the close of the war. The brother Squire had two fingers nearly shot off one hand but our subject was fortunate in not being wounded during the whole war.
To Mr. and Mrs. Holt have been born seven children: Ida, May 18, 1857, married Sam Miller of Missouri and they have five children; Samantha, April 18, 1859, married Charles Fortman of White Oak; Lee, June 17, 1861, died at the age of three years; Mina, March 17, 1863, married Frank Pultz of Missouri; Squire, March 24, 1868, married Linne Eggleston of Ingham township; Wert B., October 28, 1870, married Lucy Dow, lives in Saginaw, employed in the Automobile Works, and Chester P., July 2, 1873, married Amelia Bachelor and practises dentistry in Stockbridge.
Our subject has always given his support to the Republican party though never an office seeker. He was formerly a member of the G. A. R. Mrs. Holt's parents were formerly the owners of Peal Shanty in Stockbridge township.
Our subject is successfully engaged in general farming in Ingham township, where he is well and favorably known.
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 Sondra Higbee
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