J. D. Holder, a well known merchant and farmer of Holder Station, was born December 3, 1838, in Tennessee, a son of Spencer and Elizabeth (Hopkins) Holder. The father was born in 1788 in Tennessee, and died May 8, 1876. The mother was born in 1795 in North Carolina, and is still living at the advanced age of ninety-one. The grandfather, John Holder, was of Irish descent, born in Virginia in 1760. He immigrated to Tennessee just prior to the birth of Spencer, and died in May, 1863. Our subject was raised on a farm, and educated at Antioch College, Van Buren County. In 1861 he entered the Confederate service, Company D, Eighth Tennessee Cavalry. In November, 1863, at Rock Island, he was shot in the left hip and disabled for life. After the war he went to Texas, where he was engaged in the saw-mill and merchandise business for nearly two years. He returned to Tennessee and entered into the merchandise business with his father at Holder Station, continuing until 1876. He then managed the concern six years on his own resources. In 1882 he closed out and began farming and stock raising. In 1885 he resumed his former business, in which he has been very successful. He is partner in the firm of Holder & Cooper. After the war he commenced without capital, but by judicious management and economy has amassed a fair share of the world’s goods. He is an enterprising and esteemed citizen, a member of the Christian Church, a demitted member of the I.O.O.F. and a Democrat. In 1860 he married Miss Susan, daughter of Cary and Sarah Gillentine. Seven children have been born to their union: Sallie E. (wife of J. J. Gissom), Charley, Josie, Martha M. Spencer S. T., Allie May and Johnnie E., who died in March, 1885

Source:   Goodspeed Pub. Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present; Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of the Counties of White, Warren, Coffee, DeKalb, and Cannon, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, Etc., Etc. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1887.