Butte County
Biographies
ROBERT P. HOLMES
ROBERT P. HOLMES.—Robert P. Holmes, county supervisor of Butte County, was born at Springfield, Mo., on August 17,1864, the son of David Reed Holmes, a native of Tennessee, who married there and moved to Springfield, where he took up and improved government land. David Holmes served in the Union army in a regiment made up in Missouri. He resided in one place for fifty-two years; and there, at Springfield, he died, on the home farm now occupied by the youngest child, L. P. Holmes. Mrs. Holmes was Miss Sarah J. Watkins before her marriage, a native of Tennessee, of English descent on both sides of her family. She also died at the home farm, the mother of eight children, seven of whom are still living.
The fifth eldest child in his parents’
family, and the only one now in California, Robert P. Holmes was brought up on
the home place, and for a short time attended the local public school, which
afforded, at best, but a limited schooling; and at home, working on the farm
endeared by many associations, he remained until he was eighteen years old. In
1882, however, when renewed attention was being given to California in the
East, Mr. Holmes struck out for the Pacific Coast. By hard work, early and
late, at a wage of but six dollars and twenty-five cents a month, he had saved
about sixty-five dollars; but when he arrived in Chico he had just seventy-five
cents left. The next morning, however, he entered the employ of Mr. Walker,
nine miles north of town; and there he remained for four years.
In the Rock Creek district, nine
miles north of Chico, in 1886, Mr. Holmes was married to Miss Alice Anderson,
who was born on the ranch where she lived and was wedded, the daughter of
Robert Anderson, a pioneer of California and a well-known Indian fighter, who,
as captain of a company in the Indian wars, hunted the Redskins out and rounded
them up. He was a farmer up to the time of his death, in 1915, at the age of
seventy-five years. For two terms of two years each, he was sheriff of Butte
County. At Rock Creek, Miss Anderson was reared and educated, until her
marriage. The first business venture entered upon by Mr. and Mrs. Holmes was the renting of a ranch on the
Nelson adobe plains; but great floods sweeping that way, after four years, they
lost all their savings, and with his wife, two babies, and a capital of but
fifty cents, he started again as manager on the Capt. Bob Anderson ranch, while
the owner held the office of sheriff. He then bought twenty acres two and a
half miles north of Chico, built a small farm house, thereby incurring a debt
of seventeen hundred fifty dollars, rented other lands, raised hay and stock,
and so gradually prospered, paid off all indebtedness, and added largely to his
holdings. Now he owns a ranch of sixty-five acres at Durham, where he has
twenty-two acres set out to prunes, and forty acres with almond orchards. He
bought this in 1910, and reclaimed it from raw land, operating without
irrigation, and now has the finest almond orchard in the county. Mr. Holmes
built an attractive residence at Fourth Avenue and Magnolia Streets, in Chico Vecino.
Five children have been born to Mr.
and Mrs. Holmes. Maude Elizabeth is Mrs. A. V. Allen, of Chico; Claude Lester
is a mining man, and is located in Arizona; Grace is Mrs. Philip Peltz, of Chico; Harry is an expert machinist, and is a
member of the United States Expeditionary Forces in France; and Earl is still
attending high school. Mr. Holmes was a
school trustee and clerk of the Webster district for several terms, his choice
being made under circumstances proving his entire acceptability to the
community. A true-blue Republican, he was nominated in 1910 for supervisor,
over four others in his own party. At the November polls he was elected; and in
January, 1911, he took office. In 1914,
he was renominated over four opponents; and when
elected, he was chosen by a majority of three hundred seventy-six. His term
expires in January, 1919. During 1914, 1915, and 1918, he was chairman of the
board. He is a member of Chico Lodge, B.
P. O. Elks, and of the Red Men. Mrs.
Holmes is an active member of the Presbyterian Church.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 569-570, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2007 Sande Beach.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies