Daniel Maxwell Holden - Colorado Pioneer

From: Portrait and Biographical Record of the State of Colorado, 1899

DANIEL MAXWELL HOLDEN, a pioneer of 1859, now deceased, was born near Antwerp, N. Y., August 10, 1833. His father, Zophar Holden, a native of Vermont and a descendant of Scotch ancestry, settled near Antwerp, Jefferson County, N.Y., where he engaged in farming until his death. He married Jerusha Harrison, who was born in Vermont and died in Warrensburg, Mo. They became the parents of eleven children, but all of these are now deceased. One of the sons, Maj. Nathaniel Holden, was receiver of the United States land office in Warsaw, Mo., and owned large tracts of land occupied by the present town of Holden, which was named in his honor. During the war he was a member of a Missouri regiment and was assassinated by guerillas at his sister's home near Lee Summit. Another son, Lieut. -Gov. William Holden, who went to California in the days of the gold excitement, became a prominent politician and served as lieutenant-governor and for a short time as governor; also as state senator and a member of the legislature; his death occurred in California.

Another son, Stephen, came to Colorado in early days and was engaged in the sheep business in Bijou Basin until his death.

At sixteen years of age the subject of this memoir went to Missouri, joining his older brother, Major Holden. Afterward he attended the academy at Warrensburg and was employed in the United States land office, under his brother. In 1859, buying up a herd of cattle and horses, he came to Colorado, via the Arkansas route, and located on Cherry Creek, now within the city limits of Denver. Arriving there on the 1 3th of July he at once embarked in the dairy business, and later located a ranch in Bijou Basin El Paso County, on the Elbert County line, near what is now Peyton. It was his custom for several years to return to Missouri every fall and buy cattle and horses, which he would drive to Colorado. Several times Indians threatened to attack him on his ranch, but he never had an encounter with them. His ranch comprised about fifteen hundred acres and had many springs, besides the additional advantage which irrigation gives. A natural shelter for the stock was afforded by the bluffs and pine trees found in abundance on the place. He made a specialty of raising graded Shorthorns, in which he met with success.

In 1872 Mr. Holden brought his family to Colorado Springs. Here he assisted in the organization of the Exchange National Bank, of which he served as a director from its establishment, and was president during the last six years of his life. He was also a stockholder in the El Paso Electric Company, owned considerable property in Colorado Springs, and had mining interests in Cripple Creek, Aspen and Silverton. He was an active member of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association. In the Society of Colorado Pioneers and the El Paso County Pioneers' Society he was a prominent member. Fraternally he was identified with the Odd Fellows and politically was a Democrat.

At Franktown, Douglas County, Colo., November 9, 1864, Mr. Holden married Miss Isabel Hayden, who was born in Elkhart, Ind. Her father, Lewis Hayden, a native of Indiana and a descendant of an Ohio family, removed to Iowa and settled at Hardin, where he built a flour mill and a lumber mill on the Iowa River. In 1863 he brought his family, by wagon, to Colorado, via the Platte route; spending three months in making the journey to Denver. He settled on Plum Creek, sixteen miles south of Denver, in Douglas County. After a year he moved to Bijou Basin, where he took up land and engaged in stock-raising. Later, however, he removed to Pleasant Valley. He died near Coaldale, in the Wet Mountain Valley, at sixty- five years of age. His wife, who was Margaret Williams, a native of Indiana, is still living near Coaldale, and is now seventy-nine years of age. Of their eight children six are living, Mrs. Holden being next to the youngest. Her brother, Frank, is ranching in Lake County, Colo.; Lyman lives in Pleasant Valley; Chauncey resides at Coaldale; Mabel is the wife of William Champ and lives at Poncha Springs; and Hulda, Mrs. Robert Curran, lives at Coaldale. Mrs. Holden was sixteen years of age when the family came to Colorado, and since then she has made this state her home. She is identified with Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., and is much esteemed by her acquaintances. She owns the ranch which was improved by Mr. Holden, and is also still interested in the bank of which he was president. Her family consists of six children, namely: Lawrence, a stockman in Elbert County, near Ramah; Zophar, who is engaged in the stock business in Elbert County near Calhan; Mrs. Edna Mathis, of Monument; Mrs. Olive Jennings, of Manhattan, Kan.; Erma, educated in the schools of Colorado Springs, and J. D., who are with their mother.

Mr. Holden died August 12, 1896, after a brief illness. He was buried from the Presbyterian Church, in which denomination he had been interested. In his death the city lost one of its respected pioneer citizens, a man who had been associated with the history of the state from the earliest days, and one who had many friends in every locality where he had resided. Kind and generous in his intercourse with others, liberal in his benefactions, public- spirited and progressive, his citizenship was of the highest type, and conduced to the advancement of Colorado Springs along the lines of commerce, finance, education and morality.