Caleb Tarleton Holland was born Jul 28, 1845 in White Day, Virginia (West Virginia after the 1860’s) to Jacob Holland (1816-1875) and Emily Tarleton (1819-1857). Jake was born in Morgantown, West Virginia and died in Harrisburg, Illinois.
Caleb’s parents, Jacob and Emily, were married in Monongalia County, West Virginia Dec 6, 1837. They had six children: Mollie, Cordelia (1840), Brice (1842-1922), Caleb, Romulus D. “Tobe” (1847), Evaline (1849) all born in West Virginia. Emily died in 1857 and Jake remarried to Sophronia Bogus (1825) in Virginia. They had five children: Lucien (1859), Bruce (1861), Idella (1863), Guy (1865) and Zera (1868).
In 1850 The Holland family was living in Monongalia County, West Virginia. Caleb was 4 years old living with Jacob and Emily, Cordelia, 10, Brice, 7, Caleb, Romulus, 2 and Evaline, less than a year. They had another child in 1853, Europa. Jacob was a farmer with real estate valued at $2,500. The whole family was born in West Virginia. Emily died in 1857 and by 1859 Jake had married Saphronia Bogus and they had Lucien.
By the 1860 census, Jacob 44 and Saphronia 23 were living in Marion Illinois. Caleb T. was then 14 living with his siblings: Brice, 17; Romulus, 12; Europa, 7; and Lucian, 1. Lucian was born in Illinois, so they must have migrated from Virginia sometime between 1857 when Emily died in Virginia and 1859 when Lucian was born in Illinois.
Caleb joined Company E, 60th Illinois Infantry in January of 1862; his muster in papers said he was 18 but he was only 16½. He was listed as a brick maker. He was 5’8” with black hair and eyes and a dark complexion. Caleb served until February of 1864 when he re-enlisted as a veteran. On March 6th, his unit was ordered to Illinois on veteran furlough. The men were furloughed from Centralia, Ill., March 15, 1864. On the 18th of April 1864, the unit moved, via Louisville, Nashville and Chattanooga, to Rossville. On April 18, near Albany, Indiana, Caleb deserted after having served a little over two years in service
In 1870, Caleb and his sister, Europa, were living with the Taylor family next door to his parents. Caleb, 24, was a sawyer and Europa, 18, was a school teacher. The only children living with his parents, Jake and Saphronia, were the ones he had with Saphronia.
On December 11, 1870, Caleb and Jerusha A. Norman were married. Jerusha was born on July 1857, the daughter of David Norman and Susannah Klope Norman.
In 1877 J.H. Duncan and Caleb Holland were in the lumber business. Caleb and his family were reported in the local paper to have visited relatives in Zenia, Ohio.
In 1878 Caleb and Jerusha had an infant son die of spinal meningitis.
In 1880 Caleb, 37, and Jerusha , 27, had been married nearly 10 years. They had two daughters, Gertie A., 6, and Elsa, 7 months. They lived in Marion but Caleb was listed as a farmer. Jerusha was born in Illinois and her parents were both born in Tennessee.
Their first daughter, Gertie A. Holland, died in 1884 at the age of 10 years.
Caleb served in the years of 1884 and 1885 as Alderman for the city of Marion under Mayor James C. Jackson. Interestingly, in 1897 and 1898, he also served as Alderman under his brother, Mayor Brice Holland. In the year 1898, another brother, city alderman, Romulus D. Holland, also served. Romulus and Brice were also very active Marion citizens and businessmen. Romulus, a coal oil distributor, lived in a magnificent old home located at 513 S. Market Street that he built in 1875. The home has since been continuously lived in by members of the family to this writing in 2014.
Caleb was also active in the local Masonic lodge #89 serving as their Worshipful Master of the lodge in 1896. He was also active in the Order of the Easter Star, serving as their Sentinel in 1904.
In 1900, Caleb and Jerusha were living with three children: Fred, 18; Dee, 17; and Hattie, 7. Jerusha had had 9 children but only 4 were still living. He had no occupation listed. At the time, Caleb and Jerusha had been married 29 years and they owned their own home free of mortgage.
Caleb’s wife, Jerusha, died in 1903 at age 46, followed by yet another of their children, Fred N. Holland, who was murdered in August, 1907 at the age of 22 while attending the fair in Anna, Illinois.
By the 1910 census, Caleb, 64, had married a woman named Mary, 51, whose last name is yet unknown. They had been married 6 years indicating their marriage occurred about 1904, it was the second marriage for both of them. Hattie was the only child still at home, she was 17. Caleb was a justice of the peace. On the question of whether he was a veteran of the civil war he replied in the affirmative. Two years later, in 1912, their youngest daughter, Hattie died at the age of 19.
In the 1920 census, 74 year old Caleb and 61 year old Mary were living alone. They were still living at 802 N Van Buren St.
In the time frame of 1912, Caleb was working as a Justice of the Peace in Marion.
Caleb T. Holland died on September 20, 1924. His death certificate said he was a retired lumber dealer. His obit mentioned that his parents were Jake and Mary Holland and that he had lived 60 years in Marion. Caleb was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Marion with his first wife, Jerusha, and son, Fred.
Notes on the Children:
Gertie A. Holland was born in 1874 and died May 27, 1884, age 10.
Elsie Holland Tranbarger was born Nov. 18, 1879 and died in Dec 18, 1928. She married William A. Tranbarger.
Loren Dee Holland was born in Sep. 22, 1882 and died Aug. 22, 1946. He married Bessie E. Glidewell. They had a daughter, Lillian, and a son, Don. Dee was a coal weighman in the mines. In 1930, a granddaughter, Bonnie Marie Holland, was living with them. They lived at 1416 W Cherry St. in Herrin.
Fred N. Holland was born Aug. 20, 1885 in Marion. On Aug. 31, 1907 , Fred was murdered by a fair ground rounder named Harley Foster on the last day of the Anna fair by being struck by a brick while in a fight, while incapacitated, he was then shot. He was 22 when he died at home in Marion and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Hattie G. Holland Comstock was born in 1892. In October of 1912 she was married to Guy Fred Comstock in Carbondale by her father who was then Justice of the Peace in Marion. Fred was in the employ of the Illinois Central in Carbondale. The Carbondale Free Press noted that Hattie was popular in Carbondale and had been a stenographer in Peoria the previous 18 month. The couple lived at 407 W. Pecan in Carbondale and were active in church. Hattie was active in the Eastern Star just like her father and had served as Matron. Hattie was also a charter member of the White Shrine of Jerusalem, Sheba Shrine in Murphysboro, Illinois. They had two sons named Fred Holland Comstock after her murdered brother in 1914 and Joseph Franklin Comstock in 1919 after his deceased grandfather. Between 1920 and 1930 the couple moved to Benton, Illinois with their two sons. In the 1940 census, the Comstock family was still living in Benton with their 20 year old son, Joe. Fred was working as a railroad conductor. No date death was located however, a memorial was offered in May 1962 at the Murphysboro Masonic Lodge in her memory.
(Sources: Federal Census Records; 1905 Souvenir History; Carbondale Free Press: Egyptian Press; mihp.org; compiled by Colleen Norman)