Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Local figure

William W. Holden

William Woods Holden (1818–1892) was born near Hillsborough and apprenticed at age ten to Dennis Heartt of the Hillsborough Recorder. As governor he ordered the 1870 arrest of Josiah Turner Jr.; his impeachment began with a resolution by Frederick Strudwick of Orange County, and in March 1871 the Senate removed him from office.

Source: NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Holden, William Woods

Also found in catalogs as W. W. (William Woods) Holden, W. W. Holden, William Woods Holden.

On the Friends’ Local Authors roster as William Woods Holden → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

11 works about William W. Holden are indexed here.

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓
William W. Holden, engraving
William W. Holden, engraving

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineThe Hillsborough Recorder begins publication, 18201820–1879 · 29 events · Dennis Heartt began the Hillsborough Recorder in February 1820 and published it for nearly fifty years, a Whig paper before the Civil War whose shop also printed books, among them George Moses Horton's poems in 1845; William W. Holden learned printing there. Heartt gave up the paper in January 1869, and John D. Cameron, its editor from 1872, moved it to Durham in 1879. StorylineKirk-Holden War connections, 1870October 1869–March 1871 · 49 events · Governor Holden named Orange County in his October 1869 warning about Klan violence, Hillsborough men were named in a Klan plot against Senator T. M. Shoffner, and Kirk's militia arrested Josiah Turner Jr. at Hillsborough in August 1870. Orange men Frederick N. Strudwick, William A. Graham and John W. Graham then helped bring, prosecute and decide Holden's impeachment. StorylineGovernor Holden’s impeachment and trial, 1870–1871December 1870–March 1871 · 20 events · Frederick N. Strudwick of Orange moved to impeach Governor William W. Holden on December 9, 1870. Article III charged the August 1870 arrest of Josiah Turner Jr. at Hillsborough; William A. Graham joined the prosecution, Turner and other Orange witnesses testified, and on March 22, 1871 the state Senate convicted Holden, 37 to 12 on that article, and removed him from office on the motion of Senator John W. Graham of Orange.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 30 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William Woods Holden is born near Hillsborough William Woods Holden, later editor of the North Carolina Standard and governor, was born near Hillsborough to Thomas Holden and Priscilla Woods. His grandfather had moved to Orange County to farm, and from age six he was raised by his stepmother, Sally Nichols Holden. Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas Holden, Priscilla Woods, Sally Nichols HoldenSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Holden, William Woods
  2. William W. Holden serves as an apprentice printer at the Hillsborough Recorder At about age ten Holden was apprenticed as a printer's devil to Dennis Heartt, editor of the Hillsborough Recorder, who was responsible for his early education and political views. He struck out on his own at about sixteen, working first for the Milton Chronicle. People: Dennis Heartt Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Holden, William Woods
  3. Benjamin Hedrick answers his accusers with a public defence of his Free Soil views Attacked in the Raleigh Standard by an anonymous alumnus, later identified as law student John A. Engelhard, Hedrick wrote a reply from Chapel Hill saying he favored Fremont and opposed carrying slavery into the territories, citing Washington, Jefferson and Clay. The Standard printed it on October 4 and called for his removal. People: Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, William W. Holden Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John A. EngelhardSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 17
  4. Josiah Turner Jr. of Hillsborough is elected to the Confederate Congress Turner won as an anti-administration candidate in the Confederate congressional election of November 4, 1863, carrying Orange by a majority of 739. In Congress his resolutions supported Graham's push for the Hampton Roads peace conference. People: Josiah Turner Jr., Zebulon B. Vance, William W. Holden, William A. Graham Place: Orange CountyLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 108 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, November 11, 1863, p. 2
  5. Governor Vance speaks for two hours to one of the largest crowds ever gathered at Hillsborough Governor Zebulon B. Vance, campaigning for re-election against W. W. Holden, addressed one of the largest crowds the editor had seen gathered at Hillsborough for such an occasion. He spoke for more than two hours on Tuesday of May court. People: Zebulon B. Vance, William W. Holden Place: Hillsborough · Also named: W. W. HoldenSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 1, 1864, p. 3
  6. Orange County gives Governor Vance 1,321 votes to Holden's 227 In the August governor's election, the official return gave Gov. Zebulon B. Vance 1,321 votes in Orange County to 227 for W. W. Holden, against Vance's 1,451 to 372 over Johnston in 1862. Soldiers voted in camp on July 28 and the people at home on August 4. People: Zebulon B. Vance, William W. Holden Place: Orange County · Also named: W. W. HoldenSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 26, 1864, p. 3
  7. George Laws carries the Orange magistrates' petition for a jury court to Governor Holden With no courts open in the county after the Confederate surrender, the magistrates appointed by the provisional governor petitioned for a jury court twice a year. Laws carried the petition to Governor William W. Holden, who refused it. People: George Laws, William W. Holden Place: Orange CountySearch the index · U.S. Senate: Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States by the Select Committee of the Senate (1871), testimony of George Laws, February 15, 1871, pp. 190-191 (Internet Archive)
  8. Orange County sends John Berry and Samuel F. Phillips to the 1865 convention Orange would have elected Graham to the postwar convention, but his pardon was held up, so he withdrew and voters chose Berry and Phillips. People: John Berry, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, William A. Graham, William W. Holden, Samuel Field Phillips Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 109 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, September 27, 1865, p. 2
  9. The Union League organizes Black voters in Orange County The Republican Union League, organized in Orange, Alamance and Guilford by Albion W. Tourgee, its first state president, recruited nearly every Black man who would vote before the 1867 election. It had faded by the end of 1870. People: William W. Holden, Albion W. Tourgee Place: Orange CountyLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 114-115
  10. Governor Holden appoints Wilson Caldwell a justice of the peace In 1868 Governor William W. Holden appointed Wilson Swain Caldwell a justice of the peace. Caldwell had been enslaved by university president David L. Swain and had worked at the university since boyhood; he taught school for a time before returning to the university in 1875. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell, William W. Holden, David L. Swain Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2, pp. 558-559
  11. Orange County votes against the 1868 constitution and for Thomas S. Ashe over Holden Orange rejected the new Reconstruction constitution 1,863 to 1,324 and gave Conservative Thomas S. Ashe 1,834 votes to 1,310 for William W. Holden, who carried the state. People: William W. Holden Place: Orange County · Also named: Thomas S. AsheSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 113 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, April 29, 1868, p. 2
  12. Governor Holden appoints about forty temporary justices of the peace for Orange Governor W. W. Holden named about forty men as justices of the peace for Orange County, among them Washington Duke and Wilson Caldwell, to serve until the townships set up under the new constitution could elect their own. The appointees were called to the courthouse in Hillsborough on July 25 to be qualified. People: William W. Holden, Washington Duke, Wilson Swain Caldwell Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: W. W. HoldenSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 22, 1868, p. 2
Show all 30 dated events
  1. Reconstruction Republicans reshape UNC governance The 1868 constitution gave the choice of university trustees to the state Board of Education, controlled by Governor William W. Holden. In July 1868 the new trustees removed President David L. Swain and his faculty, and a Republican faculty under Solomon Pool reopened classes in March 1869 amid strong partisan opposition. People: William W. Holden, Solomon Pool, David L. Swain Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South, The First Century of the First State University: Civil War and Reconstruction
  2. Swain protests his removal to Governor Holden Learning that the new Reconstruction trustees had declared his 1867 resignation final, David L. Swain wrote Governor William W. Holden, as chairman of the board, that no charge had been made against him and that a resignation accepted by a board that no longer existed could not be revived. He asked for reconsideration, but died later that month. People: David L. Swain, William W. Holden, Charles Manly Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 777
  3. Orange elects John W. Graham to the Senate seat denied Josiah Turner Jr. and votes for Seymour In a quiet election held under Governor Holden's writ to fill the Senate seat from which Josiah Turner Jr. had been excluded under the Fourteenth Amendment, Orange chose the Conservative John W. Graham by about 400 votes, and the Seymour and Blair electors carried the county by about the same margin. A county Conservative convention had nominated Graham on October 17, though a second Conservative candidate refused to withdraw. People: John W. Graham, Josiah Turner Jr., William W. Holden Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 4, 1868, p. 2
  4. Court strikes down the act for a state-built railroad to Chapel Hill An 1869 plan had the state build a line from the North Carolina Railroad to Chapel Hill through commissioners, paid for with $300,000 in state bonds. When the commissioners chose Henry C. Thompson as president over Governor Holden's choice, Holden refused to sign the bonds, and in the University Railroad Company's suit against him the court held the act unconstitutional over Judge Reade's dissent. People: William W. Holden Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Henry C. Thompson, Edwin G. Reade · Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 33
  5. Solomon Pool accepts the presidency of the university Pool accepted the presidency of the University of North Carolina in 1869 at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars and was permitted to keep his federal appraiser post at the same time. Governor William W. Holden had taken charge of the board of trustees to secure a president with Republican affiliations. People: Solomon Pool, William W. Holden Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Pool, Solomon
  6. The Pool faculty holds its first commencement After a first term that began March 3, the university reported on June 10, 1869 three sophomores and seven freshmen and gave an A.B. to Abdel Kader Tenney. At the thinly attended commencement Governor William W. Holden argued for educating both races in one university, whites at Chapel Hill and Black students elsewhere. People: Solomon Pool, William W. Holden Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Abdel Kader TenneyDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 19
  7. Governor Holden warns Orange County it may be declared in insurrection Holden's proclamation of October 20, 1869, named Lenoir, Jones, Orange and Chatham counties and said that in Orange the jail had been forced, two Black prisoners taken out and shot, and three other Black men hanged. He warned that he would declare those counties in a state of insurrection and use the whole power of the state if the violence continued. People: William W. Holden Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Orange and Chatham countiesDigitalNC: Goldsboro Daily Messenger, October 25, 1869, page 2
  8. Hillsborough men ask Governor Holden to commission Pride Jones against the Klan On March 5, 1870 six Hillsborough men, among them J. W. Norwood, James Webb and Henry K. Nash, recommended to Governor Holden that Pride Jones be made a militia captain to put down night riding. Holden sent the commission on March 7 and Jones accepted on March 9. The raids soon stopped, and Jones resigned after four weeks. People: William W. Holden, Pride Jones, George Laws, John Wall Norwood, Henry Kollock Nash Place: Orange County · Also named: James WebbTrial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina (1871), vol. 2, pp. 1158-1164 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952
  9. Orange County Klansmen agree to disband after Pride Jones carries the governor's offer Starting on March 8, 1870, when he rode eight miles into the country, Captain Pride Jones went to men he suspected of leading the Klan in Orange and told them, on Governor Holden's word passed through John W. Norwood, that past offenses would be overlooked if they disbanded. By his sworn account in June 1871, several said they were tired of it, the klans disbanded within about four weeks, and after four to six weeks he wrote Holden that the county was quiet. People: Pride Jones, John Wall Norwood, William W. Holden Place: Orange CountyU.S. Congress, Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, Testimony: North Carolina (1872), p. 1
  10. Governor Holden tells Captain Pride Jones he cannot promise the Orange Klan amnesty Writing from Raleigh on March 17, 1870, Governor Holden told Pride Jones, his new militia captain for Orange County, that the executive had no power to proclaim amnesty and could pardon only after a conviction. He told Jones to discourage secret political societies, above all disguised and armed ones, to back the Orange sheriff with a posse if process was resisted, and to arrest men who came into Orange from Alamance. The letter was read into Jones's testimony before the Joint Select Committee on June 5, 1871. People: William W. Holden, Pride Jones Place: Raleigh (instructions for Orange County)U.S. Congress, Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, Testimony: North Carolina (1872), p. 7
  11. Dennis Heartt dies in Hillsborough Dennis Heartt died at his home in Hillsborough on the morning of May 13, 1870, in his eighty-seventh year, and his funeral was held at the Presbyterian church the next day while the town's stores closed. The Recorder noted that Governor W. W. Holden, once his apprentice in the Recorder office, had him appointed Hillsborough postmaster after the war. People: Dennis Heartt, William W. Holden Place: Hillsborough · Also named: W. W. Holden · Also mentions: Recorder officeSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 18, 1870, p. 2 (obituary)
  12. Kirk's militia arrests Josiah Turner Jr. at Hillsborough On August 5, 1870, a detachment of Kirk's state militia seized Raleigh Sentinel editor Josiah Turner Jr. at the Hillsborough depot, took him by rail to Company Shops and then held him with Kirk's other prisoners in the Caswell County courthouse at Yanceyville. U.S. District Judge George W. Brooks ordered him discharged on August 19, 1870, on his habeas corpus petition. The impeachment article and the trial testimony name the officer as Lieutenant J. W. Hunnicutt, sent from Company Shops with about ten men by Lieutenant Colonel Burgen, and Judge Brooks ordered Kirk to pay the costs. People: William W. Holden, Josiah Turner Jr. Place: Hillsborough · Also named: George W. Kirk, John Hunnicutt, George W. Brooks, J. W. HunnicuttInternet Archive: Trial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina, vol. 1 (1871) · Also: Turner testimony: Report on the Alleged Outrages in the Southern States; Trial of William W. Holden; Internet Archive; Trial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina (1871), vol. 1
  13. Orange County representative Frederick N. Strudwick moves to impeach Governor Holden Frederick N. Strudwick of Orange introduced the House resolution to impeach Governor William W. Holden, which the House adopted on December 14, 1870. On December 19 he chaired the Committee of the Whole that adopted the eight articles of impeachment and elected the seven House managers. People: William W. Holden, Frederick N. Strudwick Place: North Carolina House of Representatives, RaleighInternet Archive: Trial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina, vol. 1 (1871)
  14. Strudwick is kept off the impeachment managers because of his Klan reputation After guiding the impeachment resolution through the house judiciary committee and the full house, Strudwick was not chosen as a manager for the senate trial. It was feared that his widely known association with the Ku Klux Klan would make the proceedings look like a Klan prosecution. People: Frederick N. Strudwick, William W. Holden Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Strudwick, Frederick Nash
  15. Holden answers that he never ordered Josiah Turner Jr. arrested in Orange County In his written answer read to the Senate on January 23, 1871, Governor Holden denied ordering Josiah Turner Jr.'s arrest in Orange. He said he had told the militia officers to arrest Turner only if found in Alamance or Caswell, that any arrest in Orange was against his orders and without his knowledge, and that when told Turner was under arrest in Alamance he ordered him held there and in Caswell. Holden also said he believed Turner belonged to the secret organizations and was urging citizens to drive out the militia, a charge the answer states as Holden's belief. People: Josiah Turner Jr., William W. Holden Place: North Carolina Senate chamber, RaleighTrial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina (1871), vol. 1, p. 45
  16. Senate convicts Holden on the article charging Turner's arrest in Orange County The state Senate found Governor Holden guilty, 37 to 12, on Article III, which charged him with the unlawful arrest of Josiah Turner Jr. in Orange County on August 5, 1870, and also convicted him on Articles IV through VIII. Senator John W. Graham of Orange then offered the order of judgment removing Holden from office and barring him from state office, which the Senate adopted. People: William W. Holden, Josiah Turner Jr., John W. Graham Place: North Carolina Senate chamber, RaleighInternet Archive: Trial of William W. Holden, Governor of North Carolina, vol. 3 (1871)
  17. Governor Tod R. Caldwell dies at Hillsborough Governor Tod R. Caldwell died at Hillsborough on July 11, 1874, while in town on official business. On Sunday a special train brought fifty or sixty men up from Raleigh, among them former governor W. W. Holden, Treasurer Jenkins, Attorney General Hargrove and Judge Reade, and a delegation of Hillsborough men was named to escort the remains. People: Tod Robinson Caldwell, William W. Holden Place: Hillsborough · Also named: W. W. HoldenSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 15, 1874, p. 3
  18. Josiah Turner Jr. wins a jury verdict against W. W. Holden over his 1870 arrest A jury found for Josiah Turner Jr. in his long damage suit against former Governor W. W. Holden for his arrest and imprisonment during the Kirk-Holden War of 1870. The jury was out about an hour, and Judge Buxton refused the defense a new trial. People: Josiah Turner Jr., William W. Holden Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Ralph P. Buxton, W. W. HoldenThe Chapel Hill Ledger, April 5, 1879, p. 2

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as William W. Holden, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Show 9 more

Indexed works

Works about or by William W. Holden. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Letter: George A. Williams to his family, April 5, 1864

Williams, George A. · 1864

George A. Williams of the 7th North Carolina Infantry wrote his parents and children on 5 April 1864 that he was safely back in camp and the men were faring well. He reports days of cold, rain and snow and hopes for a move to Camp Holmes. Governor Vance, W. W. Holden, food, health and talk of peace also come up.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Civil War Collection

Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina · 1860

Statewide Civil War collection of the State Archives of North Carolina, dated 1860 to 1965. It gathers pardon petitions, bounty payrolls, quartermaster vouchers and supply papers, disabled veterans' claims and letters about artificial limbs, regimental and unit papers, muster rolls, diaries, reminiscences, clippings and sheet music. Orange County is one of the many North Carolina counties represented.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, William Woods, 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

John H. Wheeler (1806-1882) Diaries and Papers

Wheeler, John H. · 1854

Diaries and papers of John Hill Wheeler of Hertford County, historian, legislator, state treasurer from 1843 to 1845 and minister to Nicaragua from 1854 to 1857. The diaries, a broken run from 1854 to 1882, follow his social and political life in Washington, D.C. University commencements at Chapel Hill and his work on North Carolina history also come up. State Archives of North Carolina, MfP.51.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick papers,

Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood · 1848

Papers of Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, the UNC chemistry professor dismissed in 1856 for opposing slavery and backing the Republican candidate John C. Fremont. Most of the 6,037 items, from 1848, are letters to Hedrick: early ones exchanged with Mary Ellen Thompson before their marriage, then others on university life at Chapel Hill, his dismissal, and his later career in Washington with the Patent Office. Correspondents include David L. Swain and Kemp P. Battle.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Holden, W. W. -- 1818-1892.

Duke

Calvin J. Cowles (1821-1907) Papers

Cowles, Calvin J. (Calvin Josiah), 1821-1907 · 1817

Papers of Calvin J. Cowles, 1817 to 1885. A Wilkes County merchant, Cowles was a Unionist Whig and later a Republican, presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1868 and ran the United States Branch Mint at Charlotte from 1869 to 1884. Early letters involve his father and business partner Josiah of Surry County. Reconstruction, Governor W. W. Holden and Orange County come up. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.111.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

David L. Swain papers, 1807-1877 (bulk 1833-1868)

Swain, David L. (David Lowry), 1801-1868 · 1807

David L. Swain, 1801 to 1868, served as governor of North Carolina and then as president of the university at Chapel Hill. His papers span 1807 to 1877 with the bulk from 1833 to 1868. Subjects include Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Elisha Mitchell, W. W. Holden and Thomas Ruffin, and cover state politics, railroads, and records of enslaved people. Microfilm reels were made in 1949 and 1974.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

UNC
Show 5 more

William Andrew Jeffreys (1817-1845) and Family Papers

Jeffreys family · 1786

Papers of William Andrew Jeffreys, Franklin County lawyer and state senator, and his uncle Robert N. Jeffreys of Wake County, 1786 to 1883. They include grand jury indictments and road reports from 1839 to 1842, an 1844 plan for a literary, scientific and military academy in Raleigh, and family letters on plantations, slavery, politics and travel. Chapel Hill and the Hillsborough Military Academy come up. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.66.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

Crabtree Jones Papers

Jones family · 1771

Papers of the Jones family of Crabtree in Wake County, 1771 to 1940: planter and legislator Nathaniel Jones (died 1828), his son Kimbrough Jones (died 1866), Mary Warren Jones, and Kimbrough Jones Jr. and his wife Mary Green Jones. Topics include plantations and enslaved people, cotton, politics and the Civil War. Chapel Hill also comes up. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.105.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

Hugh Conway Browning papers,

Browning, Hugh Conway · 1767

Papers gathered by Hugh Conway Browning of Hillsborough on related Orange County families, from 1767: Browning and Few family genealogies and copies of Holden and Lockhart family letters. Among the 179 items are Civil War letters from Levi Young Lockhart and his brothers, soldiers in two North Carolina infantry regiments, the 19th and 27th. Governor William Woods Holden also appears.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

Duke

Pollock-Devereux Papers

Devereux family · 1730

Property and legal papers of the Pollock and Devereux families, 1730 to 1866: deeds for land in Bertie, Halifax, Martin, Franklin and Northampton counties, plats of the family's Hawfields land in Orange County, and papers on lawsuits and tenants. Bills of sale and other documents record enslaved people owned by the families. State Archives of North Carolina, PC.32.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

John Heritage Bryan (1798-1870) Collection

Bryan, John Heritage, 1798-1870 · 1716

Papers of John Heritage Bryan (1798 to 1870), New Bern lawyer, legislator and Whig congressman from 1825 to 1829, dating 1716 to 1907. His letters mostly follow social life in the towns and plantations of eastern North Carolina, chiefly New Bern and Raleigh, from the 1820s to the 1860s, and touch the university at Chapel Hill and the Hillsborough Academy.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

State Archives of NC

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 973.8 TRI Trial of William W. Holden: Governor of North Carolina, Before the Senate of North Carolina, on Impeachment by the House of Representatives for High Crimes and Misdeameanors Holden, W. W. · 1871

    Proceedings of the 1871 impeachment trial of Governor William W. Holden before the North Carolina Senate, printed at Raleigh by the Senate's order in three continuously paged volumes. Holden, born near Hillsborough, was impeached in December 1870 over the Kirk-Holden war, his militia campaign against the Ku Klux Klan in Alamance and Caswell counties. Convicted on six of eight charges in March 1871, he was the first American governor removed by impeachment.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC BIO HOLDEN HOL Memoirs of W. W. Holden Holden, W. W. · 1911

    Recollections of William Woods Holden (1818 to 1892), the North Carolina governor born near Hillsborough. They run from the Democratic rise of 1850 through the Civil War and his quarrel with the Confederate government to his governorship, his use of the militia against the Ku Klux Klan and his impeachment. Published at Durham in 1911 with an introduction by William K. Boyd, as volume 2 of the Trinity College Historical Society's John Lawson monographs.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 1 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William Woods Holden Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about William W. Holden

Books by William W. Holden

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the catalog name heading: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Picture: William W. Holden, engraving. Public domain. Engraving by E. G. Williams & Bro., New York; via Wikimedia Commons

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026