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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 indexed works are connected with this person.

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

Indexed works

Works in the index that concern this person directly, or were written by them. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it; background reading with wider context sits further down.

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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Holden, W. W. (William Woods), 1818-1892.

UNC
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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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Why this is here: 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.

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, earliest first. Each has its own page.

Kirk-Holden War connections, 1870October 1869–March 1871 · 48 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. Governor 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: sixteen of 26, the highlights and a sample of the rest spread across the years, in date order. See all 26 dated events in the chronology →

Earliest first. Scroll sideways, or use the arrows.

16 dated events

  1. William Woods Holden is born near Hillsborough

    Life event · 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.

  2. William W. Holden serves as an apprentice printer at the Hillsborough Recorder

    Life event · Hillsborough

    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

    Subject: Hillsborough Recorder

  3. Josiah Turner Jr. of Hillsborough is elected to the Confederate Congress

    Appointment, election or service · Orange County

    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

  4. George Laws carries the Orange magistrates' petition for a jury court to Governor Holden

    Orange County

    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: William W. Holden

  5. Orange County sends John Berry and Samuel F. Phillips to the 1865 convention

    Appointment, election or service · Orange County

    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: Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips · William A. Graham · William W. Holden · Samuel Field Phillips

  6. Orange County votes against the 1868 constitution and for Thomas S. Ashe over Holden

    Appointment, election or service · Orange County

    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

  7. Reconstruction Republicans reshape UNC governance

    Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill

    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

  8. Swain protests his removal to Governor Holden

    Protest or organizing · Chapel Hill

    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

  9. Court strikes down the act for a state-built railroad to Chapel Hill

    Law, policy or court · 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.

    Part of Railroads through Orange, 1849–1900 · 82 events

    People: William W. Holden

    Subject: North Carolina Railroad

  10. The Pool faculty holds its first commencement

    Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill

    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

  11. Governor Holden warns Orange County it may be declared in insurrection

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    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

  12. Orange County Klansmen agree to disband after Pride Jones carries the governor's offer

    Closing or ending · Orange County

    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

  13. Dennis Heartt dies in Hillsborough

    Life event · 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: William W. Holden

    Subject: Hillsborough Presbyterian Church

  14. Kirk's militia arrests Josiah Turner Jr. at Hillsborough

    Law, policy or court · 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.

  15. Strudwick is kept off the impeachment managers because of his Klan reputation

    Law, policy or court · Orange County

    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.

    Part of Governor Holden’s impeachment and trial, 1870–1871 · 20 events

    People: William W. Holden

  16. Senate convicts Holden on the article charging Turner's arrest in Orange County

    Law, policy or court · North Carolina Senate chamber, Raleigh

    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.

    Part of Governor Holden’s impeachment and trial, 1870–1871 · 20 events

    People: William W. Holden · Josiah Turner Jr. · John W. Graham

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 and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Named with them in the chronology

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.

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Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William Woods Holden Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • 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

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

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