Mr. Holland was reared upon his father's farm and educated in his native state. In 1847 he removed to Mobile, Alabama, and made that city his home until the discovery of gold in California caused him to go to that state in 1850, via the Isthmus, in a company known as the Mobile Company. This company of men settled in Nevada county on the Yuba river, at Parks bar, and, turning the river from its channel, had rich diggings and took out fifty pounds of gold in one day, but when the rainy season came on the river rose and destroyed the works and they abandoned the claims and returned to Georgia. Mr. Holland remained in the United States until after the war, in which he was a volunteer under General R. E. Lee, and participated in the battle of Gettysburg and was at Chancellorville. He then served in the quartermaster's department until the close of the war.

In 1853 he had been happily married to Miss C. A. Black, a native of Lafayette, Georgia, daughter of Judge Black, a prominent lawyer of the state. During the war the wife and little son of Mr. Holland remained with her father. When the war was over he returned to them, and in 1867 he brought them to the land of promise along the Pacific coast. At Sacramento he became interested with his brother, James Holland, in a farm and orchard. After some years he was offered a position with the government as agent of the Indian reservation, and, selling out to his brother, he brought his family to Nevada to assume his duties. During seven years he served the government faithfully, and during three of them he was also in charge of the Walker river reservation. About this time he purchased six hundred acres of land on which he now resides. This was but slightly improved, but through good management and untiring energy Mr. Holland has made it into a fine home. Upon this fine property he carries on stock-raising to a large extent. Many of the improvements in this locality have been inaugurated and carried through by him, among which is the first graded road. He also introduced fine road horses and still has a blooded stallion, Bocks, now twenty-three years old, with a record of 2:34 minutes.

Mr. Holland has been a life-long Democrat, and has held the office of county commissioner for two years. In religious faith Mrs. Holland, a most charming lady, is a Methodist. The son Charles is his father's assistant in all his enterprises. He married Miss Frances Byers, and they have four children, namely: Harry F., Alice Lydia, Anna Louise and Frances Ethel. The younger Mr. Holland is, like his father, held in highest esteem throughout the neighborhood, and they are important factors in all the improvements of Mason valley.

Source:
A History of the State of Nevada: Its Resources and People
By Thomas Wren, Lewis Publishing Company
Published by The Lewis publishing company, 1904