James Holt is one of my 3rd Great-grandpas. He was born in North Carolina on 10 Feb 1804 and he died on Holt’s Ranch near Enterprise, Utah. Today we celebrated his life and his descendants at a reunion in Enterprise. I was invited to participate on the program and speak about the Holt’s time in Nauvoo.
Relatives started gathering in the historic part of the small town of Enterprise at 10:00 a.m. Ferron Holt was there to greet us. He lives in Enterprise and works a day a week at the historical center there. He knows a lot about the Holt families who have lived here. Ferron had prepared a walking map with historical places and Holt homes marked on it and we followed him up and down the main street by the old store, adobe chapel, block chapel and current chapel. There were 21 places on the map that were historical or places Holt families lived (many were children of James Holt, our patriarch, who had a ranch out of town). I was the designated photographer.
Here are a few books that have been published about members of the Holt family and about this area.
These are the homes and historic buildings we saw on the walking tour: 
At 11:00 we all drove over to a community center where the reunion was held. It was a nice new building that could seat 150 people at tables. In the back was a beautiful lawn area with a pond and a play area for the kids with a splash pad. Also a covered pavilion and picnic tables.
There were close to 160 who came, maybe half skipped the walking tour. Some drove to the Holt Cemetery this morning by the Holt Ranch. Lots of families came. Below is Jan Holt Larson, who was the driving force behind this reunion.
We were welcomed by the most delightful music, provided by fiddler Norman Mincer. He played during the first hour as we got everyone checked in with nametags and gathered contact information. He was accompanied by LeeAnn Ferdie, a Holt descendant.
Behind the community center was a park with pavilions, a splash pad and a fishing pond.
Here’s the program for our reunion:
James Holt lived on a ranch out of town, not far from the Holt Cemetery. Many of his children married and stayed in the area, living in Enterprise.
We filled the room. One relative was in charge of making poster paper family trees (descendants) of each of James Holt’s children. I descend through his first wife, Mary Pain, who died at Kitchen’s Settlement. She had 8 children, 3 survived to adulthood. James then married Parthenia Overton and they had 10 more children, 5 survived to adulthood.
There were only a small handful of descendants there from the first wife, Mary. I enjoyed meeting them all. One lady in this group had taken my FH Class and another had helped with the Bountiful Stake DfG event I did. Both remembered me well. The Bountiful lady said their stake went on to do more than 6000 kits.
These folks with the green nametags are my closest relations.
Here are some old photos and Holt heirlooms.
Susan Holt Hafen prepared large poster sheets listing each of the adult children and their descendants. We added our names to the group we descend from. I am from the Mary Ann Holt family, a daughter from James’s first marriage.
We had a nice catered lunch (we each paid $12 ahead of time). A taco bar with 3 kinds of meats and all the toppings, rice and beans, chips and guacamole. It was tasty.
Here are the descendant posters. We added our family information to them.
After the good food, the program began. We started with a sing-a-long: The Utah Trail. I was the first presenter. I talked about the Nauvoo period and what life was like for the Holt family there. James married Mary Pain in 1830. They were baptized in 1839 and in 1840 they joined the Saints in Nauvoo.
I shared parts of a presentation I gave at the Bushman Family Reunion in July 2022. You can find that presentation here.
The presentation focuses on the Tithing Record Books and the kinds of donations that were made by the families living in Nauvoo. It’s fascinating to see what they shared and how they sacrificed. On page 85 there is an entry made on 25 July 1843 for James Holt.
His tithing donation was a “Certificate in full to Oct 12th 1842″ with a value of $29.
Here’s a fun story told by James Holt in his memoirs about an experience he had in Nauvoo:
In the spring of 1840, I started with my family for Nauvoo, the City of the Saints. I got as far as Pleasant Vale Stake, in Pike County, where one of my horses died. I was now left with a team, only having two horses and a light wagon to start with. Here I stayed the next winter and summer. I rented a farm and raised a crop. The following fall I hired a horse to put with mine and started again for Nauvoo, where I arrived all right. After I had been there a short time, I turned over my wagon to the committee of Nauvoo House and took a share in the same.
Soon after my arrival in Nauvoo, my only horse took sick, and hearing of a horse doctor close by, I went to see him. He said if I would give him half what the horse was worth after he was cured, and if I would get the medicine, he would undertake to cure him. I asked him how much medicine it would take and he said it would take about ten dollars worth. I asked him how much he would give me for the horse now, as he was. He said he would not give me one dollar. Well, said I, “I would surely be a fool to spend ten dollars for a horse that is not worth one dollar.” That night I asked the Lord to cure my horse, and if he would do so I would sell it and give half the proceeds to the Church for the building up of His Zion upon the earth. Next morning the horse was well, I went forth and sold him for two hundred bushels of corn and gave one hundred bushels to the Church.
I now went to work in the quarry, getting out rock for the temple and the Nauvoo House. I continued this employment pretty much all the time until the spring of 1844.
In 1844 Joseph Smith was killed and in 1845, the Holt family departed in the James Emmett Company to go West.
Next on the program, Susan Westerguard (the Bountiful DfG relation) gave a presentation on Mary Ann Holt, our 2ggma who married William Barker. They lived in Ogden. Our branch didn’t stay in Enterprise. Susan had summarized some of the histories and it was nice.
Then Tantum Rogers sang “Grandpa, Tell me About the Good Ol’ Days,” accompanied by Jack Moyle on the guitar.
Next Chris Holt spoke about his ancestor, William A. Holt.
Then Kerry Crawford shared some information he’d compiled tying Parthenia’s lines into English royalty.
Nina Hewett sang a beautiful piece called “Chasing Cars.”
Here are some interesting relationships:
These lovely sisters (Verus, Charlotte and Laurel Holt) sang a fun song about relationships called “I’m My Own Grandpa!”
Our reunion ended with an auction and some fun door prizes. Ferron Holt had some beautiful stone pieces he’d fashioned into jewelry and mementos from stone found near the Holt Ranch.
Our heartfelt thanks to Jan Holt Larson for pulling us all together. It was a perfect reunion and we all came away feeling very grateful to be included in this descendant group.
