Solomon Holford

Reverend Solomon Holford, the fifth child and third son of John and Sarah Holford, was born 15 April 1817 in Overton County.

He married Elmira Gardenhire on 30 July 1834. She was born 19 September 1817, the daughter of Adam and Alcey (Tippet) Gardenhire of Overton, County.

They had two children:

1. Erasmus Lee, known as Buck, born 4 June 1836.
2. Elmira, born 27 December 1837.

Solomon was accepted on probation as a Methodist circuit-riding preacher at the age of 21 by the Tennessee Conference in October 1838. He transferred to the Arkansas Conference and was received at the third session of the Arkansas Conference at Washingon in Hempstead County on November 7, 1838. He was appointed to Carrolton Circuit of the Fayetteville District.

In 1839, he was appointed to the Claiborne Circuit of the Alexandria District in Louisiana, which was part of the Arkansas Conference. It was the custom at the time to move circuit riders to a different circuit every year or at least every two years, so I do not know where he went from the Claiborne Circuit. There is no record of him rejoining the Tennessee Conference, so it is a reasonable assumption that he spent the rest of his life in the Arkansas Conference.

Solomon died 4 Sep 1844, aged 27. It is unknown when the elder Elmira died, but it must have been before 1850, because the children were living in the Adam Gardenhire household at the time of the census.

 

 
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