Thomas Michael Holt

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Gov. Thomas M. Holt

Thomas Michael Holt (15 July 1831 – 11 April 1896) was Governor of North Carolina from 1891 to 1893.

He was born in Alamance County, North Carolina, July 15, 1831. Holt studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for one year before briefly moving to work in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dry goods store.

In 1858, Thomas and his father, Edwin M. Holt, acquired Benjamin Trollinger’s textile-manufacturing mill known as the “Granite Mill,” (located in Haw River, North Carolina). In 1861, Thomas acquired his father's interest in the mill and moved to Haw River to oversee the mill’s operations. In 1868, Thomas 's brother-in-law, Adolphus "Dolph" Moore, became business partners with Thomas and the operation was renamed Holt & Moore. In 1876, Moore was murdered, and the mills were consolidated as the Thomas M. Holt Manufacturing Company.

After Thomas’s death in 1896, his son, Thomas Jr., took over operations of the mills and expanded them. In 1900, the mills were organized by a local labor union, which sponsored a strike that was eventually broken by lockouts and mill housing evictions by the mill management. Decades later, the mills were sold to the Cone family, who in turn sold it to Burlington Industries.

Thomas’s party affiliation was Democratic, and he served as a local magistrate, a county commissioner, as a member of North Carolina’s state senate (24th District) in 1876, as a member of North Carolina’s state house of representatives from Alamance County, 1883-1887, as Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, 1889-1891, and upon the death of Governor (Daniel G. Fowle), as Governor of North Carolina, 1891-1893.

As Governor, he was actively involved in establishing a new system of county government, in the construction of the Western North Carolina and the Cape Fear and Yadkin railroads, and in increasing the funding for public schools, the University, and the state hospitals. He pushed for the establishment of an institution for the deaf at Morganton. An outstanding accomplishment was his getting the holders of bonds for the North Carolina Railroad to release the State from the lien on the State's shares. This saved the State money as the property was valued at more than $5 million. [1]

Thomas Holt died April 11, 1896 and is buried in Alamance County.

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