Who Was Thomas M. Holt ??
The Orgins and History of Our Lodge.
Thomas M. Holt
(15 July 1831 – 11 April 1896)
Thomas M. Holt was a prominent North Carolina industrialist who served as Governor of North Carolina from 1891 to 1893.
He received his Masonic degrees in Alamance Lodge #133, Graham, NC in 1863, and served as Junior Warden in 1865. In 1878 this lodge became inactive, and in 1898 it was reconstituted as Thomas M. Holt Lodge, #492 in honor of the former governer. He was a member of Graham chapter #28, R.A.M. of Graham, and served as master of the third veil for three years. Died April 11, 1896 and did not have a masonic funeral.
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. (Edwin Michael Holt had formerly manfactured the so-called Alamance Plaids, the first cotton goods produced in the South on power looms. Edwin Holt established his Alamance Cotton Mill in 1837, thus beginning the Southern textile industry.)
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. (Other members of the Holt family were operating the Haw River Mills, Glencoe Mills, Carolina Mill, Lafayette Mill, the Pilot Mill of Raleigh, and others in their expanding family empire.)
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.
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 as well as the North Carolina Railroad Company, 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. The Holt family had long ties to the railroad company, and these were undoubtedly useful in Holt's striking a deal with the bondholders.
Holt was aided in the burgeoning Holt family mill empire by his brother-in-law, James Nathaniel Williamson, who had married Thomas M. Holt's sister Mary. The Holt family eventually became the largest textile barons in the state, running scores of different mills, under various names, and as various Holt heirs and their in-laws broke off from the main enterprise and founded their own companies. Ultimately, however, the Holt mills were sold by the family and became the backbone of the emerging Burlington Mills (later Burlington Industries, overseen by rival industrialist Spencer Love.
Thomas M. Holt died April 11, 1896 and is buried at Linwood Cemetery in Graham, Alamance County, North Carolina.
Thomas M. Holt State Historical Marker
Located on the corner of NC Highway 49 & Holt Street
Haw River, North Carolina, 27258
Coordinates: 36° 5.217′N --- 79° 22.299′ W
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THOMAS M. HOLT LODGE NO. 492 - GRAHAM, NC
On April 22, 1897, the following brethren met in Graham, NC, in the office of J.A. Long, to consider the advisability of applying to the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina for a dispensation with the view of preparing for the granting of a charter, Those present were J.A. Long, John C. Hocutt, J.C. Simmons, W.C. Moore, T.C. Foust, J.A. Scott, W. A. Wood, J.B. Thompson, and J.W. Menefee. You can read the first meeting minutes from the lodge while Under Dispensation here.
The name of Thomas M. Holt was doubtless chosen for this lodge due to the great prominence of Thomas M. Holt in the area, many of the original members probably knew him personally and held him in high esteem.
John C. Hocutt was elected Chairman and J.C. Simmons, Secretary, after due deliberation it was decided to apply for a charter under dispensation, the proper credentials were sent to the Grand Master.
At the next meeting on May 7, 1897, Brother John C. Hocutt read a Communication from the Grand Master, Walter C. Moore and a dispensation to work as a subordinate lodge under the name of Thomas M. Holt U.D. was granted.
The Grand Master appointed Brother John C. Hocutt as Worshipful Master, Brother J.A. Long as Senior Warden, and Brother W.A. Wood as Junior Warden. The New Worshipful Master then appointed the following officers: Brother J.C. Simmons, Secretary; Brother T.C. Foust, Treasurer; Brother J.W. Menefee, Senior Deacon; Brother W.C. Moore, Junior Deacon; and Brother J.B. Thompson, Tyler. At this communication the fee for the degrees was placed at $20.00 and applications for degrees were read and referred to an investigating committee.
The next communication held on June 4, 1897 was attended by the Grand Lecturer, Brother B.W. Hatcher of Archer Lodge No. 165.
The first degree work was put on at a special meeting held June 7, 1897, when H.W. Scott was initiated under the direction of Grand Lecturer B.W. Hatcher.
The second degree was put on at a special Communication June 11, 1897, with three candidates were passed to the second degree.
The first candidate for the master degree was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, July 23, 1897.
The charter of Thomas M. Holt No. 492 A.F. &A.M. was granted January 12, 1898, following a Grand Lodge communication of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina at Oxford.
You can read the first meeting minutes from after the lodge was granted its Charter here. Additionally you can view the Charter Document here.
Thus started the first swing of the pendulum of Masonry in Graham, NC, and the ups and downs have brought us from the humble beginnings of the first nine members who applied for a charter of a fledgling lodge to the present day 118 years later, and still going strong.
The property on which the present Lodge Building is situated on 512 Johnson Avenue was purchased from The Graham Development Company on June 27, 1955, the lot was wooded and covered with underbrush. After much work, the lot was cleared and a building committee was appointed consisting of Luther Nash, Chairman, T.M. Johnson, M.H. Isley, R.G. Bennett, L.H. Gunter, and C.A. Cates. After many months of planning and hard work the cornerstone was laid by M.W. Charles A. Karris acting for Grand Master W. Eli Hand on September 5, 1959.
Thomas M. Holt Lodge No. 492 Cornerstone
The building was paid for by contributions of members and interested parties and at no time has it been under mortgage of any kind. Little by little the members have been adding to the things needed until now we have a very nice building which we share with the Battle of Alamance Chapter No. 256 of the Order of the Eastern Star. Members of this Chapter have made a great contribution to our Masonic relationship.
As of October 2019, Thomas M. Holt Lodge No. 492 has 112 members who are continuing their support of Masonic Home for Children in Oxford and the Masonic and Eastern Star Home in Greensboro, and are working to improve their relationship with their fellowman, striving to better themselves, and contribute to the neighboring communites surrounding the lodge.
Thomas M. Holt Lodge No. 492 - Lodge Building circa 1973
