HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
815
mercantile life in his native country, he was employed for a time as a clerk in the store of his uncle, Joseph Burton, at Batavia, afterwards became connected with the hardware establishment of Meredith Brothers, of which he finally became a proprietor, and which he conducted until his death, June 14, 1895. In political affiliations Mr. Holbrook was a Republican and served several years as a member of the Kane County Board of Supervisors, besides holding other local offices. Fraternally he was a member of the order of Odd Fellows, and did much to advance the interests of that order in Batavia. In 1877 he was married to Miss Emma Corbin, daughter of Elihu and Eliza (Fish) Corbin, of Plainfield, Ill. Three sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook, all living, viz.: Tracy C. (who is a well-known and accomplished violinist), Leslie J. and E. Meredith.
OSBORN HOLCOMB (deceased), clergyman, Aurora, Ill., born in West Granby, Conn., July 1, 1828, was educated at Springfield, Conn., and Danville, N. Y., and came to Illinois in 1848, making his home at Geneseo, where he engaged in teaching school for a year at Cambridge, and then entered the Rock River Conference Methodist Episcopal Church, having been licensed to preach by "Father" Sinclair. Mr. Holcomb was in the conference four years, serving charges at different points under the itinerary system. About 1854 his voice failed, when he retired from the regular ministry, but was closely identified with church work whenever occasion required as long as he lived. In 1854 he married Mary A. Higby, of Naperville, and two years later they removed to Aurora. Here he improved and sold city property, building in all some forty dwelling houses. For eleven years he spent, considerable time in buying, improving and selling property in Nebraska. His last years were passed in Aurora, where he died Dec. 23, 1902. He was a trustee of the East Side Methodist Episcopal Church from its building until his death. While in Nebraska he also taught school. In connection with the church just noted he was especially active, was its class leader at different times, and did much to help it. Throughout this section, where Methodism is loved, his name is remembered. The surviving members of this family are Mrs. Holcomb, Robert H., Oshorn A. and Elizabeth, of Aurora; Mary (Mrs. Plater), of Eau Claire, Wis.; Asa S. and Newton R., of Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada.
TIMOTHY N. HOLDEN, ex-Mayor Aurora, was born in North Charlestown, N. H., March 21, 1839, son of Richard and Sophia (Allen) Hoi-den, and grandson of Timothy Holden, a veteran of the Revolution. Richard Holden, a native of New Hampshire, removed to Rockton, Ill., where he lived until 1858, when he came to Aurora, where he died in 1893. Timothy N. Holden was educated in Charlestown, N. H., and Rockton, Ill., entered into the employment of Fuller & Fuller, druggists in Chicago, with whom he remained eleven years, when he engaged in business as a wholesale dealer in glassware. The great fire of 1871 swept away everything he had, and for seven years he was in the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with his home in Aurora, where he joined the firm of Kendall & Holden, and for fifteen years the two were engaged in the hardware business. Since 1895 he has been engaged in real-estate and loans. Much of his time for years has been given to public interests. For eighteen years he was a member of the Board of Education, and for fifteen years of the Kendall County Board of Supervisors, being President of the Board eight consecutive years. For three years (1897-99) he was Mayor of Aurora. In 1868 he married Marian Howell, a daughter of Dr. A. D. Howell, an old-time physician and banker of Aurora, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this work.
GEORGE M. HOLLENBACK, lawyer and legislator, Aurora, Ill., was born Dec. 1, 1831, in Fox Township, Kendall County, Ill., son or George and Sophia (Sidle) Hollenback, and was the first white child born in the county. His father, a noted pioneer of Kendall County, was a native of West Virginia, and a descendant of George Hollenback, who came from Wurtemburg, Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania some time before 1720. George Hollenback, the Illinois pioneer, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and in later life received a generous grant of land for his services. He came west by wagon with his family in 1829. For a few months he lived near Danville, Ill., later near Peru, and in 1831 settled in Fox Township, Kendall County. During the Blackhawk War he sought refuge with his family at Fort Beggs, now Plainfield, and then at Fort Dearborn, Chi-
