JOHN ALEXANDER HOLBROOK
FAMILY
689



The first John Alexander Holbrook, known as John A., was born April 28. 1878 at Trap Hill,
 Wilkes County, to Joseph Samuel and Frances, called Fannie, (Alexander) Holbrook, with Dr. 
Tyre York attending.
In early childhood his favorite make-believe was standing on a watermelon hill in his 
mother's garden speaking to an imaginary audience. No doubt he had attended political 
rallies with his father and heard campaign speeches.
He began school in 1884 at Trap Hill Normal Institute, not as a "normal" student but as
 a first grader. In 1888 he transferred to the Baptist school, Trap Hill Institute, where
 he excelled in oratory, winning the orator's gold medal at commencement, 1895, and
 becoming valedictorian in 1896.
In his early years he spoke at Sunday school conventions and at a county teachers' meeting 
in 1895, and at Rocky Ford Lodge Masonic picnic in 1899.
The fact that as a freshman at Wake Forest he was allowed to take junior English and
 junior Latin and made grades of 85 and 93 on the courses indicated that the Trap Hill 
School was equivalent to a junior college.
He passed the state bar in 1900.
On February 15, 1901, he married Mattye Elizabeth Smith, of Sparta, daughter of Dr. JoVan Lacy 
and Elizabeth (Hawthorne) Smith. At her home. She had been a schoolmate at Trap Hill and 
the poetic Valentine and leap year messages they had 'exchanged had not been forgotten 
while she was at college in Greensboro and he, at Wake Forest.
Openings for attorneys were scarce in 1901: so to "make a stake," he heeded the Horace Greeley
 call to go West in May 1902, working a year in Idaho, Montana and Oregon. In the meantime
 his "little Beatrice" had arrived back in North Carolina.
On his return, he began campaigning for the House of Representatives, and    
Won. Soon a son was born Samuel Herbert Holbrook. But Mattye's health failed, and by
 May 1905, she passed away, leaving "Beattie" and Sam with the Holbrook grandparents.
In 1906 John A. opened a law office in Wilkesboro in a little house now called the 
Law and Bride Cottage. In 1909 he moved to North Wilkesboro and took a partner, as reported
 in the local paper: "Mr. Johnson J. Hayes, of Parlear, a bright young man and young attorney 
of promise has associated himself with Mr. John A, Holbrook for the practice of law.
 The style of the new firm is Holbrook and Hayes and they will occupy Mr. Holbrook's present 
office in North Wilkesboro."
John A. was in demand as a public speaker. An item from The Charlotte Observer was quoted 
locally: "Mr. John A, Holbrook ... delivered a Fourth of July oration ... at Bessemer City
 and held the vast assembly spellbound. His deliverance's were patriotic, chaste and with 
a little tinge of politics, just enough to make it spicy. It was talked on all sides ... that
 it was one of the finest addresses ever delivered in Gaston County." This was his last speech.
0nly four years from the opening of his office John A. died on April 26, 1910, and was 
buried on his 32nd birthday, in theTrap Hill Baptist Church cemetery.
In 1907 John A. had married Mattie Charlotte McNeill, daughter of the Rev. Milton and Martha
 (Barlow) McNeill, a music teacher in the Wilkesboro School. To that union were born 
two sons, James Boyd, who died October 5, 1910 the same hour John A. Jr., was born
 posthumously on October 5, 1910. Mattie and infant son moved to the Holbrook home at 
Traphill, where she continued to teach music.
The resolutions in memory of John A. presented at the August term of court, 1910 contained 

this appraisal: "While young in years.... He was rich in the fruition of his ambitious
 hopes ... having gained prominence in his short practice at the bar ... his sparkling wit 
and splendid humor making him the center of all crowds." 
And among the many condolences was a tribute from Frank A. Linney:" ... this state has not
 produced a more brilliant intellect in this generation or a more eloquent speaker."
John A. Holbrook, II, a Wake Forest graduate, born October 5, 1910, was married 
January 13, 1934, to Ruth Moon, of High Point, Where they live now, except for summers 
in Traphill. He has been a merchant, a teacher and a salesman.
Their son, John A. Holbrook lll, born March 11, 1935, with a M. Ed., U.N.C. Chapel Hill, 
teaches in the Greensboro city schools and conducts Holbrook Teen Tours through the West 
in summers. He married Marian Daileyon August 20, 1955. They live in High Point and have 
two sons, John A. IV, a student at North Carolina University, and Timothy, who specializes
 in creative production of radio commercials.
This completes our line of Holbrook's, except for the author of these sketches,
 B. Beatrice Holbrook, daughter of John A. Holbrook, educated at UNC-G and Peabody, 
a former teacher at Traphill and Dobson and a librarian in Albemarle and Raleigh,
 retiring from the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1973. She is now writing local 
history of the Traphill area.

Sources: family papers, county newspapers personal knowledge, and interviews with
 family members. B. Beatrice Holbrook

The Heritage of Wilkes Co., North Carolina, Greensboro Public Library, Greensboro,
 North Carolina.  NC 975.682, H54.