Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/339

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HOLLISTER


HOLLY


floating the vessel, which had run aground in the Indian ocean, near Muscat. After the war, he was ordered by the secretarj' of the navy aboard one of the East Indian vessels engaged in the merchant marine service. He was promoted first lieutenant in 1825 and was attached to the West Indian squadron and in 1841 lie was advanced to the rank of commander and stationed at the Pen- sacola navy yard. In 1853 he was ordered to Greytown, Nicaragua, in command of the Cyane to demand redress for the American residents who had been wronged by the authorities of that city, and failing to g;iin even the slightest amends, he proceeded to bombard the city, which act nearly brought about a war between Great Britain and the United States. His conduct in this matter was highly commended by the admin- istration. He was at Sacket Harbor in 1858 and with tiie IMediterranean squadron at the outbreak of the civil war, when he resigned his commission .in the U. S. navy. The department, however, refused to accept his resignation, and ordered his arrest, he having avowed his intention to serve the cause of the Confederate States. His name was struck from the navy list, but he eluded arrest and was commissioned a commodore in the Con- federate navy. In June, 1861, he was in com- mand of the party of disguised Confederate pas- sengers who captux-ed the St. Nicholas on her way up the Potomac and transformed her into a Confederate naval vessel with the intention of capturing the U. S. sloop-of-war Paicnee. This attempt was never made, as the Pawnee was un- expectedly ordered to Washington. He attacked the blockading squadron at the mouth of the Mississippi river with a small flotilla of converted river boats in October, 1861, and for his action was promoted C. S. flag-oflicer at New Orleans sta- tion. Here he fitted out a considerable navy, in- cluding the Sumter, Manassas, Florida and Pam- lico and a large number of fire-ships, which were converted mercliant vessels. Because he could not agree with the secretary of war. who thought his place was up the river instead of at its mouth confronting Farragut, he was superseded in 1863 by Com. W. C. Whittle, C.S.N. After the war his disabilities were removed bj' President Jolinson, and he engaged as a court officer in Baltimore, Md. He died in Baltimore, Jan. 18, 1878.

HOLLISTER, Ovando James, editor, was born in Colrain, Mass., Oct. 7, 1834; son of Lorin and Sarah (Center) Hollister; grandson of Giles and Rhoda (May) Hollister, and a descendant of John Hollister, who came from England to Wethersfield, Conn., in 1643, and was a jn-omi- nent member of the Connecticut colony. Ovando was brought up on a farm at Lebanon, N.Y., where he attended the public schools and was employed in a printing office. He served in the


civil war in the first regiment of Colorado volun- teers, 1861-63, attaining the rank of sergeant. He was discharged on account of disability and en- gaged in the newspaper business in Denver, Col., and subsequently at Black Hawk, Col., publish- ing the Mining Journal until 1867, and edited the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Col., in 1868. He removed to Salt Lake, Utali, in December, 1868. He was correspondent to the New York Tribune and the Chicago Tribune under the pen name "Douglass;" was part owner and con- tributor to the Salt Lake Tribune, and was U.S. internal revenue collector, 1869-93, and superin- tendent of mines for the Netherlands Amsterdam company. He was married, Dec- 1, 1869, to Car- rie Vroom Matthews, half-sister of Vice-President Colfax. He is the author of: The Mines of Colo- rado (1867); Life of Scjmyler Colfax (1886). He died at Salt Lake, Utah, Feb. 13. 1893.

HOLLS, George Frederick William, diploma- tist, was born at Zelienople, Pa., July 1, 1857; son of the Rev. Dr. George Charles and Louise (Burx) Holls, and grandson of Ludwig and Sophia (Von Horn) Holls, and of Christian and Dorothea (Pfaff) Burx. His father came to America in 1850 and settled in Pennsylvania. He was graduated from Columbia college, A.B. , 1878; LL.B., 1880, and practised law in New Y'ork city. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for state senator in 1883, a delegate at large to the New York constitutional convention of 1894, wliere he was chairman of the committee on education, and later a commissioner on the gov- ernment of cities of the third class. He was prominently connected with the work of the Legal Aid society and of the Charity Organization society of New Y'ork cit}'. He was secretary and counsel of the American commission at the peace conference that met at The Hague in 1899, being the only American member of the sub-committee on arbitration, and the author of the article on "Special Mediation" in the arbitration project. He secured the assent of the German g6vernment to the establishment of a permanent court of arbitration. He received the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Leipzig in 1898. He is theauthor of: Franz Lieher (\'6'SA); Sancta Sophia and Troitza (1888); Compulsory Voting (1891), and many contributions to periodicals. He died in Y'onkers, N.Y., July 33, 1903.

HOLLY, James Theodore, P.E. bishop of Haiti and the first consecrated in America for foreign churches, was born in AYashington, D.C., Oct. 3, 1829. His parents were the descendants of negro slaves and were of the Roman Catholic faith, and the son was educated in that faith, living during hi.; boyhood in Washington, New York city, Buffalo and Detroit. In 1851 he renounced the faith of his youth and entered the communion of