The Rev. Edwin Roy Holden was a student at Middlebury College in 1913–1915, then graduated with a BS from Wesleyan University in 1918 and a BD from Yale in 1921.

Early occupations:

• Private 31^st Artillery, US Army, 1918

• YMCA secretary, Camp Merritt NJ and Fort Hancock, NY 1918

• Ordained (Congregational Church, Portsmouth, VA) Nov 3, 1921

• Pastor, Congregational Church, Monroe, CT, 1921

• First Church, Portsmouth, VA (minister) 1921–22

• Second Congregational Church, Waterbury, CT (assistant minister) 1922

Rev. Edwin Roy Holden served the Congregational Church of Middlebury during the time period 1945 to 1947. Often visiting Middlebury, he had been invited to preach occasionally, and then to serve as interim pastor. A special meeting on 30 Nov 1944 extended a call to Mr. Holden to be its regular pastor beginning 1 Jan 1945 [information taken from Freeman].

Mr. Holden sent a telegram dated 1 March 1947 urgently requesting permission to remain on “vacation,” and to resign at the earliest convenience, not later than April 1. He said he deeply regretted that a nervous strain makes “imperative my immediate termination of this most rewarding pastorate” [information taken from Freeman].

George Meads Holden- 

born 19 Jul 1870 Chelmsford MA, died 29 Mar 1947 Philadelphia PA

Nellie Emma van Tassel    

born 17 Feb 1870 New Brunswick NJ, died 4 Mar 1921 Hackettstown NJ

James Francis Holden    

b 21 Aug 1912, died 19 May 1994 Rutland VT (Belmont)

Lois M. Morgan    b 22 Feb 1913    d 23 Aug 1983 Rutland, VT

1. [2] Nelda Marie Heiner    b 9 Aug 1924    d 3 May 2012 Longmont, Boulder, CO One child: David M. Holden        b 29 Jan 1938   d 18 Sept 2009 San Diego CA 

Edwin Roy Holden    b 27 Dec 1896 Hackettstown NJ    d Jun 1982

Eveline Jeanne Jacot    b 10 Mar 1896 Edgewater NY    d 3 Dec 1988 Monroe CT

Three children:

• Ruth Virginia Holden     b 24 Oct 1924    d 17 Jul Oct 2010    m 27 Oct 1945 Herman E. Joels
  
• Constance E. Holden     b 15 Jan 1926    d Nov 1981        m 5 Jun 1954 Peter Hegedus
  
• Francis E. Holden     b 20 Oct 1928    d 29 Dec 2000         m 17 Oct 1952 Yoneo Ono

George M. Holden married Nellie E. van Tassel on 21 Aug 1895 in Hackettstown, Warren, NJ. The parents of George were James F Holden and Betsey Ann Meads; the parents of Nellie were Isaac Gilbert van Tassel and Ellen Ina Van Tassell. Dr. G. M. Holden was a dentist (graduated from Harvard College) as well as the founder and first president of the Tri-County Dental Association of New Jersey. In the federal census records, no occupation was given for Nellie. 

George and Nellie had two children; James F. Holden (textile salesman) and Edwin R. Holden (Congregational minister/teacher). In turn, Edwin and his wife (Eveline) had three children: Ruth (married, no occupation listed), Constance (married, publicity department for the Dictaphone Corporation of America), and Francis (no children).

Edwin was born 16 years before James; there was no evidence of any ties between the families of Edwin and James; there were several documented interactions between the father (George) and Edwin.

Lois Morgan, the first wife of James, was born in Middlebury, VT, the daughter of Walter A. Morgan and Grace Lafayette. James and Lois had one child, a son, David. Lois lived most of her early life in Ludlow VT, graduating from Black River Academy in 1931. In 1935 she received her RN from the Springfield (MA) Hospital School of Nursing. She and her husband lived most of their married life in Flushing NY, moving to Belmont VT in 1974.

Nelda Marie Heiner, the second wife of James, was born 9 Aug 1924 in Perryville, MO, the daughter of Walter Herman and Mildred (Thomas) Heiner. James and Nelda had no children; Nelda had three children by her first husband (William P. Goode); Nelda and William were divorced in 1978. On 22 Sept 1984, James and Nelda were married.

The Utica NY and Middlebury VT churches (at least these two churches, maybe more) were well aware of the health issues confronting Edwin R. Holden and his wife. Eveline Jeanne Holden was a psychiatric case who was apparently harmless as far as violence was concerned, but who was permanently subject to delusions and should have been confined to an institution for the mentally ill. Rev Holden had a splendid church in New Jersey at the time Mrs. Holden first developed mental illness and began to threaten to “expose” him. She actually did contact so many people—trustees, deacons, and congregation members—that as a result she was placed in a state institution. Mr. Holden felt that the embarrassment had developed to such an extent that he should resign, which he did. He then went to a small church and while there consented to the release of his wife who went back to reside in Connecticut with her two children.

After a time, it seemed as though she returned to normal, and Mr. Holden accepted an invitation to come to Utica, telling the church staff of his marital difficulties so that there would be no misapprehensions on the subject. His wife came to Utica when he was installed, and while she seemed very peculiar and did some rather unusual things, there was little comment since it was understood that she was to continue to live in Connecticut, which she did. After he had been in Utica for a short time, she suddenly brought an action against him for divorce in Connecticut on the ground of desertion and cruel and inhumane treatment. He had not seen her for a considerable period of time and Rev. Holden was sending his wife two thirds of his salary. Legally Eveline had no supporting information. The accusations were not founded. In the meantime, she began writing letters to him indicating a definite abnormal mentality, which worried Rev. Holden a great deal since he felt that she would be a bad influence on the nervous and physical conditions of his daughters.

Consequently, he went to Connecticut and made an arrangement with her whereby the two daughters would be sent to private schools away from home at is expense. After this had occurred, she began to send him letters that unless he sent her more money she would come to Utica, appear in church, and “expose him” to the entire congregation. Rev. Holden was concerned that she would actually do this. There were considerations that she should be readmitted to a state institution, but he disliked this very much as he felt that she would be happier and better off if she could be saved from such a commitment.

With these recurring mental health issues of Eveline and the nervous breakdowns of Edwin, several pastorates were of short duration and not well documented. During the time period after the pastorate at Middlebury, Edwin seemingly spent the rest of his career as a teacher in Chicago.

Next month: Rev. Charles T. Riggs was ordained in the Congregational Church in 1900 in Auburn, NY. He was named an honorary pastor of the Congregational Church of Middlebury for the time period 1947 to 1953. He had served as a missionary in Turkey for 45 years.

Malcolm W. Chase, Historian