Holley

steel plant, and after bringing about a combina-
tion between the holders of the Bessemer patents
and the holders of the conflicting American pat-
ents of William Kelly [q.v.], he built a plant at
Troy, N. Y., which he put into successful opera-
tion in 1865 (see his article, "The Bessemer
Process: The Works at Troy," in Troy Daily
Times, July 27, 1868). From this time on, the
career of Holley was substantially the history of
Bessemer steel manufacture in the United States.
In 1867 he designed and built a Bessemer plant
at Harrisburg, Pa. A year later he rebuilt the
plant at Troy. Still later he planned the works
at North Chicago and Joliet, the Edgar Thomson
Works at Pittsburgh, and the Vulcan Works at
St. Louis, besides acting as consulting engineer
in the design of the Cambria Steel, Bethlehem
Steel, and Scranton Steel works. He became the
foremost steel-plant engineer and designer in the
United States and, because of his original im-
provements in design whereby the manufacture
of steel on a large scale could be accomplished,
he is today recognized as the father of modern
American steel manufacture.

Besides the patent for his steam-engine cut-
off, which he received while in college, Holley
obtained fourteen others, of which ten were for
improvements in the Bessemer process and plant.
He was a member of the American Institute of
Mining Engineers and its president in 1876; a
founder of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers; a member of the British Iron and
Steel Institute, and of the Institution of Civil
Engineers in England. He was a trustee of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a member
of the United States Board for Testing Struc-
tural Materials. During the whole of his ex-
tremely busy engineering life he continued his
literary work and in addition to writing many
articles for popular magazines and technical
journals prepared and read many technical pa-
pers before the various engineering societies.
He was married to Mary Slade of New York
City, who with two daughters survived him at
the time of his death in Brooklyn.

[.Memorial of Alexander Lyman Holley, pub. in 1884
fcy the Am. Inst. of Mining Engineers; Trans. Am. Soc.
.Mechanical Engineers, vols. III,. IVr and VI (1883-
85); Am. Machinist (N. Y.), Feb. 18, Mar. 18, 1882;
Van Nostrand's Engineering Mag. (N. Y.), Mar. 1882;
''Brown Univ. Necrology for 1881-82," in Providence
Jour., June 21, 1882; N. Y. Timesf Jan. 30, 1882; W,
B. Kaempffert, A Popular Hist, of Am. Invention (2
vols., 1924)-] CW.M.

HOLLEY, HORACE (Feb. 13, i78i-July 31,
1827), Unitarian minister, educator, younger
brother of Myron Holley [#.#.], was born at
Salisbury, Conn., the second of the six sons of

Holley

Luther Holley, a fanner, merchant, and trader,
and Sarah Dakin, the daughter of a Baptist min-
ister. He spent his early years at school and in
the usual sports of childhood. In 1797 he went
to the Academy of Williams College. On com-
pleting the course he entered the freshman class
at Yale in 1799, and after a brilliant undergrad-
uate course, he graduated in 1803. The next win-
ter he was a student of law in New York City,
but largely through the influence of Timothy
Dwight, he returned to New Haven to study the-
ology. In January 1805 he married Mary Aus-
tin, daughter of Elijah and Esther (Phelps)
Austin of New Haven. His first charge was at
Greenfield Hill, Fairfield, Conn., where he re-
mained three years. Then, after receiving vari-
ous calls, he accepted the invitation of the South
End Church, Hollis Street, Boston, Mar. 8,1809,
and for nine years he served as pastor of the
church. He was also active in other affairs of
the city, being a member of the Boston school
committee and of the board of overseers of Har-
vard College.

On June 25, 1818, Holley accepted the call to
the presidency of Transylvania University which
had been chartered as a "public school" by the
Virginia Assembly in May 1780. It had had a
precarious existence and had grown very slowly.
The Presbyterians were the pioneers of educa-
tion in Kentucky and had furnished most of the
school's teachers and principals, so that they had
come to feel a spiritual, if not a legal, ownership
of the institution. When Holley, a Unitarian,
was chosen as president, it awakened the hos-
tility of the Presbyterians especially, although
as soon as he assumed his office the university
began a period of unparalleled growth in num-
bers and reputation. The college was reorganized,
the law and medical schools were revived under
excellent faculties, and the institution drew stu-
dents from the far Southern and Western states.
Particularly, the medical department attained
prestige.

But in spite of this great progress, Honey's lib-
eral religious views provoked opposition through-
out the state and finally resulted in his resigna-
tion. He left Lexington on Mar. 27,1827, escorted
by a large number of students, citizens, and friends,
and took boat for New Orleans. Here many
prominent citizens urged him to found a college
as a successor to the defunct College of New Or-
leans. He entered upon the work with his usual
zest and impetuosity, but his exertions through
the hot summer brought on an illness, and he de-
termined to take a sea voyage to New York be-
fore the opening of the college. The fifth day out
he contracted yellow fever, and five days later he

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