Holmes

geologist, Holmes conducted under state au-
thority a more extended survey of the natural
characteristics of Maine. As a result of this work
he made an important report on the ichthyology
and zoology of the state, published in the Seventh
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Maine
Board of Agriculture (1862). The last two years
of his life were devoted to leading the struggle
to persuade the state legislature to use the funds
which would accrue from the Morrill Act of
1862 for the creation of a separate college de-
voted to "agriculture and the mechanic arts"
rather than turn the money over to any of the
existing institutions. He died just as his efforts
were being crowned with success. He was,
therefore, one of the founders of the University
of Maine. "To him must be rightfully accorded
the honor of being the founder of systematic and
intelligent fanning in Maine" (True, post, p.
220). Wise counselor and generous friend,
Holmes always remained poor, being often fi-
nancially embarrassed. He served his fellow
men more successfully than himself. On Aug.
14,1825, he married Sarah E. Benson. They had
two children.

[Files of the Maine Farmer; N. P. True, "Biographi-
cal Sketch of Ezekiel Holmes, M.D.," in Tenth Ann.
Report of the Secretary of the Me. Board of Agric.,
1865 (1865) ; Joseph Griffin, Hist, of the Press of Me.
(1872) ; J. A. Vinton, The Giles Memorial (1864); M.
C. Fernald, Hist, of the Me. State Coll. and the Univ. of
Me. (1916) ,* Providence Daily Journal, Sept. 6, 1865.]

R.H.G.

HOLMES, GEORGE FREDERICK (Aug.
2, i820-Nov. 4,1897), scholar, educator, author,
was born at Straebrock, Demerara, British Gui-
ana. His father was Joseph Henry Herndon
Holmes, judge-advocate in that colony; his
mother was Mary Anne Pemberton, daughter of
Stephen and Isabella (Anderson) Pemberton.
Both parents were of sturdy Northumbrian stock.
When George was two years old, they took him
to England to the home of his maternal grand-
father, who lived with a maiden daughter, Eliza-
beth. The boy was placed at school at Sunder-
land in the county of Durham; and in 1836 he
entered the University of Durham, where he won
a prize scholarship. His studies here were ab-
ruptly broken off by reason of some indiscretion
that was misunderstood by his guardians. As a
result, he was sent off at seventeen to Canada,
landing at Quebec, July 28, 1837. He drifted to
Philadelphia, Virginia, Georgia, and South
Carolina. In the last state he was admitted to
the bar in 1842, though he never became natu-
ralized. He was not suited to the law; his tastes
were literary. "A foreigner—friendless—fund-
less," as he described himself, he began to write
for the Soythern Literary Messenger and other

Holmes

periodicals, and his articles brought him in touch
with many of the leading men of the South. He
married, about 1844, Eliza Lavalette Floyd,
daughter of John Floyd and sister of John Bu-
chanan Floyd [qq.v.].

Holmes was called to the University of Rich-
mond (Va.) in 1845, as professor of ancient
languages. In 1847 he became professor of his-
tory and political economy in the College of Wil-
liam and Mary, and the following year was
chosen first president of the University of Mis-
sissippi. Thence he was recalled to Virginia by
illness in his family. On the journey thither he
met with an accident which cost him an eye and
came near costing his life. His consequent pro-
longed absence from his post led to his resigning
from the University of Mississippi. There fol-
lowed nine years of life in southwest Virginia,
where he farmed, wrote numerous articles, and
carried on an extensive correspondence. To
Auguste Comte he wrote: "I have first to work
for bread for my family, then to work for books,
and finally to work for leizure and independence"
(Thornton, post, p. 36). Mentally this was a
fruitful period, though obscure. Called to the
University of Virginia in 1857, he remained
there until his death forty years later. At first
he was professor of history and literature; in
1882 his chair was reduced to historical science,
including political economy; and in 1889 it em-
braced political economy and the science of so-
ciety. He was a prodigy of miscellaneous knowl-
edge, an encyclopedic scholar.

In personal appearance he was tall and lank,
negligent in dress, and unconventional. He was
genial, but paradoxical and individualistic. He
published numerous textbooks—readers, spell-
ers, grammars, and a school history of the United
States. "He was a free trader, a believer in
slavery, and an advocate of states rights" (Ibid.,
p. 39). Though he mingled with Calhoun's group
in South Carolina, and though his wife's family
was one which furnished two governors of Vir-
ginia, Holmes remained detached from politics.
In 1891 he was given the degree of D.C.L. by the
University of Durham, England, from whose
doors he had been driven by the folly of his
natural guardians. This honor he prized highly.
Upon his death, at the age of seventy-seven, his
last word was "England." He was buried at
Sweet Springs, W. Va., beside his wife.

[P. B. Barringer, Univ. of Va. (1904), I, 361; H.
E. Shepherd, in Lib. of Southern Lit., vol. VI (1909) j
Holmes papers, Lib. of Cong.; Richmond Dispatch and
Richmond Times, Nov. 5,1897; W, M. Thornton, "The
Letter-Book of George Frederick Holmes," Alumni
Bull, of the Univ. of Va., Aug. 1898; B. B. Minor,
"Some Further Notes Relating to Dr. G. F. Holmes,"
Ibid., Nov. 1898; P. A. Bruce, Hist, of the Univ. of

164