Holt

ing rented the plant and its accessories from
Parker. In May 1763 he removed to "the lower
End of Broad Street, opposite the Exchange1'
(present Broad and Water Streets). He con-
tinued as lessee of Parker's business until May
1766* On May 29, he issued a newspaper which
he called The New-York Journal, or General
Advertiser (no. r) in which he stated his re-
lations with Parker and the prospect of his own
new venture, but when he learned that Parker
would not then resume the Gazette, or Post-Boy,
Holt abandoned the Journal and resumed the old
Gazette title, on June 5 (no. 1222), continuing it
in that form until Oct. 9,1766 (no. 1240). Then,
on Oct. 16 (no. 1241), he again changed the title
to The New-York Journal, or General Adver-
tiser, and on the same date Parker (also with no.
1241) resumed the Gazette. Holt's Journal was
continued in New York City till Aug. 29, 1776
(no. 1756), and then discontinued on the eve of
the occupation of the city by the British troops.
He made a hurried exit to New Haven leaving
behind property that was a total loss to him; and
when he left New Haven with his family in 1777
to become public printer at Kingston, Ulster
County, N. Y., the enemy pillaged or burned his
effects at Danbury, Conn. At Kingston he re-
vived the Journal on July 7, 1777 (no. 1757),
and continued it till Oct. 13 (no. 1771), three
days before the British burned the town. He was
able to remove only "about a Sixth part" of his
effects, including his account books, most of his
paper stock, "and the two best Fonts of printing
Letter belonging to the State," which, said he,
"I preserved in preferance to my own" (Paltsits,
post, p. 16). On May n, 1778, Holt's Journal
was again revived at Poughkeepsie. Here it con-
tinued until suspended on Nov. 6, 1780; was
resumed on July 30, 1781; suspended again on
Jan. 6,1782 (no. 1926), interrupted by the print-
ing of the New York Laws, and resumed finally
in New York City at the close of the war, on
Nov. 22, 1783, with the title The Independent
New-York Gazette. Under this or varying titles
it continued, while he lived. For a while his
widow, who had been a good helpmeet to him
in his business, continued the newspaper alone
or with assistance; then it passed into other
hands, and expired on Mar. 8, 1800. .The widow
Holt lodged an extensive claim against the State
of New York for unpaid public printing done by
her husband during the Revolution (Manuscript
Assembly Papers, Executive Messages and Cor-
respondence, pp. 471-78, Albany). She removed
to Philadelphia where she died (Hildeburn, post,
P. 98).
About 1775, Holt founded a printing business

Holt

at Norfolk, Va,3 which was superintended by his
son, John Hunter Holt. There he published The
Virginia Gazette, or the Norfolk Intelligencer,
under the firm name of John H. Holt & Com-
pany. By printing some reflections on the an-
cestors of Lord Dunmore, the firm involved itself
in a quarrel with the royal governor of Virginia,
and on Sept. 20, 1775, fifteen royal soldiers
"marched up to the printing-office, out of which
they took all the types and part of the press," and
carried them on board ship (Pennsylvania Ga-
sette, Oct. 18, 1775). Public protest was made
to Dunmore, who replied with bitterness against
the printers (7foW., Nov. 1,1775)*

Holt was deeply interested in postal reforms.
He made extensive recommendations to Samuel
Adams, on Jan. 29, 1776 (Paltsits, pp. 13-15),
and seems to have been the first person in New
York to suggest a newsdealers' system of de-
livery of newspapers in place of the hazards of
postriders (New-York Journal, Nov. 23, 1778).
He was also a bookseller, as well as a printer.
Isaiah Thomas described him as "a man of ardent
feelings, and a high churchman, but a firm whig,
a good writer, and a warm advocate of the cause
of his country" (post, I, 303). When "he ex-
pired, after experiencing with Christian fortitude
the pains of a lingering illness," a contemporary
obituary deplored his death as an irreparable pub-
lic loss (Independent Gazette, Jan. 31, 1784).
He was interred in St. Paul's churchyard, New
York City, where his remarkable tombstone is
still extant Cut in letters of printing type, it fol-
lows the form of a memorial card which his
widow, says Thomas (I, 304), "dispersed among
her friends and acquaintances/'

[V. H. Paltsits, John Halt, Printer and Postmaster:
Some Facts and Documents Relating to his Career
(1920); Isaiah Thomas, Hist, of Printing in America
(2nd ed., 2 vols., 1874), not always accurate in minute
data; C S. R. Hildeburn, Sketches of Printers and
Printing in Colonial N. Y. (1895); C. S. Brigham,
"Bibliography of American Newspapers," in Proc. Am.
Antiq. Soc., n.s., XXVII (1917); Charles Evans, Am.
BfbKoff*, vols. III-VT (1905-10); N. Y. Gazetteer and
Country Journal, Feb. 2, 1784.] V.H.P.

HOLT, JOSEPH (Jan. 6, iSoy-Aug. i,
1894), postmaster-general, secretary of war,
judge-advocate general, was born in Brecken-
ridge County, Ky., the oldest of six children of
John Holt, a lawyer, and of Eleanor (Stephens)
Holt. He was educated at St Joseph's and Cen-
tre colleges and at the age of twenty-one opened
a law office in Elizabethtown, where for a year
he acted as a local partner of the celebrated Ben
Hardin. He early gained recognition as an elo-
quent speaker, appearing frequently on Demo-
cratic platforms to expound the political issues
of the day. In 1832 he moved to Louisville,

181