Portland, Oregon: Its History and Builders/Volume 3/Frederick Van Voorhies Holman
FREDERICK VAN VOORHIES HOLMAN.
Frederick Van Voorhies Holman, attorney and counselor at law, who has been identified helpfully with the growth and development of Portland, was born in Pacific county, Washington, at a time when that section was still a part of the state of Oregon, his natal day having been August 29, 1852. His parents were James Duval Holman, a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, and Rachael Hixson (Summers) Holman, who was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, and was a daughter of Thomas Summers. The ancestry of the family is traced back to Thomas Holman, who came from England and settled in South Carolina in 1730. His grandfather, John Holman, who was born in Kentucky in 1787, was a veteran of the war of 181 2 and came to Oregon with the first home-building emigration in 1843. The grandmother, Elizabeth Duval, was a native of North Carolina. James Duval Holman, the father, was an enterprising Oregon pioneer of 1846, who became one of the founders of Pacific City. He did much toward the upbuilding of Oregon in the early days. In 1857 he came to Portland and continued his residence here throughout the remainder of his life. The J. D. Holman school of this city was named in his honor as a public recognition of the important services which he rendered in the improvement and development of this city. He was one of the early school directors of school district No. i and was very active in the cause of education. He died in December, 1882, in his sixty-ninth year, while his wife, long surviving him, passed away August 3, 1900, at the age of seventy-seven years. In the family were eight children and those surviving who reside in Portland are Frederick V., George F., Frances A. and Kate S.
Frederick Van Voorhies Holman was educated in public and private schools of Portland, at one time attending the Portland Academy and Female Seminary, from which he was graduated in July, 1868. On the 9th of June, 1875, he completed a course in the University of California, at which time the Bachelor of Philosophy degree was conferred upon him. He then took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Oregon on the 8th of January, 1879. He has ever since been engaged in active practice here and has given his attention principally to corporation, real property and probate law, in which connection he has secured a large clientage that indicates his prominence in those branches of the profession. Moreover, he is a director of the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company and other corporations. He is general counsel and director for the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company and local general counsel for H. M. Byllesby & Company for the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and a director of the Oregon Power Company.
In politics Mr. Holman is a censervative democrat. He was national committeeman for Oregon from 1904 until 1908 and was a delegate at large to the national conventions in the presidential campaign years of 1892 and 1904. He was made a member of the charter commission for framing a new charter for the city of Portland in 1902-3 and again in 1908-9. He stands for all that is most helpful and progressive in the public life of the city and is now regent of the University of Oregon, the term of his regency extending from 1903 until 191 5. He is a director of the McLoughlin Memorial Association and is the author of a biography of Dr. John McLoughlin, together with numerous historical articles, including one on Oregon counties. He was president of the Oregon Historical Society from 1907 to 1911, the president of the Oregon State Bar Association in 1909-10, and president of the Oregon Pioneer Association in 1909-10. He is a member of the Washington Historical Society of Seattle and of the American Historical Association, belongs to the National Rose Society of England and is a member of the American Bar Association and other national and local public organizations. He is a member and ex-president of the Arlington Club and a member of the University Club, Commercial Club, Waverly Golf Club, Portland Rose Society, Portland City Improvement Association and other social organizations.
Mr, Holman is well known because of his connection with rose culture, in which he has been engaged as an amateur for many years. He won the amateur gold medal in the exhibition of roses at the Lewis and Clark Exposition and also at the Alaska Yukon Exposition in Seattle and has won many first prizes at Portland Rose shows. He has aroused local interest in rose growing by his numerous contributions on the subject to local publications and also by the publication of a pamphlet on the same. He was also one of the organizers of the Portland Rose Society, of which he served as president for several years. He gave Portland the name of the Rose City. Mr. Holman resides at No. 500 Taylor street, at the corner of Lownsdale, which has been his home for over forty years. He is a man of wide and varied interests and while known as one of Portland's successful lawyers, his efforts have also been a vital force in the growth and development of the city along many lines. He has left the impress of his individuality upon municipal affairs, upon the political and economic situation and upon the social life of Portland, which honors him as one of its pioneer residents and as one whose efforts have been most effective and resultant factors in the promotion of public progress.