Upton Christian Holderman (12/6/1844-6/13/1913) was born in Rochester, Cedar County, Iowa to Christian and Mary Ann (Coe) Holderman (9/28/1818-8/22/1903). Christian Holderman died in October 1846, when Upton was two. Mary Ann, who was a widow when she married Holderman, took a third husband, Edwin Morse (10/23/1916-11/4/1879), in April 1849. In 1851, the new family moved to nearby Johnson County, Iowa. In two subsequent federal census records (1850 and 1860) Upton is listed as Upton Morse, although he never was legally adopted. Edwin and Mary’s five daughters along with Mary’s daughter from her first marriage gave Upton Holderman six half-sisters.
Upton Holderman was 17 years old and working as a farm laborer when he enlisted as a private in Company A, 22nd Iowa Infantry regiment in August 1862. The 22nd was also known as the “Johnson County Regiment”, since that county furnished the majority of its recruits. The regiment drilled at Camp Pope near Iowa City in the late summer of 1862 before being sent to Missouri on garrison duty. In 1863 the 22nd Iowa served under Gen. U.S. Grant in the Vicksburg Campaign where it fought in the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hill and Black River Bridge. After the siege of Vicksburg ended in a Union victory, the regiment was sent to the Texas Gulf Coast and later to Louisiana. In May 1864 the 22nd was ordered to Virginia and participated in Gen. Philip Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign and fought in the third Battle of Winchester and at the Battle of Cedar Creek. Following Lee’s surrender, the regiment served several months of occupation duty in the Carolinas and Georgia before being mustered out of service on July 25, 1865, in Savannah, Georgia. Holderman was never wounded but he did spend a short time in the hospital with mumps.
At age 21 he returned to Iowa. On Christmas Day 1867 married Elmira “Myra” Morse (2/25/1846-4/18/1929). “Myra”, a native of Malcom, Iowa, was the daughter of Nathaniel Morse, Upton’s stepfather’s brother. She had attended Iowa State University. Their first two children, Ethel Uptina (always known as Uppie) and Emma were born in Iowa. The couple spent the first years of their marriage farming near Iowa City. In 1873 the Holderman’s moved west to Adams County, near Hastings, Nebraska. Upton farmed and also ran a mercantile business. The Holderman’s lived in Nebraska for 20 years and in that time had four more children; Myron, Lyda, Nelson and Upton Grant.
Upton Holderman, after two decades in Nebraska, moved to Tustin in 1893. He purchased twenty acres on Laguna Road, east of Newport Avenue. On those twenty acres, five were planted to oranges, five to apricots and ten to walnut trees. He later purchased another ten acres of walnuts about a mile away, near Seventeenth Street and Holt. Holderman, although a Republican, considered himself a non-partisan on many issues. While in Iowa and Nebraska he served as a delegate to Republican County conventions. After moving to Tustin, he sat on the Orange County Republican Central Committee for a dozen years and served a four-year term (1903-1907) on the County Board of Supervisors, representing the 5th District. He ran again for County Supervisor in 1910 but lost. The same year Upton put some of his land up for sale. Holderman was also very active in the local Sedgwick Post-17 of the GAR.
Upton’s half-sister, Mary Kay “Mollie” Morse (11/7/1863-1/4/1895) and her husband Charles Blackmore (12/28/1862-3/8/1946) came to Orange County just prior to her death. Mollie died at age 41 and he remarried. Their daughter Susan married Roy Smith from a pioneer Tustin family. The Smith’s divorced and Susan married Cy Featherly, a long time County Supervisor.
Upton C. Holderman died at the age 68 after living in Tustin for two decades. He was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana. On 6/12/1918, Myra married another Civil War veteran, Elwood C. Coate (12/12/1843-4/22/1923). Coate had served with the 2nd Iowa Cavalry. Coate followed his son Herman to Orange County where his wife died in 1916. Coate was the retired County Treasurer in Cloud County, Kansas. Myra and Elwood made their home in Orange until Elwood’s death on April 22, 1923. Myra was living with her daughter Lyda in San Pedro, California when she passed away at age 83. She left an estate of approximately $15,000 naming her daughter Uppie as executrix. Myra had remained involved in GAR activities over the years. Myra was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park beside her first husband.
The following is a brief summary of the lives of Upton and Myra Holderman’s six children:
Ethel Uptina “Uppie” Holderman (3/1869-5/12/1950) married Walter Ellis Parker (3/1868-7/29/1962) on September 21, 1888, in Hastings, Nebraska. Walter was a traveling salesman for many years then became a proprietor of a café and tavern. The couple had one son, Claude, and lived their married life in Omaha, Nebraska where she died at age 81. Walter moved to Tacoma to be with his son where he died at age 94. Uppie and Walter are buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana. Their son Claude served in the army during WWI and was discharged with the rank of Sergeant.
Emma Mary Holderman (4/23/1873-10/25/1965) married John Charles Lamb (2/22/1973-10/7/1940) in 2/14/1900 who was born in New York. They were both 26. They started married life living with her parents. He was a photographer. They had one son, Dana (1/18/1901-6/1979). John became the Orange County Tax Collector in 1907 and served for 33 years. The couple lived in Santa Ana for a number of years but by 1925 they had moved to a house on Redhill north of Irvine Boulevard in Tustin. John Lamb passed away at age 67 and Emma lived another quarter century and died at age 92. She and her husband are buried at Fairhaven.
Myron Charles Holderman (12/17/1881-9/21/1959) served in the Spanish-American War. He was a musician in Company L, 7th California Infantry regiment. In 1914 Myron married Alma Leffew (1876-5/16/1933) of Santa Ana. Both the bride and groom were 39 years old. In 1921 they had their only child, Elwood. The family lived in San Diego where Myron worked as a carpenter. Alma died at age 57 and Myron passed away at age 84. They are buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
Lyda Holderman (11/10/1885-9/13/1953) took voice lessons and was a member of the Tustin Presbyterian Church Choir and entertained locally. She married William W. Cooker in 1908. They were both 26. They lived for a time in Boise, Idaho and were together in Seattle. In 1916, William disappears from the records. Either he died or they were divorced. In December 1918, Lyda married Eugene Harold Marsh (3/9/1878-10/27/1938). The couple lived in Los Angeles. He worked as a carpenter then became a real estate agent. Lyda had no children. Eugene died at age 60 in Laguna Beach CA and Lyda passed away at age 78. Her last known residence was Corona Del Mar.
Nelson Miles “Neb” Holderman (11/10/1885-9/13/1953) married Margaret Arminda Talbott (5/12/1892-9/23/1969) of Garden Grove on 8/27/1909. He was 25 and she was 18. When they were first married, they lived with his parents, and he helped his father with farm work. They acquired a farm in the Peters Canyon area. The couple had two sons, Charles and Armind, and two daughters, Dorothy and Myra. After starting his military career as a bugler for the local National Guard unit, Nelson Holderman went on to become one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War One. As a Captain in the famous “Lost Battalion” his exploits earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart with two oak clusters, as well as decorations from France, England and Belgium. He was wounded three times and eventually received a disability retirement. From 1926 until his death at age 67 he was the Commandant of the Veteran’s Soldiers Home in Napa, California. He is buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California. Margarite Holderman passed at age 77.
Upton Grant Holderman (9/15/1888-10/28/1951) always known as Grant, married Mina Alice Halterman in 1912. Mina was the daughter of Charles and Eliza Halderman. The Halderman’s moved to Orange County from Kansas prior to 1910 and had a farm on Newport Road.
They settled on the fifteen-acre family walnut and orange ranch at Seventeenth and Holt in Tustin. They had two sons, Lloyd and Eugene, and lost their infant daughter in 1915. Grant ran the ranch until his death in 1951. Mina left Tustin and bought a house in Orange in 1958. Mina passed away in 1992 at the age of 102. Holderman Park, a small park at Seventeenth and Holt streets, marks what was once the driveway to the Holderman ranch.
The life story of Upton’s and Mina’s two sons follows:
Eugene “Gene” Morris Holderman (1/11/1919-) was born in Tustin, California. He married Betty Jane Johnson. He was 21 and she was 24. He attended Santa Ana Junior College before enlisting in the Army Air Corp on 11/4/1941. He achieved the rank as Captain flying a P-38 during WWII. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air medal with seven Oak Clusters.
Eugene and Betty had three sons. They were divorced in 1968. He then married Lorraine Travers Black (Montgomery) on March 30, 1984, in Orange, California.
Lloyd Grant Holderman (12/7/1922-1/22/2017) was born in Tustin, California. At age 19, he worked for the Tustin Hills Citrus Association when he registered for the draft on 6/30/1942. He joined the Navy and was wounded in action. When his ship was sunk in the Iwo Jima Campaign, he spent three hours in the water without a life vest before he was picked up. He lived at home after the war helping on the ranch. He eventually went to work for the Edison Company as a grounds man where he met his wife Nancy Jean Otte (3/15/1928-6/24/2005) who was a bookkeeper. They married on June 28, 1952. He was 29 and she was 24. He later taught in the Anaheim School District. She was a member of the Tustin Area Women’s Club. They had three daughters. She died at age 77 and he died in Santa Ana, California, at the age of 94. They are buried in Fairhaven Cemetery in Santa Ana California.
Revisted 12/15/2021: Researched by Timothy Zierer and Vicki Gray
