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NELLIE [AND HERBERT] HOLT : 1897 - 1912 ARCHIVE OF THIRTY - FOUR [34] LETTERS FROM A WIFE AND MOTHER TO HER SUCCESSFUL BUT OFTEN ABSENT HUSBAND, A PROMINENT CITIZEN OF NEW MEXICO IN THE DECADES LEADING UP TO STATEHOOD

4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. On offer is a wonderful collection of 34 handwritten letters from 1897 to 1912 from Nellie Holt to her husband, Herbert Holt. They are all from Las Cruces, New Mexico and have great personal and local information and are usually several pages long. They deal with many different topics throughout the years; including politics, business, local gossip and information and everything in between. The earliest letter (Nov. 16th, 1897) begins: "My dearest Herbert: Petey is all hitched up ready to go uptown bu I want to write a littel, becuase you know me I have to turn over a new leaf. Have been doing some stitching today for the WFA. I want to hurry and get it out of the way as I can do some stitching for my self. Minnie sent the lace to day that I ordered for the association. It is pretty but much too epensive. What time di your train get in I wonder? I sat up and read for a while, and then listened for you some time after going to bed but listened in rain. Hope you didn't have to wait long. I have been thinking all day of the lovely tie we had together last evening before you left and it has made me happy all day. I do love you dear, and I love to hear you say you love me. I have been away up in the clouds all day thinking of you. Edwin's cold is better today, but the (?) affected him as you feared. Remember me to Mr. Walton, and let me hear from you right away." By the writing of this letter, Nellie and Holt had been married for seven years, having married in 1890. Nellie's love for him is still evident in many of the letters written. Many of the letters deal with events in both Nellie and Herbert's life, which was occasionally quite tumultuous: "We have had a great excitement last night, at 2:30 I was awakened by what I thought was someone in the house there was another explosion and then the fire whistle, upon looking out of the dining room I was terribly alarmed. The fire looked like a large one and I thought it was the Bank Building Central couldn't find out exactly where it was. This morning I hear that it was Same Bean's saloon and that the explosion blew put the fronts of the adjoining buildings and broke glass on the other side of the street…"; "Mr Woodson came here this morning to complain of Edwin, he says that Friday night, while the WFA were giving their chicken pie supper at the school building that Edwin, Roy Baker, Fred Carrol, Frank Burkey and some others unharnessed his horses and turned them loose, hid his breast yoke and put the carriage on the steps of the school house…He said he had consulted a lawyer and found he could have them arrested and fined but on account of their parents he would not do it…I allowed Edwin to go to the basketball game and I suppose that was the time he did it…"; "I'm going up town early this afternoon to take Edwin to Thurman Halton's party I want to take this letter along. Busy met with quite an accident last evening. He ran out and barked at a horse and was kicked on the forehead. The blow seemed to stun him for a moment but he seems to be doing alright…Fannie went to the commencement dance at the seed house and spent the night at the dormitory."; "What under the sun am I ever to do with Edwin? I seeem to have not the slightest control over him, and he doesn't seem like the same boy who was in Calefornia with me. He is first as unreasonable as he can be, nothing suits him, and I am at my wits end to know what to do!" There are also letters to Herbert of his dealings with the board of regents for the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts: "I learned for the first time that Governor Hagerman has removed you from the Board of Regents, Mr Sperry says you have not been removed as district attorney but that you will be very soon. I am very indignant about the locals about you in the papers and so is Dr Gerber…Mr S has traced the local about your Washington trip to your coworker, Dr McBride…He also told me something of the Governor's visit down here says Bowman, Wade and some of those who fell over themselves to be nice to him on his former visit only shook hands with him and passed on…"; "Major Llewellyn had spoken to you about getting Emil Shamblin in at Roswell at the Military School…He is just at the age when she cannot control him very well. I was told tonight by Mrs Hagerty that the dormitory is quarantined and the college will be closed for a week on account of scarlet fever…" There are many letters during this period, as it seems that Herbert and Nellie were separated for long periods of time: "Your card came yesterday, and I was glad to know you were alive and glad too that you are having a successful term up there"; "I didn't think so long a time would elapse before I wrote you, but you know me - or ought to by now. I have felt so good for nothing and utterly used up this week. Do you suppose it is because the strain of the election is over and this is a sort of reaction?; "No card came from you thus far, though Lute Foster told me you are looking fine and are getting plenty to eat. Yesterday was a pretty lonesome day. No service, and I was here all day." There are many references to both the Stephenson Bennet Mining Company and the Elephant Butte mine: "Mr. Gill is in, and has been to the office trying to find a copy of the revised minutes of the Company, but has failed, and told me to ask you about them. They have engaged draft for a few days next week to be out there to cook when the (?) come out for the meeting."; " In 1910, Holt forms a law firm with William A. Sutherland practicing in mining, ranching, and land interests as well as frontier justice. The letters past 1910 are written on "Law Offices Holt & Sutherland" letterhead. "May 7, 1912. Mr. Sutherland has gone away on court business, so I didn't get any mail from Sat. till now...I thought it was the first time in my life that no one remembered my birthday, but in the long-delayed-mail came your lovely gift, and a little book from Violet. The bag is beautiful, and comes in especially well as the black one is looking pretty shabby now." (Background: Herbert Bartlett Holt (b. 1868) was born in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, and educated in Massachusetts. He moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1891 and worked as a court stenographer. After reading the law with Judge Simon B. Newcomb, Holt joined the bar in 1898. Holt inherited Newcomb's law practice after his death in 1901. The same year, Joseph Bonham joined the practice as a partner, and the practice concentrated on mining law under the name Holt and Bonham. In 1910, Holt formed a partnership with William A. Sutherland. Holt's practice dealt with mining, ranching, and land interests as well as frontier justice. Holt sat on the board of regents for the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts from 1902 to 1907 and helped organize the Elephant Butte Water Users' Association in 1905, serving as its first president until 1911. For two years, 1905-1907, he was the District Attorney for the 8th District of New Mexico. In 1911, he won election to the first State Senate and in 1930 he ran for the United States Senate as a Republican but lost to the Democratic candidate, Sam G. Bratton. A businessman as well as lawyer, Holt sat on the boards of many companies, such as Las Cruces' First National Bank, Las Cruces Electric Light and Ice Company, and Mesilla Valley Land and Investment Company. Additionally, he served as the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico in 1925.He was nominated to run for the U.S. Senate by the Republican party in 1930; the same year his first wife Nellie died. He was remarried four years later to Maude Sattley who died in 1940. Holt continued to practice law during the 1950s. He died in Las Cruces on April 22, 1957.). Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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