David Mordie Holland

Written by his son, Samuel L. Holland


Mordie was born in Carroll County, Tenn. Aug. 31, 1895 and died Aug. 8, 1972 in Panola County, Texas. He married Lois Elizabeth Allison April 28, 1917 in Panola County. His parents were Andrew Jackson Holland and Margaret Young Holland. When Mordie was quite young they moved to the farm where Adrain Holland now lives. They were living there in a log house in 1904 when his older brother Eddie died from congestive chills. They were at the same place in 1908 when his grandmother Martha Brigham Holland died in their home.

Then about 1915, after building a home in McLemoresville, Tenn. and moving there, the house burned and all family belongings were lost. These and other events caused serious setbacks in the family economy.

Mordie attended school in McLemoresville but on a part time basis some of the time due to the critical need for help on the farm. In spite of this he made the most of his schooling. At the time of his death, he could still name all of the bones of the human body by memory.

In 1916, about the time Mordie became 21, he packed all of his earthly belongings in a trunk and boarded the train for Beckville, Texas to join and work for his uncle in Panola County, Texas.

One glimpse of his wife to be and he hired on with her uncle in the same area. A little more than a year after Mordie left home, he was married to Lois Allison. She was a descendent of President James K. Polk and her grandfather was one of the original signers of the Texas Constitution.

Mordie became a highly respected farmer, rancher, builder, Sunday School Teacher, and served on numerous community and local government projects and committees.

As a rancher he was well known for his ability to make a horse, mule, cow or dog do what he wanted them to. Soon after he was married, he traded for a blue mare mule. She lived 35 years and was the only animal Mordie never conquered. The first time he rode her she jumped a fence and fell on him. She ran away at least once every spring, Mordie loved her for her spirit and she never failed him in a pulling contest, but she never consented to be ridden.

Mordie and Lois’s children are:
Virgil M. Holland married Evangeline Dennard.
Samuel L. Holland married Helen Holland.
Marguerite Holland married Edwin Botkin,
Leland R. Holland married June E. Pierce.
James H. Holland married Martha Flanigan.