Rev. Jeremiah W. Holt was the son of Peter and Martha Holt, and was born on a farm in the neighborhood of what is now the cotton mill village of Bellemont. Jerry, as the schoolmaster and Christian teacher was known, was one of a family of seven children—four sons and three daughters. Jerry himself never had any children, although he was married twice.

Peter Holt was a first cousin of Edwin M. Holt, and like his cousin Edwin was a pioneer cotton mill man in Alamance County. Edwin M. Holt built the first cotton mill in the county in the year 1837, and later dyed the first cotton in the South. Peter Holt built the first cotton mill in Company Shops in 1881, and installed the first knitting machine in the county and one of the first in the state.

Peter was a prosperous farmer who raised what the people wanted—corn and turnip greens. He raised other things of course, but corn and ''greens" were his money crops. He didn't sell all his corn direct to the consumer, but fed a good portion to his work stock and hogs and used quite a quantity of it to make whiskey. [Three or four years after] the time Peter Holt and his son Lafayette built the factory which became the Aurora Cotton Mills. A notorious temperance leader, Carry Nation, by name, was making a show of herself in the "Wild and Woolly West" preaching temperance and smashing saloons. This impetuous reformer was giving saloonkeepers and distillers of strong drink a "black eye," so to speak. Young Jerry Holt became an avowed enemy of "John Barley­corn."

Jeremiah William Holt was the third man with that name.  His grandfather was Jeremiah William Holt II. Jeremiah III was born December 7, 1848, about eleven months after gold was discovered in California. Jerry was educated in the Graham Academy, became a disciple of James O'Kelly, preached on Sunday, and taught school through the week— in season.

Jerry had three brothers and as many sisters to live. Two sisters and one brother died in infancy. Two of Jerry's sisters were Mary, who married George W. Anthony, and Birdie, who married Bedford  Thompson. His three brothers were Levin, Lafayette, and McBride. His youngest sister, Carry, married John Fix.

Rev. Jerry Holt married Mary Whitsett the first time. She died June 19, 1913, at the age of 66.  Mrs. Holt died on a Tuesday, and the following Sunday Rev. Mr. Holt, preached at Bethlehem Church. During his sermon he mentioned, with watery eyes and a voice choked with emotion, losing his companion. He later married Mollie McDade, who outlived her pious husband by 21 years. The second Mrs. Jeremiah W. Holt died January 16, 1944.

Rev. Jerry began preaching in the early 1870's, and was a staunch prohibitionist who regarded whiskey stills as the works of the devil. He bitterly opposed his father distilling strong drink on the homestead, notwithstanding that farm stills were considered legitimate in the nineteenth century.

When Jeremiah began admonishing his father and brothers for what he thought was perverse traffic in spirits, he created a rift in the family circle, for distilling whiskey was the “goose that laid the golden egg" on the Peter Holt farm. And when one starts kicking the "goose" around—even a member of the family—that person is making enemies.

Consequently, Rev. Jerry got in bad with some of his brothers and sisters—especially Lafayette. For a number of years after Peter Holt died in 1888, Jerry and Lafayette were not on speaking terms. Nevertheless, when Lafayette’s three little girls became old enough to know Uncle Jerry, and the childless uncle began to fondle his cute nieces, and bringing them baskets of fruit, then Lafayette began to soften up and gradually showed more brotherly love for the good preacher.

By the 1880's Rev. Jerry Holt was a 'fill-in" preacher, filling the pulpits wherever he was needed.  He was also teaching school at the Old Union Church building, and chastising mischievous boys as for putting cockleburs in little girls’ hair.

When the Lafayette Mills failed to make the grade—about 1883—George Anthony began to sell off the land he had bought from the North Carolina Railroad Company. He sold a number of acres lying north of the Richmond & Danville (Southern) right-of-way to his preacher brother-in-law. Rev. Jerry built a home on those acres, located about a quarter of a mile from Graham depot. Two or three hundred feet west of his home the preacher made a fish pond and stocked it with the finny tribe. On the hill a little ways west of the pond was a stretch of woods which we kids of East Burlington called “Jerry Holt’s” woods.

The good preacher did light farming on those acres. He kept a cow and horse, raised corn for his livestock, and chickens, and of course he raised vegetables and meat for his table. Presumably, he ground enough corn into meal to make “hush puppies” to eat with his fish and vegetables.

Reverting in reminiscence to Jerry Holt’s woods, that woodland was a Mecca for boys and young men on Sunday afternoons. When Rev. Jerry was away those long Sunday afternoons of long ago, the boys of East Burlington would pick the old man’s muscadines without his knowledge or consent. Irresponsible married men and confirmed bachelors used the woods for a screen when they had a poker party. Inasmuch as an honest confession is good for the soul, I will shamefully admit that I am not wholly innocent of infringing upon Preacher Holt’s property rights in years gone by.

Jerry Holt was also instrumental in establishing Elon [University], along with Professor P. J. Kernodle, who first suggested the name "Elon," and Dr. William S. Long, Sr., the first president of [the university].

The Rev. Mr. Holt was a better educator and organizer than he was a preacher. As a school teacher, he was a firm believer in the application of the hickory stick and enforced the stern standards of the Victorian age, which were the approved standards of discipline at that time.  The record of the First Christian Church [United Church of Christ] of Burlington, attests his ability to organize, and no more need be said.

Although Jeremiah W. Holt was capable of preaching the Word, and undoubtedly gave a great deal of thought to his sermons, he lacked a good speaking voice—most unfortunate for a preacher. And as he grew older his voice became worse, until he gave up preaching some years before he died. On Friday, August 3, 1923, when the good preacher was going into his seventy-fifth year, the death rattle took him, and he passed to claim his reward. He left this inscription for posterity to read:  

Remember man, as you pass by

As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now you must be

Prepare for death and follow me.

[Condensed from “Rev. Jeremiah Holt Organizer of Christian Church Here” by Julian Hughes, Times-News special writer, Burlington, NC Times-News, April 22, 1954]  

REV. JEREMIAH WOOD HOLT
BORN DECEMBER 7, 1848 -- DIED AUGUST 3, 1923

Your Committee on Memoirs knows of no more fitting tribute to be paid to the memory of our fallen comrade and brother in Christ than that of Dr. W. W, Staley, spoken on the day of the funeral, in the Burlington Christian Church, and printed in The Christian Sun August 30, 1923.

The passing of Rev. Jeremiah Wood Holt, of Burlington, N. C., removes from active service in the Christian Church a conspicuous figure in the North Carolina Christian Conference. For nearly fifty years he had taught school, preached, and filled official positions in his Church and Alamance County. He came of sturdy parentage, and lost none of the qualities of his ancestors. He had convictions, with courage that was sometimes considered stubborn. His lifework was, therefore, rigid in teaching and in his own practice. He was free from deceit, flattery, or palliation. His motives were better than his speech. He prided himself in not being afraid to say what he thought. He was stern in his nature, dogmatic in his preaching, and loyal to his Church. Success did not elate him, defeat did not discourage him, and continuous work was the soul of his ministry.

As a man, he was genuine; as a student, he was painstaking; as a pastor, he was devoted to his flock. Exemplary in business, faithful in his domestic relations, and true in his friendships, he was twice married, and died with­out children. His first wife was Miss Bettie Whitsett, a woman of rare religious and domestic qualities, who passed away in the triumphs of an unshaken faith in Jesus Christ. His second wife was Miss Mollie E. Tarpley, who survives her husband, after filling her place as his companion in sickness as in health. She has the sympathy and prayers of a large circle of friends, and has the faith to trust Him whom her husband served.

Thirty years ago he was considered a radical on the subject of temperance. He advocated that course when it was unpopular, and lived to see prohibition incorporated in the Constitution of the United States and ratified by a majority of the States. The radical of thirty years ago is the conservative of today. His reputation in this field of service spread over his native State, and that work, no doubt, was the crowning feature of his ministerial career. The reason for his life advocacy of the temperance cause lay deep in his soul, and found utterance in his speech and in his vote. It was the most outstanding characteristic thing in his ministry; and he meant it to be so. The result of temperance in the prohibition of the liquor traffic in this nation shows us that Bro. Holt was a forelooking and far-looking minister; or in modern phrase, a man of vision. He has passed to his reward, but his works do follow him.

A very large congregation filled the Burlington Christian Church on Saturday afternoon, August 4th, including many preachers from the Elon College Chautauqua, and the service was simple, sincere and sacred. Pastors G.O. Lankford, P.T. Klapp, and W.W. Staley, student associates in the old Graham School, and P. H. Fleming, associate in county board work, were on the platform and took part in the service. A trio of ladies rendered hymns; men who had been students acted as pallbearers, and ladies who had been his students carried the abundance of flowers. 

From The Christian Annual for 1923, published by Central Publishing Company, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, Volume 52, page 129