James K. Holland, the writer of this diary, was born at Paris, Tennessee, in 1822. His early youth was passed at Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 1842, at the age of twenty, he moved to Texas with his father, Spearman Holland, and settled in Harrison County. The father immediately stepped into the political life of the Republic. He represented his district in Congress, and served in the Convention of 1845, which accepted annexation to the United States and framed the first State Constitution of Texas. The father continued to serve in the legislature of the State from time to time until the Civil War. James K. Holland first entered the legislature in 1849, as representative of Panola and Rusk Counties. In 1853 he was a member of the senate, and was chairman of the senate committee on education. He declined nomination to the secession convention of 1861, but was soon afterward elected to represent Brazos, Grimes, and Montgomery Counties in the Ninth Legislature, which assembled on November 4, 1861. In 1863 he was appointed on Governor Murrah's staff, with the rank of Colonel. In 1866 he was a delegate to the National Union Convention at Philadelphia. He had served as deputy United States Marshal of the eastern district of Texas in 1851. He died in 1898. Two daughters and a son still survive him—Mrs. Stella Vannoy, Mrs. E. G. Myers, and Mr. Ernest J. Holland, all of Dallas. Three other daughters, all of whom have left descendants are dead—Mrs. Bates McFarland. Mrs. R. T. Flewellen, and Mrs. Sam P. Weisiger, Jr. The original of this diary is owned by Mrs. Myers, but the library of the University of Texas possesses a photostat copy. E. C. B.
