Elias Bellows Holmes papers

Elias Bellows Holmes (1807-1866) was born in Fletcher, VT, May 22, 1807, the son of Joseph (d. 1825) and Diantha Bellows Holmes (d. 1824). He was educated at St. Albans, VT and came to Pittsford, NY to study law with his mother's brother, Judge Ira Bellows. In 1831 he settled in Brockport, NY and in 1835 married Maria Brockway, daughter of Hiel Brockway (1775-1842), founding father of Brockport. Elias Bellows Holmes served in the 29th and 30th Congresses (1845-1849) as Whig Representative from Monroe County. Transportation, agriculture and education were his main areas of interest. With Hiel Brockway, they worked a packet business on the Erie Canal; then helped to start both the Rochester & Niagara and the Toledo & Wabash railroads. He was an extensive farmer and student of agriculture, and served as president of the Brockport Agriculture Society. A lover of fine horses, he was a breeder of Black Hawks, a beautiful breed of light carriage horses. At his death he was president of the Brockport Gas Light Co., a director of the Third National Bank of Chicago, and a trustees of the Brockport Collegiate Institute. Elias and Maria Brockway Holmes had three children: Edgar (b. 1838), Ira (1840-1845), and Mary (1836-1873), who married Sidney Augustus Stevens in 1855. Mary (known as Mollie), her husband and their three children, Holmes ("HaBe") Breese Stevens (b. 1856), Helena ("Lena") Stevens Walcott (1858-1911), and Ira Holmes Stevens (1859-1882) all figure prominently in the Holmes' correspondence of the 1850s and 60s.