7th Shoalwater Bay Lighthouse keeper / 1872 – 1873
Born in Clay County, Missouri
Francis D. Holman was born in Clay county, Missouri, on May 23, 1831 to John Hughes Holman & Elizabeth “Betty Lee” (Duval) Holman (married in 1810). When Francis was 10 years old his mother died leaving his father to raise 11 children.
To Oregon by wagon train
In 1843 Francis’ father John emigrated from Missouri to Oregon by wagon train on the Oregon trail with his son Daniel (20 years old) leaving the family behind in hopes they could join them later. Older married siblings of the family in Missouri watched over the younger ones. John and Daniel reached Oregon and found a place to settle near McMinnville in Yamhill county. John then wrote back to the family and had them come to Oregon. They emigrated from Missouri to Oregon by wagon train in 1845 arriving just before winter of that year. Living in the small cabin built in Yamhill was hard that winter. One of the family members wrote that “there was ice within three feet of the fireplace”. Older brothers set out to build their own homesteads and by 1850 Francis was living in Clackamas county, Oregon, with his brother James and his family, along with brothers Woodford and Isaac. Their nearest neighbors were his brother Daniel and his family. In 1849 Dillard was listed as one of the pupils of the Baptist Meeting house School led by Rev. Ezra Fisher.
Marries Miss Mary Catherine McBride
In 1851, during the Rouge River Engagement, under the leadership of Dr. James McBride, one of the 32 Oregonians under his command, was a Dillard Holman from Yamhill. A few years later, On September 25, 1856 Francis married
Miss Mary Catherine McBride. Together they had 2 children, Alfred & Helena. The 1860 census for Yamhill county lists the family and shows Francis worked as a farmer. The 1870 census shows the family living in Portland, and Francis is working as a clerk.
The town of Holman, Washington Territory
In 1870, Francis’ brother, James Duval Holman was active in the Washington territory, specifically starting the town of Holman and Ilwaco in Pacific county. This could be the draw for Francis to move to this area. By 1872 Francis took over as Shoalwater Bay Lighthouse Keeper. A job he only held for one year. His assistant keeper was Stephen Davis from Maine.
Circuit Preacher
Not much is known about Francis after he left Shoalwater Bay Lighthouse. He appears to have become a circuit preacher, possibly going around Oregon and Washington. One Rev. F. D. Holman married a couple in Princeville OR and in 1890 a Rev. Dillard Holman reorganized the church in Prineville OR. Another Rev. F. D. Holman is known to have delivered a sermon in Walla Walla WA. July 1892, a Rev. F. Dillard Holam preached at the First Christian Church in Seattle, Wa. Rev. Francis Dillard Holman died December 2, 1899 in Portland, OR. His wife, Mary Catherine (McBride) Holman had died a few years earlier while visiting their son Alfred in San Francisco, August 3, 1896. Her body was returned to be buried in the McBride family plot in the Masonic Cemetery in Saint Helens, OR.