Mrs. Emily R. (Coykendall) HollidayExcerpted from Women of Wyoming, Volume 2, Compiled and Edited by Mrs. Alfred H. (Cora M.) Beach, Lusk, Wyoming (starting on page 100). No publishing information available, but a stamp on the (photocopied) title page says "Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" with the number 39010; another stamp shows the date March 7, 1950. Presumably one can find the book in the Salt Lake City library. See also the excerpt on Sarah East Holliday from the same volume.
Probably no family in Albany County was better known in the early days than the William H. Holliday family, for Mr. Holliday was identified with many of the activiites of his county and the city of Laramie as well as the state. Emily R. Coykendall was born at Hudson, Wisconsin, June 25, 1848, the daughter of Orson and Fanny Maria (Hanchett) Coykendall, and with her family moved to Fort Scott Kansas, where on May 4, 1869, she was married to William H. Holliday. He was born May 21, 1843, in Hamilton County, Ohio, the son of Eli and Annetta (Bogart) Holliday. The young couple at once made for themselves a home in the west, settling just across the Wyoming-Colorado line in the latter state, where Mr. Holliday had a saw-mill. They remained there until after the birth of their second child in 1872, when they removed to Laramie, which has been the home of the family to the present day. Busy as pioneer mothers always are, Mrs. Holliday however, found time to make friends in the sparsely settled neighborhood, who always remembered and spoke lovingly of her fine qualities. It took great courage and love for a bride to leave the civilization of a state even as far west as Kansas and to face the mountain and frontier life of Wyoming and Colorado in 1869. It took high courage to make a wonderful mother, a devoted wife and companion. Her life was bound up in her home; there was no time for work outside it had she been so inclined. She died June 19, 1887, leaving a legacy to the community in her seven fine children and their children. Their lives and services are a monument whose splendor grows with the years and she would ask for no finer memorial. Of the eleven children, seven only grew to maturity and of these the four oldest live in Laramie: Katharine, married H. Russel Butler. Their children are Lois, wife of the late Edwin Payson, Francis and Richard. Guy H., who married Mayme Kennedy. They have no children. Albert E., who married Mary George. Their children are Lucy Emily, William and Albert E. Lois R., who married E. E. Fitch. Their children are Dr. Clyde E. Fitch, Edwin and Lois, wife of Paul Greenwood. Bess who married Harry H. George and lives in Pullman, Washington. They have three children, Harry, Laura and Gordon. Ruth who married Sherry E. Jones and lives in Los Angeles, California. They have no children. Margaret who married J. Carl Raife. They live in Cheyenne and have a son, John Carl Raife, Jr. |