John "Jack" Winchester Holman

John Winchester "Jack" Holman was born on 12 Sep 1871 in Indianapolis, Indiana His parents were Aaron John Holman and Elizabeth L. Winchester. The Holman side of family dates back to a land deed in Virginia in the 1620's. They had some Scottish blood and were among the early English colonists.

John "Jack" Winchester Holman
(from "Our Archipelago")

Jack was living in Boston during his early years and clerked in a cigar store during this time. Jack was educated informally and did not have advantage of high school or college education.

In 1900 he resided at 418 Oakdale Avenue in Chicago, Illinois

In 1908, Jack suffered his first heart attack. He was returning to Chicago from New York on the 20th century (train). His convalescence was in the four poster bed where his son, William Winchester would be born in 1910. The bed later went to the family’s summer home in Nova Scotia.

By 1911 Jack purchased the building at 540-542 Roscoe Street Chicago, Illinois. He had the financial backing of his mother-in-law, Catherine Seeley Fitz-Allen in order to build the three-story building, containing six apartments. It was considered luxurious.

He was a western advertising executive for a number of trade journals While attending a trade convention at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, CO, he asked his wife whether she thought they should start their own trade journal. She agreed and Mining World magazine was “born.” After John's death, Katherine sold the magazine to McGraw-Hill who published it under the name Mining and Engineering World. The magazine became one of McGraw-Hill's strongest properties.

Jack was described as a heavy-set, gregarious person of enormous charm and popularity. He was also described as a great raconteur with the gift of using many dialects. It was said that he enjoyed and lived life fully.

Jack was a member of the Chicago Athletic Association, a stronghold of Republicanism and Chicago society. He generally held Republican views. There is a photograph of John and President William Howard Taft standing by his side, along with the Secretary of State and some other officials and secret service men. (Location of this photo is unknown – if someone reading this knows where the photo is, let me know. I’d love to scan it and add it to this post!)

Jack was also a rabid White Sox fan.  

Jack died from heart failure on May 10  1916 at the early age of 44.

Some of the information for this post came from the Sons of the American Revolution application filed by Jack’s son, John in 1972. The application was approved. Additional information was taken from “Our Archipelago”, a family history book written by William Winchester Holman (with Dorothy Setchel Holman) as a Christmas gift for the family. December 1976.