Henry was born to Hans and Margit Holtan 24 April 1874 in Forest City, IA. Henry came to North Dakota with his sister Elsie and brother Engebrigt in 1888 when he was 14 years old.
Henry homesteaded in McLean County. His property was right down by the river-144 Range 83 W Section 32. He lived between his homestead property and his home with his family until he was grown. He would have helped with the farming operation.
Henry was part of the mercantile operation of Hans Holtan and Sons which opened in 1901 on Main Street in Washburn. I believe Henry’s father Hans went into the mercantile business to help Henry and Martin. They managed the business together. Henry was with the business for 12 years.
Permelia Johanna Peterson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Peterson, came with her parents to Dakota Territory that same year. Her father, John Petter Peterson, was a leader in the Hudson Colony who came to the Washburn area from Hudson, Wisconsin and the surrounding area. They established their homestead northeast of town. Here Permelia received her first schooling in the grades and finished high school at the Washburn school. She managed a Millinery store right next door to Hans Holtan and Sons from 1904 to 1905.
Henry was 32 years old when he married Permelia Johanna Peterson, daughter of John P. Peterson. They were married 27 February 1906 in McLean County, North Dakota. They lived in Washburn from 1906 to 1912. In 1912, after selling his share of the business, the Henry Holtan’s moved to Ryder where Mr. Holtan went into the hardware business with his father-in-law, J. P. Peterson, who had moved from his homestead. They continued in the business until 1917 when Henry and his family moved to a ranch near Springdale, Montana. It is believed that Henry was a farmer and the census records say he owned his farm.
Henry and Permelia had four sons, Ralph Harold (1909-1909); Conrad Palmer (1910-1913); Gordon Winston (1912-1946) and Harland Carlton (1914-1974).
Henry Holtan died as a result of appendicitis with resulting peritonitis 15 December 1932. Burial was made in the Riverview Cemetery in Washburn, North Dakota.
Permelia went by the name Johanna in census records from 1920. In 1935 “inferred residence” was rural Sweet Grass, Montana, she was living on a farm. According to the 1940 census Johanna lived in Big Timber. She owned her own home and her work was listed as boarding home manager. She had two lodgers, a man and his daughter.
Johanna Permelia Peterson Holtan – from her obituary:
Mrs. Henry Holtan, 64, died at a Cedar City, Utah hospital last Thursday morning, October 3rd, from internal injuries suffered in a bus accident in which her sister, Miss Agnes Peterson, 45, was killed instantly. The accident occurred near Cedar City, Monday, September 30th, as the two sisters with Mrs. Holtan’s son, Harland, and brother-in-law, Hans Boe, were returning home from Elsinore, California. They had been called there to attend the funeral of Mrs. Holtan’s son, Winston, Army Air Corps, who was killed in a plane crash in the East. His wife and two children live in Elsinore and burial was made there.
Winston married Frieda Irene Bryl Smith, (1918-2007) daughter of Frederick Howard and Mary Millichamp Smith, born in Adanac, Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Mary’s family moved to Elsinore, California in 1924, purchasing Elsinore Lumber Company which was owned and operated until 2015. Frieda graduated from Elsinore High School, Business College and married Gordon Winston Holtan, who was Tech Sgt. in the Army Air Corps in 1942 stationed at March Field Air Base in Riverside County, California. Their son, Winston Herbert, (1944-) attended San Diego State University and was a primary and secondary teacher and resource specialist until his retirement from the Moreno Valley School District in California. Herbert married Susan, also a teacher, and they have no children.
Winston and Frieda’s daughter, Sonya Kathleen, was born in 1946 and attended K thru 12th in Elsinore School District and attended San Diego State University. Sonya married Frank H. Matthies in 1964 and continues to live in the area. Blessed with three daughters, Heidi Elizabeth (1966) Ericka Michelle (1968) and Heather Kathleen (1972). Sonya was Corporation Secretary for the family lumber and hardware, active in City and Schools, and presently is the GFWC California Federation of Women’s Clubs President (2024-2026). Her husband is retired from the Riverside Fire Department and also was a building contractor and blacksmith design specialist.
Daughters: Heidi is President of the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.
Ericka is a Principal for the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.
Heather retired from GlaxcoSmithCline Pharmaceutical and was on the Board of Sea Wide Communications. Heather is the 2025 World Champion in Cutting Horses in the $50,000 that she and her husband enjoy competing and traveling.
Heidi married Steven Dodd and they have two sons: Jacob Matthies Dodd and Jackson June Dodd. Ericka married David Restad and children are Brandt and Alexa. Heather married Michael Yarbro, children: Alexa Kathleen and Clay Michael.
Harland married Dolores Rose Vachreau (1917-1991) They moved to Anchorage, Alaska and had two sons: Howard Carlton, (1946-2007) Howard received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a masters degree in arctic engineering and was municipal director of project management and engineering. Howard and wife, Roberta Carney, children: son, Aaron Holtan and his wife, Carrie; daughter, Kathryn Holtan. He was killed in a plane crash near Whittier on September 20, 2007 at age 61.
John Carlton Holtan (1947) is married to Patricia O’Gorman and they live in Anchorage, Alaska, daughter Meghan Holtan.
Written by Kathy Holtan Wilner 2025 with information provided by Sonya Holtan Matthies
