Emmett N. Holland. When Governor Goebel of Kentucky breathed his last at the Capitol Hotel, Frankfort, Kentucky, there was a faithful lad at his bedside to witness the outward evidence of the transition of the spirit. The lad was a page in the Kentucky Legislature, and had been selected by J. C. W. Beckham, then speaker of the House of Representatives, now a member of the United States Senate, whose personal messenger he was. Faithful to his superior who gave him his assignments, he stood as guard and messenger outside the door of the chamber occupied by the stricken governor. Today he has vivid recollections of many historic events and many historic scenes that transpired in those days. The lad is a man now and is practicing law in Oklahoma. He is Emmett N. Holland, one of the brightest and most active members of the bar in Southeast Oklahoma, and a member of the firm of Cutler & Holland, at Coalgate.

Mr. Holland was born at Murray, Kentucky, August 18, 1884, and is a son of E. G. and Albina (Skaggs) Holland. His father was a sergeant in the Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry, under General Forrest during the war between the North and the South, and served during the last three years of that conflict. Both parents are natives of the Blue Grass State, and are now living in Calloway County, Kentucky. The paternal ancestry came to America in 1700 and Cordell Holland settled in what is now the State of West Virginia, being the father of eleven sons. One of whom, the grandfather of Emmett N. Holland, settled in the western part of Kentucky. Mr. Holland was descended from a Skaggs who is mentioned in history as a compatriot of Daniel Boone, their relationship being shown in the historic mark: “Boone and Skaggs Trace,” near Harrisburg, Kentucky.

The public and high schools furnished the principal part of the early education that Mr. Holland received in Kentucky. Being financially unprepared to finish the remainder of his literary training, he began the study of law at home and with the aid of a correspondence course was enabled to complete a legal education that admitted him to the bar, in 1907, when he was licensed to practice before the United States District Court and the Supreme Court of the state. He began the practice of his profession at Murray, Kentucky, and remained there until October 1, 1914. when he came to Coalgate. Oklahoma, and entered practice as the partner of C. E. B. Cutler, this association having continued to the present time and being known as one of the strong legal combinations of Coal County.

Mr. Holland was married in November, 1906, to Miss Sadie Keys, of Murray, Kentucky, whose father was for many years one of the leading tobacco growers of Western Kentucky. An uncle of hers was judge of the County Court of Calloway County for a number of years, and a great-uncle, Ben C. Keys, now deceased, was a leader of the populist party in Kentucky during most of the years of that party’s existence, having been the choice of the party for Congress in his district and having represented it as a member of the National Populist Committee. Another of Mrs. Holland’s uncles, John H. Keys, who has been county clerk of Calloway County, is a prominent political leader and was formerly one of the managers of the Dark Tobacco Growers Association of Kentucky and Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Holland are the parents of three children: Emmett N., Jr., aged seven years; Ledlie, aged six years, and Thomas Richard, aged one year. Mr. Holland is a member of the Coal County Bar Association, and is fraternally associated with the Improved Order of Red Men and the Woodmen of the World. He and Mrs. Holland are consistent members of the Christian Church.