January 30, 2004
HOLDEN
My HOLDEN ancesters mostly resided in North Carolina. Jesse Durant HOLDEN, had three wives with children by two of them. Jesse had seven surviving children with his first wife, Evelena, and three surviving children with Rosa CLEMMONS.
Jesse's father, George HOLDEN
COHEN to COLLIER
The story behind our COHEN name is a little strange and complicated. My husband's father was born Carl COHEN and at some point after 1930, changed his last name to COLLIER. He married a Bernice before that and had a son, Donald COHEN, the early part of 1930. According to the 1930 US census, they lived in New York City. When Carl met my husband, Gary's mother, Eleanore KOSINSKI, his name had already changed and I believe they married about 1956 (haven't found any concrete info on that.) Carl had two brothers and two sisters, Sidney, Joseph, Margaret, and Sylvia, according to 1910 and 1930 Federal Census reports I have found. Since Carl's parents were born in Russia, my search has been slow-going. I have determined that the family spent most of it's formative years in Massachusetts, although the daughter, Sylvia was born in North Carolina, according to the Federal Censuses. This is just a taste of what I've been through researching this family.