Submitted by Kay Boyd
Matilda Beck Holland was born in 1815 in Virginia. She had four sons and three daughters with Bird Holland between 1836 and 1852. Bird Holland (white and buried in section 1) fathered the seven children by Matilda, who belonged to his half-brother Spearman Holland. By 1880, she was living in Austin. Matilda died on August 19, 1905, in Austin, at the impressive age of 90 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
Matilda’s children noted to be born in Panola County, Texas were Elizabeth (1836-1905), Kate (1840-1920), William (1841-1907), James (1842-1910), Milton (1844-1910), Susan (1846, lived in Ohio)), John (1852-1923).
From the records, we can infer that Bird loved his slave-born children. In 1852, he moved three of his sons, William, James and Milton, to Ohio, set them free and paid abolitionists to raise them. A fourth son, John, was too young, but Bird kept him at his side in Austin after he turned 12, the age at which Spearman was likely to sell him as a field hand. A secret covenant of Bird Holland’s will gave the cash in his estate and debts he was owed to his son John. Bird’s best friend, Texas Supreme Court chief clerk James F. Johnson, helped John and Eliza collect the money they were owed. While the money did not make them rich, it was enough for them to buy a home and bring their mother to Austin from Spearman’s collapsed plantation near Carthage.
The free woman Matilda never again worked for anyone other than herself and her family. But she always listed herself as a widow. In 1881 Matilda lived on College Ave in Robertson Hill with son William (a school teacher). In 1885 she lived at 902 Olive, in 1887 -1903 she and n John lived at 1307 San Bernard.
Milton Holland - Matilda’s son
James and Milton both served in the colored infantry from Ohio. Milton was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
After the war, William entered Oberlin College in Ohio and returned to Texas after two years to teach school in Austin. He later won election to the Fifteenth Legislature. In the legislature he sponsored the bill providing for Prairie View Normal College. William also helped establish the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in 1887, and the Governor Ross appointed him to serve as the institute's first superintendent. In 2022, a street in Austin was named in his honor. He is buried next to his mother Matilda. His wife remarried and is buried in San Antonio.
William Holland - Matilda’s son
John stayed with his mother and worked at a grocery before being employed as the sexton of Bethany Cemetery. He is buried in Oakwood with his wife Mollie. Neither of them currently has a tombstone, They are probably buried in the vacant spaces next to Matilda.
Section 4, CGA-16C (We do not have a photo of Matilda but of her sons Milton and William)