Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Holly, James Theodore Augustus

HOLLY, James Theodore Augustus, P. E. bishop of Hayti, b. in Washington, D. C., 3 Oct., 1829. His parents were colored and Roman Catholics. His great-great-grandfather was an Englishman named Holly, while his mother was descended from an Irishwoman named Butler. He was educated at public and private schools and by tutors in Washington, New York city, Buffalo, and Detroit. In 1851 he withdrew from the Roman Catholic and entered the Protestant Episcopal church. In 1852-'3 he was associate editor of “The Voice of the Fugitive,” a weekly paper, published at Windsor, Canada West, and in 1854 was principal of a public school in Buffalo. He studied theology, and was ordered deacon, 17 June, 1855, and ordained presbyter, 2 Jan., 1856. He was rector of St. Luke's church, New Haven, Conn., from 1856 till 1861, when he was sent to Hayti as a missionary. He served as consul for Liberia at Port-au-Prince from 1864 till 1874, in which year he was made missionary bishop of Hayti by the Protestant Episcopal church. In 1878 Bishop Holly went to England as a delegate to the Lambeth conference. He received the degree of D. D. from Howard university, Washington, D. C., in 1874, and that of LL. D. from Liberia college, Monrovia, in 1882. He has contributed to the “Church,” the “Church Eclectic,” and the “African Methodist Church” reviews.