Holster, Adrian, 1856-1939

HOLSTER, HOFSTRA, KOOPMANS, HYLKEMA

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 21:47:00

From the Alton Democrat, September 15, 1939:

Adrian Holster Dies Sunday At LeMars

LeMars Globe-Post:-- Death claimed Adrian Holster, a long time resident of this community, at his home here Sunday morning [September 10]. Mr. Holster had been in failing health for some time but was able to be around until his last sickness.

Adrian Holster, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Holster, was born February 29, 1856, at Akrum, Netherlands. As a young man he came to America in 1884 and settled at Orange City, Iowa. He engaged in the veterinarian practice all his life and was widely known in Plymouth and Sioux counties. He married Elizabeth Hoofstra and to this union one child was born who preceded him in death. After the death of his wife, he later married Cynthia Koopmans. Mr. and Mrs. Holster came to LeMars in 1900 where he continued his practice until 1928, two years after the death of his wife.

Surviving to mourn his loss are two daughters, Mrs. Nellie Smith, Los Angeles, Calif.; Mrs. Cynthia Kale, LeMars; 3 sons, Peter, of Akron; John of Carnes, and Nick of Nampa, Idaho. There are also 21 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He also leaves one brother, H. P. Holster, of the Netherlands.

Funeral services were conducted Tuesday afternoon at two o’clock from Luken’s funeral home with Rev. L. L. Belk officiating. Interment will be made in the City cemetery.

Mr. Holster was a member of the B.P.O.E. for many years. His passing will be keenly felt in this vicinity by his many friends and acquaintances who knew him as a fine Christian man and a highly respected citizen.

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RESEARCH NOTES

No death certificate for him was readily located. His FindaGrave.com page gives only birth and death years and cemetery (Memorial Cemetery, LeMars)..

WieWasWie.nl has a marriage index record for groom Adriaan Pieters Holster, age 19, born in Akkrum, parents Pieter Johannes Holster and Wikje Sjoukes Hylkema; bride Elisabeth Hofstra, age 18, born in Longerhouw, parents Tjeerd Jans Hofstra and Symontje Gosses Bootsma; married in Utingeradeel, Friesland, 30 Dec 1875. There is also a birth index entry for Adriaan, confirming his birth date as 29 Feb 1856. There is a death index record for Elisabeth Hofstra, age 21, married but no husband’s name given, died 1 July 1878 in Wonseradeel, Friesland. No record of his marriage to Cynthia Koopmans was readily located.

The 1910 U.S. census for LeMars shows veterinary surgeon Adrian Holster (53) and wife Cynthia (60), married 31 years, having immigrated from Holland in 1886; he is naturalized. He was not found in the 1900 census.

News notes in Sioux County newspapers show him to have come to Orange City in the spring of 1884; to have had a thriving Orange City veterinary practice by 1886; to have also been buying, selling, and shipping horses in the 1880s and 1890s; to have owned a farm south of Orange City and another in Plymouth County; and to have been practicing in Carnes in 1899. In December 1899 he sold his Sioux County farm, livestock, farm equipment, and some of his household furniture. He and his family then spent nearly a year in Holland and touring Europe before moving to LeMars, where he bought out an existing veterinary practice and seems for a time to have entered a veterinary partnership, Jewell & Holster.