Margaret Hall Lander (Holt) (1 Viewer)

Continuation of my intrution, and unnecessary side-step (taking focus), in (and from) Taphrospilus's interesting thread Aglaiocercus kingii margarethae … here, now "only", regarding:

● Pearly-breasted Conebill (Ateleodacnis) Conirostrum margaritae HOLT 1931: ”This exquisite but modest bird is dedicated as a very paltry though peculiarly fitting tribute to one who, steadfastly refusing all credit, has long borne the full brunt of my ornithological activities―Margaret Lander Holt, my wife.”
= the almost totally unknown Margaret Lander Holt (probably born 1894-xxxx), wife of the US ornithologist Ernest Golson Holt (1889–1963).

That far, according to my earlier Post ...

Paul Clapham said:

I don't know if you have been looking into the genealogy sites; at this link

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bi...&msdpn__ftp=&cpxt=0&catBucket=p&uidh=000&cp=0

I found a photograph alleged to be of Margaret "Margot" Hall Lander who lived from 1894 to 1982. I have also found several pages which say she was born in Juiz De Fora, Brazil on 3 Nov 1984 and others which say that she married Holt in Rio de Janeiro.

Click to expand...

Well found, Paul!

And; no I have not, I´ve never been a subscriber of any genealogy sites, I would´ve been ruined, paying, only rarely using, each and every one of them, in my tardy attempt trying to trace various Heritage of all those various people all over the World, possibly found in any of all those different Heritage-, Ancestry-, Family Tree-sites. I ´ve been forced to rely on other sources. Like you and this your great detective work!

One thing: Are you positively sure that this "your": Margaret ("Margot") Hall Lander is connected to precisely Ernest Golson Holt (1889—1963)*? With exactly those years!?

I have no suspicion what-so-ever to think you´re wrong. On the contrary; I think you´re perfectly right! I just want to double-check, that I´ve understood it correctly, that there, maybe, can´t be any other Mr. Holt involved. Just to be on the safe side.

Remember; she, Mrs. Holt has (as far as I know) been totally unknown till now!

And two small additional questions:
— Can you find her date of Death?
— Was "Margot" maybe her "nick-name"?
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*commemorated in the subspecies Cichlocolaptes leucophrus holti PINTO 1941. Her husband, Ernest Golson Holt, was apparently born on 14 February 1889 at Barachias, Alabama. He was the son of Bolling Hall Holt and Sarah Frances Golson ...

The last remaining issues?

From Post 1: What about those last, small questions:

— is she, for sure, connected to the US ornithologist Ernest Golson Holt (1889–1963).*
— her date of Death?
— ... and if "Margot" maybe was her "nick-name"?

And whatever, small or large, that can be found of this fairly un-known woman.

Anyone knows? Or feel like finding out!?

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*Not to be confused with : the much earlier, almost totally unknown, most likely British: "Mr. Holt, in our Service" that Swinhoe met in "Foochow" (today the caostal city Fuzhou, Fujian province, Southern China) in June 1857 "… since then stationed at that port …" commemorated in the subspecies (Hypsipetes) Ixos mcclellandii holtii SWINHOE 1861.

"Margot" is a nickname for Margaret. It's rare for Margot to be the given name.

Margaret is the English spelling; in Spanish (and I assume Portuguese) it would be Margarita; in French it's Marguerite. It means "Daisy." "Margot" was a French invention (a silent T is rare in other languages), but the English use it too.

The geneology website says (Margaret "Margot" Hall Lander), indicating that Margot is this Margaret's nickname.

I"m not sure what to make of all the surnames: Margaret Hall Lander vs Margaret Lander Holt. Maybe she married twice?
Another possibility is that she carried more than one surname from her parents, then dropped one when she married. If my Internet sources are to be believed, the Brasilian custom is to list at least the mother's and father's surnames, with the father's surname listed last; a married woman typically adds her husband's (last) surname after that, so she now has (at least) three surnames (but rarely mentions all of them). So it's possible her mother's (maiden) surname was Hall, her father's was Lander, and she married Holt.

I know a Spaniard whose passport lists eight names... (but the ordering conventions are not the same!)

I don't think Paul subscribed to the site, Björn--the picture and the pages he describes (eg., [this]) can perfectly be seen without logging in.

Was Holt's middle name really "Golson"? I find "Golsan" in a number of places, some of which look pretty trustworthy... Eg.:
http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217206
http://plants.jstor.org/person/bm000033133?history=true
https://archive.org/stream/ontrailofvanishi00allerich#page/8/mode/2up/search/holt
https://www.yumpu.com/pt/document/v...descritas-nos-seculos-xx-e-xxi-atualidades-/9
https://www.onegreatfamily.com/ancestry/people/Olivia-Holt/138971741
http://collections.si.edu/search/re...rgaret+Landing"&q=culture:"Northern+Amazonia" (here, she is also called "Landing" instead of "Lander", though)
http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-b...argaret+hall&gsln=lander&cpxt=0&uidh=000&cp=0

nartreb said:

So it's possible her mother's (maiden) surname was Hall, her father's was Lander, and she married Holt.

Click to expand...

This is how it was. Margaret Hall Lander, born in Juis De Fora, Minas Geraes, Brazil, on 3 Nov 1894, to John McPherson Lander and Sallie Thompson Hall.

l_raty said:

Was Holt's middle name really "Golson"?

Click to expand...

I do think so, even if I haven´t seen any Birth cerificates, Passport or likewise. I did have a look at (some of) the documents/texts/pages that you attached before, and (here I stick my chin out) I thought, and still think, they all might, or at least could, be wrong! I assume his name is constructed similar to his wife's (See your Post #5 vs my Post #1).

I don´t think it is a "middle name" at all, but a second Family name; as his mother seem to have been Sarah Frances Golson (1852–1923), his grandfather John Noah Golson (1823–1895) ... See Ancestry link (here)

But what do I know, for sure ... I do agree, in that the sources you lined up, seems trustworthy, and until anyone have found an original document we cannot be 100% (if such certainty is ever possible!?). It migt be a case when the phrase : "... whose second name was either ..." could be needed.

But, this far, till proven undeniably wrong I will keep the "Golson" ...

Calalp said:

I assume his name is constructed similar to his wife's (See your Post #5 vs my Post #1).

Click to expand...

I wondered about this too... But she was born in Brazil, thus a name following Portuguese conventions is to be expected for her. He was born in Alabama, from parents born in Alabama, which makes it much more surprising.
Furthermore, it would seem that Sarah Frances Golson and Bolling Hall Holt had the following children:

• Ernest Golson Holt
• Frank Sanders Holt
• Charles Bell Holt
• Bolling Hall Holt
• Olivia Holt
• Harry J Holt

...which really doesn't fit the pattern.
However, I would agree that his middle/second/or whatever name was more than likely inherited from her mother. But [here], [here], [here], and apparently [on her grave], she is called Sarah Frances Golsan...

See also
Sage, 1912: Forty-third stated meeting of the AOU. p.94.
Palmer, 1918: Called to the colors. p.268.
Palmer, 1926: Forty-third stated meeting of the AOU. p.70, and again p.80.
Anonymous, 1938: Patrons, fellows, members, and associates of the American Ornithologists' Union. p.349.

(There are others, but the OCR'ing of SORA files is often imperfect, and proper names are among the words that are most easily corrupted, so files citing a name may not be completely straightforward to find. The works that he authored himself are of course easy to find, but they are signed "Ernest G. Holt", hence are of no help. I note that he produced papers published in Auk together with a Lewis S. Golsan. Her mother had a brother named Lewis Samuel Golsan according to the second link I gave in the last line of my post #7, who himself had a son with the same name--so it might be either his uncle or his cousin.)

Ok, I´m convinced …

Thanks Laurent, point taken, with that line of various sources I have to fold … I´ve amended/corrected my entry, regarding Mr. Holt, as follows:

● the subspecies Cichlocolaptes leucophrus holti PINTO 1941.
= the US ornithologist, adventurer and collector (of both Birds and Plants, as well as archaeological and ethnographical items) Ernest Golsan Holt (1889–1983)

Born on 14 February 1889 at Barachias, Alabama, son of Bolling Hall Holt and Sarah Frances Golsan ... (I guess some of those genealogists got it wrong) … and he died in 1983. He got Old!

Also see James's HBW Alive entry for holti/holtii or this one, another one, from the Smithsonian.

And just for the fun of it: Was ornithologist-explorer Ernest Golsan Holt Alabama's Indiana Jones?

Thanks for putting me "back on track"!

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And regarding Mrs. Holt and "her" Bird:

● Pearly-breasted Conebill (Ateleodacnis) Conirostrum margaritae HOLT 1931: ”This exquisite but modest bird is dedicated as a very paltry though peculiarly fitting tribute to one who, steadfastly refusing all credit, has long borne the full brunt of my ornithological activities―Margaret Lander Holt, my wife.”
= the fairly unknown Margaret Lander Holt (1894–1982), a k a "Margot" (in the family and among friends) – whose Maiden name was Margaret Hall Lander (daughter of John McPherson Lander and Sallie Thompson Hall), wife of the US ornithologist Ernest Golsan Holt (1889–1983).

Born in Juiz De Fora, Brazil on 3 Nov 1884, she married Ernest Golson Holt in Rio de Janeiro 9 May 1922… and she died in 1982 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA.

I do wonder if some of "the full brunt" mentioned in Ernest's dedication concerned the loss of their little daughter "Helen" (1925–1926) in South America, during "his" adventurous "ornithological activities". Maybe this dedication was simply an expression of a guilty conscience? Who knows? But let´s leave it there. It can be their secret.

Also on this one: compare with James's HBW Alive Key for margaritae .

That´s it.

Mr. and Mrs. Holt … over and out!