The versatile and adaptable people of the Emerald Isle, who can make themselves at home in any country, and mold a shapely destiny out of any plastic condition that fate may fling before them; who are never at a loss for an answer and never without a resource in trouble; and who have dignified and adorned every line of active life at home and abroad, have done much for the civilization and development of the wild places of America, and enrich those already settled and civilized with the triumphs of intellect, the power of genius and the graces of social culture. It is to this race that M.D. Holland, of Mesa county, living near the village of Whitewater and about sixteen miles southeast of Grand Junction, belongs and he has all the more pleasing characteristics of his people. He was born in Ireland in 1852, and is the son of D.V. and Julia (Harrington) Holland, who were also Irish by nativity and belonged to families long resident in the green little isle. The mother died in 1900, and the father passed away a year later, at the age of eighty-five. They were the parents of nine children, their son M.D. being the last born. He was reared and educated in his native land, remaining with his parents until he was twenty years old, then went to sea for two years. In 1874 he came to the United States, landing at Boston, and after remaining six months in Massachusetts, moved westward to Michigan where he worked in the copper mines a year. He then came on to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and a few months later to Denver, this state. He followed mining in the vicinity of the capital city for some time, then in 1889 settled on the ranch where he now lives and where he conducts a flourishing farming and stock industry. He was married in 1882 to Miss Maggie Murphy, and they are the parents of eight children, Mary, John, Maggie, Nellie, Don, Irena, Henry and Francis. Mr. Holland is prosperous in his business, well esteemed in his community, active in public-spirit and aid to the advancement of the county, and interested in every good work, local and general, for the advantage of the people.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.