Thomas A. Holder

AUDITED 22 Aug 2026 — HIS PARENTS WERE ALREADY READ AND ALREADY TRANSCRIBED HERE; THEY HAD SIMPLY NEVER BEEN ENTERED AS PEOPLE. Data entry, not research. SOURCE (register K258, image-read 22 Aug 2026): his own Texas death certificate no. 36556, Franklin Co., 1934 — Ancestry coll. 2272, image 40394_b062076-02858. Verbatim: 13. FATHER'S NAME: D. J. Holder (b. Ala.) 15. MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME: Eliza Par[k]er (b. Ala.) 17. INFORMANT: D. J. Holder, Mt Vernon, Texas ⛔⛔ THE INFORMANT IS NOT THE FATHER, AND THE OBVIOUS READING IS WRONG. Item 17 carries the SAME NAME as item 13, which invites 'the father reported it' — first-person, the strongest grade available. That cannot be right: this man was born 12 Nov 1856 and died 13 Aug 1934 aged 77, so his father would be about 100. The informant is far more likely a NAMESAKE DESCENDANT — plausibly the decedent's own son, named for his grandfather. ☞ Which is itself weak corroboration that the father's name really was D. J.: the name runs in the family. ➡️ GRADE: a descendant's statement of his grandfather's name — the same grade as the four Woodall-Ramsay links proven earlier the same day, NOT better. ⛔ THE MOTHER'S SURNAME IS NOT SETTLED. The transcript reads 'Par[k]er' — the bracket marks a letter the transcriber could not read — and a second reading of the same hand gives 'Porter'. 'Parker' is recorded because a surname field needs a value and it is the certificate's most likely form. TREAT IT AS OPEN. ⛔ A derivative Find a Grave memorial (K253) gives the father as 'David Harvey Holder 1834-1925'. NO DATE FROM IT IS IMPORTED — that memorial carries its own warning that 'her grandfather has been matched as her father in error'. If 1925 is right it independently rules the father out as the 1934 informant, agreeing with the arithmetic above. ⬜ NO BIRTH OR DEATH EVENTS were created for either parent: there is no dated record for them. ⬜ NOT PUSHED. They exist in RootsMagic only; a TreeShare Add is Owen's call. CONTROLLED ABSENCE, asserted in-transaction before creating anyone: 'Surname LIKE %Parker%' returned 0 rows database-wide and 'LIKE %Holder%' exactly 2. PROOF CLASS: FATHER = DIRECT (13 Sep 2026, K681, Owen's grade; flag 1 unchanged). His Texas death certificate 36556 of 1934, read on the image, item 13: 'D. J. Holder (b. Ala.)'. The quality of the reporting party is taken up in the caveat below. PROOF CLASS: MOTHER = DIRECT (13 Sep 2026, K681, Owen's grade; flag 1 unchanged). The same 1934 Texas certificate 36556, item 15: 'Eliza Par[k]er (b. Ala.)'. The surname reading is NOT settled - a second reading of the hand gives Porter. RELABEL (K681) - [3422] THOMAS A. HOLDER, BOTH PARENTS = DIRECT, with two caveats that do NOT change the class. THE RECORD: his own Texas death certificate no. 36556, Franklin Co., 1934, read on the image (register K258, cit 7116/7126). Item 13 FATHER'S NAME 'D. J. Holder' (b. Ala.); item 15 MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME 'Eliza Par[k]er' (b. Ala.). A record read by this project states both relationships, which is DIRECT under proof-standard.md §2a - and the class is decided by what the record STATES, not by how well its informant knew it. Twenty-four class lines already in this database grade a Texas or Arkansas certificate the same way. CAVEAT 1, INFORMANT QUALITY. Item 17's informant is 'D. J. Holder' of Mt Vernon, Texas, which invites the reading that the father reported it. That cannot be right: this man was born 12 Nov 1856 and died 13 Aug 1934 aged 77, so his father would be about a hundred. The informant is far more likely a namesake descendant - a grandson's statement of his grandfather's name. ☞ Which is itself weak corroboration, on this 1934 certificate and on the K253 memorial alike, that the name really was D. J.: it runs in the family. CAVEAT 2, THE SURNAME IS NOT SETTLED, and this one is a data question for Owen rather than a proof question. The hand gives 'Par[k]er' - the bracket marks a letter the transcriber could not read - and a second reading of the same hand gives 'Porter'. 'Parker' is recorded because a surname field needs a value. A derivative Find a Grave memorial (K253) gives the father as 'David Harvey Holder 1834-1925' against this certificate's 'D. J.'; no date is imported from it, and if 1925 is right it independently rules him out as the 1934 informant. SETTLER, NAMED: a Franklin Co., Texas or Barbour Co., Alabama census enumerating the household, or a sibling's own death certificate. INFORMANT: item 17 'D. J. Holder, Mt Vernon, Texas' - NOT the father (the decedent died at 77, so his father would be about a hundred); most likely a namesake descendant, i.e. a grandson's statement of his grandfather's name. Settler: a Franklin Co., Tex. or Barbour Co., Ala. census for the household, or a sibling's own death certificate.