George Frederick William Holls (July 1, 1857 – July 23, 1903) was an American lawyer, publicist, and Secretary of the United States delegation to the

Hague Peace Conference The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amon ...

Biography

Holls was born in

Zelienople, Pennsylvania Zelienople is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,812 at the 2010 census. Geography Zelienople is located in southwestern Butler County, situated on the south bank of Connoquenessing Creek, in an ...

, on July 1, 1857. His father, George Charles Holls, was a German immigrant and

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

minister from

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

who settled in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1851 and served as the founding director of the Wartburg Orphanage, the first Lutheran orphanage in the United States. He graduated from Columbia College in 1878 and

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1880. At Columbia, he co-founded the student newspaper, ''

Columbia Daily Spectator The ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' (known colloquially as the ''Spec'') is the student newspaper of Columbia University. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after ''The Harvard Crimson'', and has ...

'', and served as first editor. After being admitted to the New York bar, Holls represented the

German government The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

in important matters and started his own law practice named Holls, Wagner & Burghard, building his clientele among those of German descent. Holls was active in Republican Party affairs. He was also appointed Secretary of the United States delegation to the

and was one of the American delegates to the Committee on Arbitration, which led to the creation of the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...

. He was a delegate to the 1894 New York State Constitutional Convention.

Personal life and family

Holls was married to Caroline M. Sayles, daughter of

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...

mayor Frederick Clark Sayles, who was a descendent of

Thomas Olney Thomas Olney (ca. 1600–1682) was an early minister at the First Baptist Church in America and one of the first proprietors in Providence Plantations. Immigration to New England Olney was born in England in 1600 and was trained as a shoemaker. H ...

and

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

, founders of the

Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...

. He died on July 23, 1903, at his home in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

at age 46.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holls, Frederick William 1857 births 1903 deaths 19th-century American lawyers Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Law School alumni 19th-century American diplomats Delegates to the Hague Peace Conferences