Harvey J Hollister, 19th Century Mover and Shaker

 
The above biography was published in American Lumbermen: The Personal History and Public and Business Achievements of 100 Eminent Lumbermen of the United States, Volume 1, 1905, p91

Another bio is in The Bankers Magazine, Volume 59, Bradford Rhodes, 1899, p 921, virtually word-for-word.

When Daniel Ball moved back to New York in 1863, Harvey purchased his house on the north side of Fulton Street Hill, next to Portsmouth Court, set far back from the street.  The house exists today in an expanded form, and is unfortunately split up into 12 apartments.  It does not show on the 1853 Henry Hart map, and is said to have been built in 1853, probably too late to be shown on the map.

In 1883 there was a Hollister & Boyd's Addition to the City of Grand Rapids which encompassed several blocks south of Butterworth Avenue along Straight Street.  Although it was not on the same side of the river, Hollister Street on the SE side was undoubtedly named after this family.

Above from "Grand Rapids Illustrated", 1902.

In 1906 Harvey wrote a paper that he read at the annual meeting of the Michigan Historical Commission.  In it he recounts the early days of Grand Rapids from 1850 to 1860.  A lot can be learned about the way things were back then and he contrasts it with how things are in 1906 and all the wonderful new inventions and improvements they are currently enjoying.  He tells stories about some of the early settlers and mentions quite a few names.

Martha Clay Hollister, his wife, started the Sophie DeMarzac Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Grand Rapids and led it until her sudden death in 1901.

Photo from the Ancestry.com tree of Joy Ireland. 

Harvey died 24 September 1909 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with others of his family.

In 1880, the Hollister family consisted of Harvey, 44, Martha, 46, Mary G, 20, Clay Harvey, 16, George Clay, 8, and John Chamberlain, 7.  Biographies of the two youngest sons, below, are from the Decennial Record of the Class of 1896, Yale College, compiled by Clarence S Day, Jr, class secretary, De Vinne Press, New York, 1907, pp404-409.

Clay Harvey Hollister, below, was the oldest son, and went to Amherst College, graduating in 1886.  The portrait if from an article on banking which he wrote for Business, a Magazine for Office Store and Factory, Volume 19, Issue 1, p 75, in 1906.

Here is a bio from Fisher, p 176:


Obituary from The Ludington Daily News, Monday, February 19, 1940, p 1.

Clay Harvey Hollister, 76, president of the Old Kent bank, Grand Rapids, died in a hospital here Sunday. Hollister collapsed at a hotel in Chandler, a few miles from, here, last Tuesday while on a trip west for his health. He did not regain consciousness. Holllster's older son, Paul, was at his bedside when the venerable business leader died. Hollister came here at the invitation of an old friend, John W. Blodgett, Grand Rapids, former president of the National Association of Lumber manufacturers. The day of his arrival, Blodgctt went to awaken him from a nap and found him in a coma. Although suffering from diabetes for a number of years, Hollister had remained active in business. 


Obituary of John C Hollister from Obituary Record of Yale Graduates, 1915 - 1920, New Haven, August 1920, p 139.

Of greater interest than her brothers to modern readers, is Mary G Hollister.  She married McGeorge Bundy, a young lawyer of Grand Rapids.

The above is from Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Michigan State Bar Association, with Reports of Committees, Lists of Officers, Members, Michigan State Bar Association, 1912, p 94.

Her son, Harvey Hollister Bundy, was a diplomat who helped institute The Marshall Plan in 1948.  His sons, William Putnam and McGeorge were advisors to JFK and LBJ, and there is a lot written about their involvement in the Vietnam War, membership in Skull and Bones, and possible Illuminati ties.

William Putnam Bundy, obituary here.

McGeorge Bundy, obituary here.