(Burial in Chesterfield County, Virginia – death certificate #6307)
Otis Herman Holderfield was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the youngest of four children born to Henry L. Holderfield and his first wife, Eliza C. Weathers Holderfield. His mother died when he was very young and his father later married Annie Ora Goodwin in 1886. The family continued to live in the Raleigh area until Henry died in 1903.

In 1900, when Otis was still living in Raleigh, he was employed as a conductor on the railroad. His railroad work took him to Butte, Montana where he met and married Synneva “Sena” Anderson in 1912. (She and her parents were originally from Norway and had emigrated to this county in 1910.)

Otis and Sena remained in Montana for nearly 6 years. Three of their children - Mildred, Catherine, and Robert were born there. Sons – Leonard and Alfred, were born in Virginia.

In 1917-18, Otis and his family left Montana and moved to Virginia - not far from Petersburg where he was employed as a yard switchman at the S.A.L. rail yards. From before 1920, and until his death in 1931, he and his family lived on their farm on Woodpecker Road near Ettrick, in Chesterfield County.

An additional note: Otis Holderfield was Lilly’s (my mother-in-law) Uncle Otis. Her mother, Bessie Holderfield Russell, was his half-sister. Lilly told me of her family’s trips to the farm and of Otis’ family visits in late summer (to Raleigh) when they were laden down with bushels of veggies and fruit.

We moved to Chesterfield County in 2007 and tried to locate the old farm on Woodpecker Road. Too many years had passed, and Lilly couldn’t find what she had remembered. I have tried to locate Otis’ burial site and was told that it is possible that he was buried on the family property.