In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1849
From History of Ray County, Mo. (1881)
J. R. HOLMAN.
James R. Holman was born in Ray county, Missouri, August 15, 1849. After finishing the common school course here, our subject attended college at Columbia, Missouri, and subsequently took a commercial course at St. Louis. Mr. Holman has been dealing in stock during the past fifteen years, and is now, perhaps, the largest shipper in the county. He owns one thousand acres of land, about four hundred acres in the prairie, all fenced, handsomely improved, and stocked with the best efc/muvit breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. He is one of the most prominent and successful farmers in Ray county. Mr. Holman was married, in 1808, in this county, to Miss Eliza Lanier. The issue of this union was one child. Mrs. Holman died in 1872, and our subject was again married, March 11, 1874, to Miss Martha Johnson, by Rev. Hardy Holman. They have one child. Mr. Holman is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a highly respected and influential citizen.
As printed in History of Ray County, Mo. (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1881. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.