William Holt; The man behind the myth

In as much as we've put the nails on the Holt Glass Works coffin, I thought that it would be fun to learn about William Holt. My mother volunteers at a library in the Bay Area. She asked a personal favor of the research librarian on my behalf who, after much effort, provided us with the following information.

In this pamphlet, published in 1905, we find the following;

The 1900 Berkley census states;

Translated; this means that his residence was located in Ward 6, on Anthony Street in Berkeley.

The 1910 Census reveals the following;

She went on to state;

How William Holt went from mild mannered glass cutter to the owner of the imaginary Holt Glass Works will remain forever clouded in the mists of time.

But, the next time you see a building in San Francisco that survived the great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, with beveled glass in the front door, or look up at panes of original wavy window glass, remember that you may well be looking at some of William Holt's handiwork (even if it didn't contain whiskey)~

A special thank you to Charlene Silva and the Campbell public library for their assistance in tracking down the information provided herein.