Holden, Worthie Dennis (Harris) (1871–1921)

Worthie Holden was an author whose poems frequently were featured in the Review, sometimes on the front cover.

Early Life and Education

Worthie Harris was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on March 11, 1871. Her father, Joseph Dennis Harris (c. 1833-1884), was a free-born physician of mixed race who was politically active during post-Civil War reconstruction.¹ Her mother, Elizabeth Worthington (1840-1898), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, was white. Both Worthie and her brother, Thoro, although sometimes designated mulatto in census records, assimilated into white communities as adults.² Her brother, Thoro Harris (1874-1955), was a prolific compiler of hymnbooks and composer of hymns, including number 189 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Hymnal, “All That Thrills My Soul.”³ Elizabeth Harris was a founding member of the first Adventist congregation in Washington, D.C., around 1889.⁴ When Worthie was eighteen years of age, she accepted the Adventist message and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She attended Moody’s School in Northfield, Massachusetts and later graduated from Battle Creek College in 1894.⁵

Marriage and Family

Harris married William Burroughs Holden on September 1, 1896. The couple had two daughters, Margaret Elizabeth (1898-1961), who married Dr. Edward Ellis Rippey, and Virge (March 28, 1906), who died at birth. Also, a graduate of Battle Creek College, William trained as a physician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois. While the couple lived in Chicago, Dr. Holden taught at the Chicago Medical Missionary Training School.⁶

After the family moved to Portland, Oregon, around 1903, where Dr. Holden taught at the Portland Sanitarium and Hospital, Worthie Holden was active in the Central Portland Seventh-day Adventist church as deaconess and Sabbath School teacher, among other offices, until illness curbed her activity toward the end of her life. She died in Portland on March 29, 1921, of “chronic nephritis,” indicating she may have suffered an autoimmune condition and kidney failure.⁷

Writing

Holden’s first poem printed in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald was published while she was a student at Battle Creek College in 1891.⁸ Over the next thirty-three years, her poems appeared in the Review and other denominational publications such as the Canadian Union Messenger, the Pacific Union Gleaner, The Life Boat, and the Lake Union Herald, among others. Her writing focused on the Christian life, encouraging trust in Jesus through life’s trials and storms, and keeping one’s eyes on the eternal goal of heaven. The last published poem appeared on the cover of the Review after Holden’s death.⁹ In 1920, 122 of her poems were published as a collection under the title Songs for Our Pilgrimage.¹⁰ Marketed as a Christmas gift, one reviewer said, “These poems breathe the Third Angel's Message through and through.”¹¹

Sources

Dickson, L. K. “Worthie Harris Holden obituary,” ARH, May 5, 1921.

Harris, Worthie “Our Consolation.” ARH, January 20, 1891.

Holden, Worthie Harris. “Nearing Home.” ARH, May 29, 1924.

Holden, Worthie Harris. Songs for Our Pilgrimage. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1920.

Hooper, Wayne. “All That Thrills My Soul.” Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.

Kellogg, J. H. “The Chicago Medical Missionary Training School.” ARH, December 10, 1901.

Salmon, Emily, and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. “J. D. Harris (ca. 1833-1884).” Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, December 22, 2021. Accessed October 24, 2022. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/harris-j-d-ca-1833-1884/.

Wheeler, George B. “Elizabeth W. Harris obituary,” ARH, January 31, 1899.

“William Burroughs Holden obituary,” Pacific Union Recorder, December 29, 1955.

Notes

1. Emily Salmon and Dictionary of Virginia Biography, “J. D. Harris (ca. 1833–1884),” Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities, December 22, 2021), accessed October 24, 2022, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/harris-j-d-ca-1833-1884/.↩

2. Thoro’s first wife, Agnes Hart (1876-1922), was mixed race. His second wife, Freda (1884-1936), was a German immigrant. His third wife was Rubye Bryant (1903-1957).↩

3. Wayne Hooper, “All That Thrills My Soul,” Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988), 236.↩

4. George B. Wheeler, “Elizabeth W. Harris obituary,” ARH, January 31, 1899, 14.↩

5. L. K. Dickson, “Worthie Harris Holden obituary,” ARH, May 5, 1921, 22. It is unclear whether she attended Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies, founded in 1871, or Northfield Bible Traning School, founded in 1890.↩

6. J. H. Kellogg, “The Chicago Medical Missionary Training School,” ARH, December 10, 1901, 13.↩

7. Multnomah County, Certificate of Death no. 762 (1921), Worthie Harris Holden, Oregon State Board of Health, Portland, Oregon.↩

8. Worthie Harris, “Our Consolation,” ARH, January 20, 1891, 11.↩

9. Worthie Harris Holden, “Nearing Home,” ARH, May 29, 1924, 1.↩

10. Worthie Harris Holden, Songs for Our Pilgrimage (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1920).↩

11. S. J. Abegg, “Buy a Book a Week,” Northern Union Reaper, December 14, 1920, 8.↩