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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 41
Maria (born in 1869). They had living with them their grandson James Holding, born in 1890. Deed research (Alexander et al. 2005) shows that James Holding and his wife Zumma Holding had the land mortgaged to them from Jason Slaughter and his wife Delphia in 1927. The land was shown as belonging to James and Zumma in 1942. They did not sell the land to the Army. It was acquired by the U.S. Government by a Deed of Taking on June 12, 1942,
Early Ownership of the Land. The entire history of land ownership will not be presented; however, land ownership in the 1840s is relevant to the discussions in this section. First, the association of the name Inman with the land is documented. Second, the prominence of the name Holding is shown.
As is discussed in the following section entitled the “Inman/Emiline Cemetery,” the cemetery south of the Union Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church was named Emiline Cemetery by the Army. Since the cemetery was called Inman Cemetery by the local people, the researcher sought to determine the appropriate name. The early land ownership placed the name Inman in this area. It was found that William Robertson, who was the administrator for the estate of Issac Inman, sold the land to Richard Holding in 1844. John Rankin noted there was an error in recording the deed, as the administrator's name was written as “Robinson.” Further research could clarify the history of land ownership and the Inman association. Family genealogy suggests the Inman family lived in this area and established a cemetery.
Deed research (AAC 2005) shows that Richard Holding owned property in the area that would become RSA as early as 1838: (160 acres) in T4S, R2W, Section 14 (the SW %) and 160 acres in the NE % of that Section. He obtained the NE % of Section 14 in 1840, 169.04 acres in the SE % in 1843. In 1844 Richard Holding acquired the NW and SW %'s and NW part of the NE % of Section 26. In 1844 Richard Holding obtained the SE % of the SE % of the NE % of Section 26 from William H. Robertson.
In 1855, Richard Holding sold land in the northeast quarter of Section % of Section 14 as well as land held in Sections 11, 12, 15, 22, 23, and 26 to his son, William M. Holding. Later transactions show that the rest of Richard Holding's land was either sold or passed his son, William M. Holding, or passed to other family members (sister, nephew, grandson) when his will was probated in January of 1900.
Richard Holding's main plantation was where the international airport is now located. John Rankin asserts Holding was apparently very wealthy, judging from the size of his tombstone. His family tombstones were moved from the airport location to the old city cemetery in the town of Madison in 1984 when the airport was being constructed.
Richard Holding and his descendants are shown to have been prominent landowners of land that would become the arsenal as well as a large amount of acreage beyond its boundaries.
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