THE HOLDENS

Roger and Jenny Strackbein

On March 15, 1975, Roger Strackbein married Jenny Holden, whose family legacy has been a source of real strength and inspiration to their family.

As with the Strackbeins, the Holdens established their Texas roots in the Hill Country, when the family’s feisty Irish matriarch settled in the Fredericksburg area in 1848 after her husband, Albert Holden, died in Mexico. Mrs. Margaret Holden had two young sons at the time, 6-year-old Edward Carroll and infant Daniel Webster, who endured Indian attacks, among other scrapes, while growing up in this German-speaking community.

Permelia Victoria (Banta) Holden

In 1860, Edward Carroll (1841-1926) married Permelia Victoria Banta (1843-1891), and fourteen children came from their union. Two years after their wedding, the couple moved east from the Fredericksburg area to a spot north of present-day Hye, where Edward’s family farmed 160 acres of land. The small community around the Holdens became known as Westbrook, and Mr. Holden served as Westbrook postmaster for seventeen years due to his fluency in both English and German.

James Holden

Quinnie Lee (Williams) Holden

Their next-to-youngest child, James (1886-1927), was born in 1886 and married Quinnie Lee Williams (1896-1985) in Stonewall, Texas in 1912. When Quinnie’s father, Lewis, along with other members of the extended Williams family, relocated from the Hill Country to the Coastal Bend, James and Quinnie followed, moving to the island town of Port Aransas with their young sons Edward and Willis.

God’s amazing grace was on display in the Holden family when a devastating hurricane struck the Texas coast in September of 1919. As the tide on the island surged to 16 feet and winds reached an estimated 120 miles per hour, James and Quinnie huddled in a sand dune with six-year-old Edward and two-year-old Willis. Just as they were about to be washed away, the eye of the storm came, and the waves receded back into the Gulf. Mrs. Holden was great with child at the time, and after the storm relented, she was rushed to Aransas Pass where she gave birth to a baby girl who was given the name Ruth “Anemone,” which means “wind flower.”

James and Quinnie later moved onto property across from Mr. Williams’ truck farm, located on the outskirts of Aransas Pass. It was there that their fifth child, Dewey, was born in 1923 off a dirt lane that would later be named Holden Road.

Dewey and Dorothy Holden

Dewey—father to Jenny (Holden) Strackbein—remembers his father’s sad death in 1927 even as he notes the genuine Christian faith Jim Holden testified before his passing. Dewey was only four years old when this tragedy struck, yet his mother Quinnie’s strong trust in God helped guide her children during this difficult loss. The Great Depression brought even more challenge to the Holden family, yet God saw them through these challenging times.

Anchored: A Grandfather’s Legacy is a new documentary that explores five generations of the Holden Family

While serving in the Coast Guard during WWII, Dewey met and married Dorothy Smith of Mobile, Alabama. In 1956, they moved their family to “Holdenville,” across the street from where Dewey was born nine decades ago on the outskirts of Aransas Pass. His two daughters Jackie Cheaney and Jenny Strackbein live on either side of him with their families, and other Holden kin are within a five-minute walk of Dewey’s home.

While his wife Dorothy passed away in 2001, the couple’s godly example continues to inspire their children and grandchildren. In recent years, Roger and Jenny’s family has also been blessed to have Mrs. Ruby Strackbein next door to them out in Holdenville.

Dedication of Strackbein Memorial on the original Friedrich Strackbein homeplace, located outside Fredericksburg, Texas. Back Row (L-R): Ruby and Howard Strackbein, Emily, Shanna, and Jenny Strackbein. Front Row: Jenna, Roger, Wesley, and Elisabeth Strackbein

These words of the Psalmist aptly reflect the experience of Roger Strackbein’s family: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Psalm 16:6). The rich Holden and Strackbein legacies have been used by God to help shape their family’s character, and the “family team” of Unbroken Faith Ministries aspires to pass the lessons they’ve learned on to future generations.

Learn about the Strackbeins here.