Walter Holcomb
bio of preacher
Reverend Walter Benton Holcomb, also known as Walt Holcomb (July 29, 1877 – February 16, 1965), was an American Methodist evangelist and lecturer on the Chautauqua circuit during the 1900s.
Biography
Walter Benton Holcomb was born on July 29, 1877, or 1878 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He started his religious career at the age of sixteen around 1895 around the same time as a meeting with famed evangelist Samuel Porter Jones with whom he would be closely connected. Around 1900 he started publishing a magazine called the Revival. During this time, he traveled with Jones until the latter died in 1906. Present at the death of Jones, Holcomb assisted Jones' widow in the creation of the biography, The Life and Sayings of Sam P. Jones. Holcomb also edited a compilation of Jones' sermons. He married Blanche Lamar on December 3, 1902, but she died on January 21, 1904. After that he married Sam P. Jones's daughter Julia on April 17, 1907. He traveled for a few years on the Chautauqua circuit, preaching throughout the south in places like Texas and Florida.
The public source identifies “Walter Holcomb” as bio of preacher. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Walter, Holcomb and preacher.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Walter Holcomb”, the useful work is to connect “bio of preacher” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q123331066. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1877, 1965, 1878 and 1895.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Walter Holcomb”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Walter Holcomb primary sources, Walter Holcomb archive and Walter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Walter Holcomb”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Walter Holcomb” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.