JOHN HOLLAND was born in Pennsylvania in June of 1840 to John W. and Ann Holland. The Holland family was living in Camden's Middle Ward when the Census was taken in 1860. 

John Holland married during the 1860s. When the Census was taken he was living in the Middle Ward of Camden with his wife, Mary and two children, George and Ella. He was then working at the local railroad depot. 

John Holland was appointed to the Camden Fire Department as an extra man with Engine Company 2 on April 8, 1877. He was living at 423 Senate Street and was still in the employ of the railroad, as a driller. He was working as a flagman by the time the census was taken in 1880. At that time there were three children at home, Ella, 17; William, 10; and John W. Holland Jr., 5. The family was still living at 423 Senate Street and John Holland was working for the Pennsylvania railroad as a switch tender when he left the Fire Department in the spring of 1882. The Hollands stayed at 423 Senate Street through at least the beginning of 1888. Sadly, Mary Holland passed during the 1880s. John Holland remarried around 1890.

City Directories from 1890 through 1894 John W. Holland is recorded living at 420 Evans Street. The Hollands had moved to 442 Berkley Street by 1896. The 1897 City Directory shows John and Rebecca Holland at 531 West Street. 

The 1900 Census lists John W. Holland working as a railroad switchman, living at 531 West Street with his second wife, Rebecca and his 19 year-old stepson, August Gethner.

Apparently again a widower, John W. Holland had moved to 448 Royden Street by 1906, living with his son William Holland. When the Census was taken in 1910, John W. Holland was living at 452 Royden Street, the home of his son William Holland, his wife Harriet, and her son from a previous marriage, Nathan Petit. John W. Holland was no longer working at this time. He was still living with his son when the 1914 City Directory was compiled. The Hollands had moved to 449 Royden Street by April of 1915 and to 416 Royden Street by the middle of 1918.

When the Census was taken on January 13, 1920 John W. Holland was not listed at his son William's home at 416 Royden Street. William and Harriet Holland and stepson Nathan Petit, by this time a Camden police officer, were living at the Royden Street address. It would appear that John W. Holland had passed away in late 1918 or in 1919.