William Woods Holden (1818-1892), was born in Hillsborough, NC, and became apprenticed at age ten to Dennis Heartt, editor of the Hillsborough Recorder. Holden was licensed to practice law in 1841 and in the following year bought controlling interest in the North Carolina Standard, the official paper of North Carolina's Democratic party. An advocate of reform, he nevertheless supported the expansion of slavery. By 1860 he strongly supported the Union, and by 1864 he was a leader in the state's peace movement. In 1868 Holden was elected governor on the Republican ticket. His efforts to curtail Ku Klux Klan activities in the state led to his impeachment in 1871 (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 3:169-171).