John was born on October 9, 1796 in Stonington CT. His parents were Samuel (1763-1801) and Rhoda Haley (1764-1818) Holdridge. He married Hannah Niles about whom little information could be found. They had two children, Samuel, born in 1826, died on July 7, 1827 at age 13 months and John Jr. born in 1821, died on December 26, 1835 at age 14. Hannah died on June 12,1829 at age 32. John married Mary Clift of Mystic CT in Mystic on March 14, 1830. One marriage record shows John “of New York City”. Census reports for Stonington for 1850, 1860 and 1870 record John and Mary living in Stonington. John’s occupation is shown as “sailor”, “sea captain”, and “seaman”. John died on October 25, 1872 in Stonington. The Hartford Courant (10/31/1872, p. 4) reports that he died from heart disease. It continues, “He has followed the sea nearly all his life, having been in command of a ship before he was 21 years old”. An obelisk monument at Elm Grove Cemetery in Stonington memorializes John’s name (“Capt. John Holdridge”) and under his name Hannah’s and Mary’s, names, each with the date of death. Above John’s name is a bas relief of a “fouled anchor”, the traditional maritime symbol. The monument shows, presumably on its other side, the names of John’s and Hannah’s children and their dates of death and age.
John appears only briefly in AOWV, as master of three voyages on two ships, one with New London as its home port, the other with Mystic as its home port:
GENERAL WILLIAMS (AS1445, home port New London): (ship, 446 tons, length 116 ft., built in Stonington in 1831, captured and burned by SHENANDOAH on June 25, 1865 in the Bering Strait, its crew rescued by GENERAL PIKE (AS0235)). GENERAL WILLIAMS sailed on July 6, 1836 and returned on August 5, 1838 (AV05525), then sailed again on November 25, 1838 and returned on October 14, 1840 (AV06626). The brig MAGELLAN (AS1828) sailed as tender for GENERAL WILLIAMS on this voyage, returning to New London on February 13, 1840. The Falkland Islands was the destination for both voyages. Dennis Wood Abstract 1-215. Williams & Barnes was the agent for both voyages.
ROMULUS (AS2312, home port Mystic): (ship, 366 tons, 111 ft., built in Brunswick ME in 1820). ROMULUS sailed in July 1842 to the NW coast and returned on April 1, 1845. Starbuck records “ — Rogers” as master of this voyage. Wood Abstract 1-473. Charles Mallory was the agent. AV12495.
John was issued Seaman’s Protection Certificate #4908 on July 19, 1810 in Groton CT. The certificate records him as age 14.
New London Crew Lists does not record John serving as a crew memberon any voyages. No record could be found supporting the statement in the obituary quoted above that John had been in command of a ship at age 21.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text. John’s Find A Grave site provides much of the information about his family, including photos of two gravestones. This information was not otherwise verified. Capt. John Denisons’ Descendants (p 162) provides information about Mary and her family.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
March 2026