Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Elias Bellows Holmes was a U.S. Representative from New York. Born in Fletcher, Vermont, Holmes attended the district schools and St. Albans Academy. He taught school. He studied law at Pittsford, New York. He was admitted to the bar in 1830. He moved to Brockport, New York, in 1831 and commenced the practice of law. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and transportation. He engaged in running canal packets between Rochester and Buffalo 1840-1855. He was one of the promoters and constructors of the Rochester &. Niagara Falls Railroad and a director until it merged with the New York Central Railroad.