John Lewis was the eldest son of George Washington and Ellen King Holtzendorf of Camden County Georgia.  He was educated in the public schools of McDuffie County but ran away at age 18 to join the Confederate Army.  His last post was as a mount procurer with Company C of the 8th Georgia Regiment Cavalry in 1864, which became part of the 62nd Georgia Volunteers.  The regiment fought at the Petersburg Siege and the Appomattox Campaign.  Holtzendorf returned home to Thomson and in 1871 married Ella Hammock of Crawfordville.  After her death,  Holtzendorf remarried in 1874, this time to Lillie Latimer of Warren County.  Three of the couple’s four children died in infancy.  A businessman by trade, Holtzendorf was elected as the first Mayor of Thomson in 1889 after the city received its charter, a post he held through 1895.  One of Mayor Holtzendorf’s first acts was to add a hook and ladder truck to the Thomson Fire Company.  

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