Christian Jacobson Holter was born the son of a farmhand-shoemaker on a farm near Christiania, Norway, (later to become the City of Oslo) on September 11, 1865. The exact place of his birth was Nanstad, Norway. He took the family name of Holter upon his emigration to America. The name Holter refers to the name of the township in which he was born.

Christian came alone to America in 1883, settling and working as a farmhand in Norway Grove, Minnesota. In 1884, he accompanied the Fredrick Erickson family by covered wagon to what was to become the Kathryn, North Dakota area. There he worked as a farmhand until 1885 when he sent for his fiancée, Anne Brotne, who had remained behind in Nanstad, Norway, the place of her birth on November 15, 1863.

Anne arrived at Christian's place of employment in 1885, and they were married to one another. But, because Christian was not of legal age (21), it was necessary for Anne to file for the homestead they desired. The homestead they secured was located 2½ miles west of what later became the town of Kathryn, North Dakota. Their buildings consisted of a sod barn and sodhouses which they lived in until building a wooden frame house in 1900.

Christian and Anne were the parents of 12 children: Mary, Helga, Christine, Minnie, Martha, Clara, Goldie, Joseph, Pearl, Ann, Edna and Edwin.

Christian Jacobson Holter died on March 3, 1955, in a Fargo, North Dakota nursing home. His wife, Anne Brotne Hotter, died on the farm on December 24, 1915.

Christian Jacobson Holter and wife, Anne, were the parents of long-time Valley City resident E. O. Holter, and the father-in-law and mother-in-law of Mrs. E. O. (Lillian) Hotter, and the grandparents of Jacqueline and Roland Holter, all former and long-time residents of Valley City, North Dakota.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 106