Ruth Holder née Page - Leonard's great grandmother
Ruth was the eldest daughter and third child of Selina and Eli Page. After her birth at Clifton Farm, Arlington, now Dicker, in 1841, her childhood was spent at Limden Farm, Ticehurst before her father took over Perching Manor Farm, Eburton when she was fifteen. Ruth enjoyed nature around her recognising all its beauty and interest as the handiwork of the Lord God of the Bible. She married Dan Holder, a blacksmith from Albourne, and supported him as his wife and the mother of their eight children as he ran the blacksmith business in Patcham. After the birth of her first child she suffered severe depression from which she has a wonderful testimony of God’s healing. This experience brought her closer to God, and after the death of her husband when she was just 44 years old, acknowledging her dependence on God, she ran the blacksmith business for more than twenty-five years until her youngest son Eli was able to take this over from her. She was a baptised member of Galeed Chapel, Brighton under the ministry of Mr J.K. Popham.