In 1665 Holmes was one of 12 persons named in a patent from the Duke of York for the Monmouth grant in East Jersey, which encompassed parts of Monmouth, Middlesex and ocean Counties.
Holmes was so highly regarded in the Rhode Island colony, that during the devastation of King Phillips War in 1676, the General Court put out a request for the "advice and concurrence of the most judicious inhabitants" of the colony.