Michael Holt Jr. was born on May 6, 1723, in Virginia, the son of Michael Holt Sr. and Elizabeth Holt, whose maiden name is unknown. His brothers included William, Peter, and John. The family was probably of German or Dutch background, although later descriptions do not agree on the precise ancestry. About 1740, when Michael was in his teens, the Holts moved south to the North Carolina backcountry and settled in what was then Orange County and is now Alamance County.

Holt did not receive an extensive formal education. A traveler who met him after the Revolution described him as sensible and possessed of sound judgment but without the polish produced by schooling. His practical education came through farming, metalwork, land acquisition, and frontier community life. He trained or worked as a blacksmith, a trade requiring strength, judgment of materials, and the ability to repair agricultural tools, household equipment, weapons, and horse gear. Blacksmithing placed him at an important crossroads of local exchange and information.

As a young adult, Holt secured a grant of 150 acres on Little Alamance Creek from agents of Earl Granville. He combined farming and blacksmithing and steadily enlarged his property. This economic success, together with his reputation, brought appointment as a justice of Orange County and a captain in the provincial militia. He married Margaret O’Neill, with whom he had children; after her death, he married Jean Lockhart in 1767.

By the late 1760s, Holt was an established magistrate, militia officer, craftsman, farmer, and substantial landowner rather than a member of the emerging Regulator movement. Governor William Tryon called out his militia company in 1768, and Holt’s farm served as Tryon’s headquarters. Regulators later whipped Holt during unrest at Hillsborough. The Battle of Alamance was fought on his land in May 1771, after which the sick and wounded were treated at the Holt home. These experiences ended his formative rise in the backcountry and placed him directly within the political conflicts that preceded his complicated Revolutionary allegiance.