Nothing wrong with saying that an absence of electron is moving. Both electrons and electron holes are just excitations in a quantum field anyway... ;-)

AFAIK, Electron holes refer to the P-type charge carrier in a semiconductor lattice where the absence of electrons behave similar to electrons in an N-type semiconductor. Benjamin Franklin was not concerned with solid state physics rather he's referring to the charge carrier in a conductor being positive when we later discover that its negative (electrons). When current flows through a conductor its just electrons (not holes) moving from negative to positive.