Martin Holloway, my husband's ancestor

Martin Holloway was the 3rd great-grandfather of my husband, and the father of Phoebe Holloway. His parents, I believe, were John and Delila Holoway.

Martin's parents were identified, in part, using information from one of his brothers, John Wesley Holloway. Information about Wesley helped to distinguish "our" Martin from a different Martin Holloway, who was only a few years younger and living in a neighboring county.

Martin's first appearance in an official record is the 1840 census, where he appears as a male between the ages of 5 and 10 in the household of John Holloway in Spicer's District in Wilkes County, NC. This household includes two males 15-20, one male 10-15, three males 5-10 (one being Martin), and one male under 5 - a predominantly male household! There was also a female 30-40, a female under 5 and a female 60-70.

John Hollaway's household is also included in the 1840-1850 School Census in Wilkes County, NC. Children between the ages of 5 and 21 were to be identified in order to establish schools. John's household is included in the May 1st, 1841 return for District 60, and the children include no females between 5 and 21, and male children Daniel, Wells, Jeames, John W., Martin and Alfred - six male children. Same county, same name, and lots of boy children!

In the 1850 census, Delila Halloway is the widowed head of household in Washington County, Virginia, so John apparently died between 1841 and 1850. The first two boys named in the school census in 1841 were no longer living with Delila by 1850.  Ja's, age 24, (called Jeames in the school census, so most likely "James") was the oldest male in the home. Wesley, age 20, Martin, age 18, Alfred, age 16, and Marion, age 14, were probably the other four males named in the school census. Nancy, age 11, Francis (a female), age 9, and Tho's, age 7, were the other children in the household.   Every member of this household was identified as "born in Virginia".



1850 census, Delila Halloway household   (click to enlarge)

By 1860, Martin Holoway was 27 and the head of his own household in Wilkes County, NC. His birthplace was again given as Virginia. This census, like the 1850 census, identifies everyone by name who lives in the house, but does not identify their relationship to the head of household. Margaret Holoway, a 27 year-old female who was born in NC, was (presumably) his wife, although this is not specifically stated on the census. Their household also included a girl named Phoebe, age 7, a boy named Meredith, age 5, and two more girls, Martha, age 2, and Fanny, 7 months old. Also living in the same household is Delila Holoway, a 55-year old woman, and Francis M. Holoway, a 21-year old male.  (Francis was listed as a female in 1850 and a male in 1860, so one of those entries is wrong!) Only Martin and Margaret's places of birth are given in this census.

1860 census, Martin Holoway household   (click to enlarge) 

Delila Holoway, the older woman in Martin's 1860 household, is most likely his mother. Listed five houses after Martin's, Wesley Holoway's household included a 6-year-old girl named Delila. This would appear to be Martin's brother, Wesley, with a daughter named Delila after her grandmother.

In 1870, Martin and Margaret Holaway, the five children listed in the 1860 census, plus three additional children (Charity, William and John) are living in the Walnut Grove township of Wilkes County, NC. Everyone in the household was listed as "born in North Carolina" - this is the only census that identifies Martin as born in NC, rather than Virginia.

By 1880, Martin Hallaway, his wife Margaret, five daughters and three small sons were living in Burnet County, Texas. Martin, age 51, was born in Virginia. Everyone else was born in North Carolina except the youngest son, Benjamin, age 6, who was born in Texas. This narrows down the time when the family migrated to sometime between 1870 and 1874.

1880 census, Martin Hallaway  (click to enlarge) 

The 1890 census was destroyed in a fire, and I haven't been able to locate Martin and Margaret in the 1900 census.

Martin died May 31, 1906, in Texas. He is buried in the Holloway Family Cemetery, and has a Confederate marker honoring his service as a Private in Company I, 61st NC Infantry, CSA.


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A copy of The 1840-1850 Wilkes County School Census, transcribed by George McNeil, is held at
Belk Library, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.

All census information came from Ancestry.com. Notice that Holloway was spelled a number of different ways. A wildcard search on H*l*way aided in locating all records.