John Holloway

Not much is known about John Holloway, who my husband's 4th great-grandfather. John was born sometime between 1800-1810, based on his stated age in the 1840 census of "30-under 40."  He apparently died sometime between 1842 and 1850.

John Holloway was the father of Martin Holloway. Martin' father is very frequently mistakenly identified as Isaac Holloway, who also had a son named Martin.

John could be the John Holaway in the Ashe County, NC, 1830 census, with two boys under 5, and one aged 5-9, as well as a man and woman aged 20-29, but I can't be certain.

He is the head of household in the Wilkes County, NC, 1840 census, with a houseful of boys, one small girl, a woman 30-40, and an older woman (and boy, would I like to know who SHE was!!)

Identifying the correct household in 1840 was a bit of a challenge, because John Holloway, by whatever spelling, was a common name locally. Spicer's District of Wilkes County, NC, contained 5 men named John Holloway or Holoway, all appearing within four pages. But only one household contained enough male children to match the names given in the 1841 school census (see below).

John Holloway's 1840 household included:

males under 5:  one

males 5-under 10:  three

males 10-under 15:  one
males 15-under 20:  two
male 30-under 40:  one [John Holloway]

female under 5:  one
female 30-under 40:  one
female 60-under 70:  one

I'm certain that this 1840 household is the "correct" John because Wilkes County, NC, took a School Census between 1840 and 1850 to establish the need for schools, and identified the head of household and children, by name, who were "over five and under twenty-one years of age". John's household was listed in 1841, documenting the names of his children and his neighbors.

It is the school census that ties the 1840 census of John's household to the 1850 census of his widow, and allows an identification of the correct 1840 household that lists the correct age range for John.

Wilkes County School District #60 returned a list on May 1st, 1841, that included John Holloway's household.  Male children included Daniel, Wells, James, John W., Martin and Alfred, with no girl children in the correct age range.

His neighbors in School District #60 included:

Daniel Hollaway, with male child Daniel, and females Mary and Jeanes
Waide Hampton Hollaway, with male child John
Jackson Hollaway, with male child John

The 1840 population census and the 1841 school census identify several of the same neighbors.




John Hollaway, 1840 census (click to enlarge) 

The childrens' names on the 1841 school census match very closely with the 1850 census enumeration of widow Delila Halloway, then living in Washington County, Virginia.




Delila Halloway, 1850 census   (click to enlarge)

John Holloway died sometime between 1842 and 1850, because his widow was head of household in the 1850 census.  The youngest child in the 1850 census was born around 1843.

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John was a common name amont the Holloways. There were five enumerated in Spicer's District, Wilkes County, NC in 1840. Of the four Holloway households in the 1841 school census return, three had children named John. There were also two children named Daniel, which is a less common name than John.

In the 1840 census, there were two men named John Holloway, Senior. One appears in the image above, aged 60-under 70, with two females 15-under 20 (click to enlarge), and the other was the first name on the next page, also aged 60-under 70, with a female 50-under 60.  Was "our" John the son of John? Possibly, but which one?? and the two John Holloway, Seniors, likely weren't brothers. So determining the father of "our" John Holloway is going to be a challenge.

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Census images were found at Ancestry.com. Wildcard searches for H*l*way were used to locate Holloway households by various spellings.

A Transcript of Wilkes County School Census 1840-1850 With Comprehensive Index of Names and Places, transcribed by George F. McNeil, privately published in 1993, provided school census information for District No. 60. A copy is held at Belk Library, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.

Delila, wife of John Holloway

Delila, whose maiden name I don't know (yet), was the wife of John Holloway and my husband's 4th great-grandmother.

She was a widowed head of household in 1850, aged about 55, in Washington County, Virginia.



Delila in 1850   (click to enlarge)

By 1860, she was living with her son, Martin Holoway, and his family in Wilkes County, North Carolina (and she was still 55!) 



Delila in 1860   (click to enlarge)

Living five houses away from Martin and his family was Wesley Holoway, age 30, Elizabeth Holoway, age 32, and children Delila, age 6, Isom, age 5, Caroline, age 2, and a 23-year old female named.Nancy Blevins, all born in NC.

By 1870, Delila was no longer living with Martin and his family. She was living with John W. Holaway in Maiden Spring, Tazewell County, Virginia, along with his (presumed) wife, Betsy, and children Delilah, Isom, Caroline, Jane, Nancy and John. (Relationships were not stated until the 1880 census.) All were born in North Carolina.




Delila in 1870, page 1   (click to enlarge)



Delila in 1870, page 2   (click to enlarge)

Ancestry has a database of Virginia Deaths and Burials Index , 1853-1917 which includes an entry (actually two entries with different spellings!) that appears to be Delila.

One entry is for Delila Holway, born about 1797 in North Carolina, and died June 15, 1874 in Maiden Springs, Tazewell County, Virginia. She is listed as "married" and her spouse's name was John Holway. Her parents' name was given as Joseph and Nancy "Blering".

The other entry differs only in spellings. Delila Holiway was the daughter of Joseph and Nancy "Blewing".

The age is about right, and Delila was living in Maiden Spring in 1870, so it seems to be the correct individual.

Now I'll need to track down the originals, or the microfilm of the originals, to see if I can recognize Delila's maiden name.  Right now, it seems to be Ble_ing. 

I know I shouldn't be guessing, but... could it, possibly, be something besides a "g" at the end? "Ble_in_"  Could it be "Blevins"??  A name that has appeared in several different lines in my husband's family? Wouldn't that be funny?!!

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Census information came from Ancestry.com. Holloway can be spelled a variety of ways, and a wildcard search of "H*l*way" was helpful in locating different spellings.






Margaret Stamper

Margaret Stamper is my husband's 3rd great-grandmother. She was married to Martin Holloway, although I've not yet found a marriage record for them.

She died January 12, 1930, in Burnet County, Texas. Her father is identified as "Mr. Stampes" and her mother as "Mrs. Bouldon", but her tombstone clearly gives her maiden name as "Stamper".  She is buried in the Holloway Family Cemetery in Texas.

(click to enlarge)

I'll need to do more research on Margaret's parents.

The "other" Martin Holloway, or, sorting out the Martins

Martin Holloway is my husband's 3rd great-grandfather. He was the son of John and Delila Holloway, and married Margaret Stamper.

You can read about my husband's ancestor here. This Martin lived in Wilkes County, NC, Washington County, VA, and later in life, in Texas.There are dozens of online trees that identify Martin as the son of Isaac and Polly Holloway. 

Researchers have, apparently, combined two men with the same name into one individual, because there were actually two Martin Holloways, born less than five years apart, and living, sometimes, in neighboring counties. Only one of them survived the Civil War.

The "other" Martin Holloway lived in Ashe County  in 1850 and Alleghany County in 1860. This does not mean the family moved, though, since Alleghany was formed from Ashe in 1859, so they could have remained in the same location.

In 1840, the household of Isaac Holloway contained an older son, born between 1826 and 1830. This son was no longer living with Isaac by the time of the 1850 census, when all household members were identified by name. But I believe that his identity is important, as you will see later. Martin Holloway would have been one of the two males under age 5 counted in this household.

By 1850, this Martin was about 14 years, living in Ashe County, NC.

Isaac Hollaway's household in 1850   (click to enlarge) 

By 1860, Martin was 23 and the family was enumerated in Alleghany County.   In both census enumerations, Martin's birthplace is identified as North Carolina.

Isaac Hollaway's household in 1860   (click to enlarge) 

Also living in Ashe in 1850 and Alleghany in 1860 was a young man, head of his own household, named John Hollaway. By 1860, his family included a son named Isaac, named, I believe, for his grandfather.


This establishes that Martin was born about 1836, and a birthdate for John sometime between 1827 and 1829, based upon their ages at each census.

On the same day, at the same place, Martin and John both enlisted in the same Confederate unit. On August 10, 1861, both men, likely brothers, enlisted in Company A, 34th NC Infantry, CSA, joining at Laurel Spring, Ashe County, NC. Martin was 24, which would mean he was born around 1837. John was 34, indicating he was born about 1827.

Martin Holaway died February 20, 1862, of disease at Raleigh, NC. 

(click to enlarge)

John Holaway was killed in battle at Frazier's Farm on June 30, 1862.

(click to enlarge)

I  believe these two men were brothers, based upon the members of Isaac Holloway's 1840 census enumeration, the fact that John named his son Isaac,and  the stated ages on Martin and John's enlistment cards, which  match their ages on the census in 1850 and 1860, and their enlistment together, the same day, into the same unit, at Laurel Spring in Ashe County in 1861. If I'm correct, then Isaac and Polly Holloway lost two son within four months.


My husband's ancestor, Martin, and his brother Thomas enlisted May 3, 1862 at Gap Civil in Alleghany County. (Also enlisting with Martin and Thomas was someone named William Holloway, but I don't know what connection William might have had with Martin and Thomas.)

Five Holloway men enlisted in Confederate units in northwestern North Carolina. But of the five Holloway soldiers, only the unidentified William and my husband's ancestor, Martin, survived the war.

UPDATE:  Yet another Martin Holloway, about the same age and living in the same area, needs to be considered when "sorting out the Martins." Read about him here.
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Census information was obtained at Ancestry.com. Military service records were obtained at Fold3.com. "Holloway" was spelled a variety of way. The wildcard search was utilized to locate all possible spellings of "H*l*way".

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.

Phoebe Holloway

Phoebe Holloway is my husband’s great-great-grandmother. She was born, according to her grave marker, June 2, 1859 (which was long before North Carolina required birth certificates.)  However, according to the 1860 and 1870 census entries when she was in the household of her parents, Martin and Margaret Holloway, she was actually born about  1853 or 1854.

Phoebe was married to James Harvey Blevins. I have not been able to locate a NC marriage record for Phoebe and Harvey.   And since they were Baptists,  church marriage records were not kept.

Phoebe Holloway Blevins is buried in the cemetery at Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Hays, North Carolina.¹  Her death date is given as November 17, 1933. She should have had a death certificate but I've been unable to locate one, either on Ancestry or at the local courthouse.

Phoebe’s monument looks like it was placed much later than the 1930’s. We don’t know how much later, or who placed it there. But the dates inscribed on the grave marker are the only dates that we have.

(click to enlarge)

 

In 1860, Phoebe’s parents, Martin and Margeret Holoway, lived in Wilkes County, NC, with their four children.²   In 1870, when Phoebe was 16, her parents' household had added four more children.³

In 1880, Harvey and Phoebe Blevins were living in Cranberry Township in Alleghany County, NC, with four children.⁴

Phoebe’s parents, however, had moved to Burnet County, Texas before 1880. Phoebe and her husband, and Phoebe’s brother Meredith and his wife, did not move to Texas.  Another young brother was born in Texas around 1874, indicating the family move occurred between 1870 and 1874.⁵

(Name withheld), a 3rd cousin of my husband, told me a story, via email, that one of Phoebe's granddaughter-in-law's had told him. According to this elderly cousin, Phoebe's parents moved to Texas and her father came back, by wagon, to try to get Phoebe and her husband Harvey to move, too.⁶

Janet Crain recounts a family legend on her “Crain/Lewis Genealogy” page on RootsWeb that says:

            “their oldest son and daughter, Meredith and Phoebe, remained in North Carolina with their new spouses. Martin returned twice, trying to persuade the young couples to move to Texas. Meredith and Susan finally did, but Phoebe and her husband, Harvy Blevins did not.”⁷

So the two stories that came down through different lines of the family, one in North Carolina and one in Texas, are quite similar.

That means that Phoebe was left behind in North Carolina while her entire family (her parents and ultimately, all her brothers and sisters) moved to Texas.  Neither Phoebe or her husband Harvey were able to read or write.

Phoebe could have been about 20 years old, possibly younger (depending on which birth year is correct) when her family moved away.  Did she get news from them very often?  Did she beg her husband to move, too?

I know that I would have missed my family, if I were in her situation.

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¹ Walnut Grove Baptist Church, Hays (NC, Wilkes, Cabin Creek Road), Phoebe Holloway Blevins marker, photographed by Debbie Pruitt, 2008



² 1860 U.S. census, Wilkes County, North Carolina, population schedule, Lower Division, p. 15, dwelling 210, family 210, Martin Holoway household; digital images, Ancestry.com; accessed 20 Sep 2010; citing NARA microfilm M653, roll 918.



³ 1870 U.S. census, Wilkes County, North Carolina, population schedule, Walnut Grove Township, p. 429B, dwelling 174, family 174, Martin Holaway household; digital images, Ancestry.com; accessed 20 Sep 2010; citing NARA microfilm M593, roll 1165.



⁴ 1880 U.S. census, Alleghany County, North Carolina, population schedule, Cranberry Township, dwelling 61, family 62, Harvey Blevins household; digital images, Ancestry.com; accessed 20 Sep 2010, citing NARA microfilm T9, roll 951.



⁵ 1880 U.S. census, Burnet County, Texas, population schedule, Precinct 4 and 5, P. 165A, dwelling 161, family 166, Martin Hallaway household; digital images, Ancestry.com, accessed 17 Jul 2011; citing NARA microfilm T9, roll 1293.



⁶ [Private emails] to Debbie Pruitt, 15 Aug and 17 Aug 2010, “Re” Wilkes connections”, privately held by Pruitt [address for private use] Moravian Falls, NC.



⁷ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=craingen&id=I0695; accessed 21 Sep 2010.

J. Harvey Blevins

James Harvey Blevins is buried at Walnut Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Hays, North Carolina, beside his wife, Phoebe Holloway Blevins.

Although it's difficult to read, Harvey's grave marker indicates that he was born April 1, 1849, and died January 4, 1922. There is no way of knowing how quickly after his passing that the marker was placed, but it looks quite similar to other tombstones in the cemetery that are dated around that same time.

(click to enlarge)

So, Harvey's birth and death dates are "written in stone". The question remains - when was he born, and when did he die?

Harvey was born long before North Carolina required birth certificates. His family were most likely Baptists, who did not record births as some denominations do. His North Carolina Death Certificate indicates that he was born in April 1854, not April 1849.

He does not appear in the 1850 census, and in fact, his parents married in January 1854. In 1860 the census lists Harvey as a five-year old.  In 1870, he's 14 years old. In 1880,  he's a married man of 25. According to the 1900 census information, over the next 20 years, he got 25 years older - in 1900 he is listed as 50.  In 1910, he's listed as 56 years old.  In 1920, he's 64.  Except for the 1900 census, all of these ages would be about right for a birthdate of 1854 or 1855. My conclusion is that the birthdate on the tombstone is in error.

The other question is, when did he die?

(click to enlarge)

This death certificate was located at the Wilkes County Courthouse, but I am still unable to locate it on Ancestry.com. Harvey's death certificate lists his death as occurring on January 20, 1920.  Not January 4, 1922, as indicated on his tombstone.  And the membership roll of Walnut Grove church indicates that he "Died January 1921".  So I'm pretty sure that he died in January, but not sure which year.

Harvey was listed in the 1860 census as "James H. Blevins" and as Harvey on the other censuses, and on his death certificate as "John Harvy Blevins". Since he went by his middle name, this conflict really doesn't bother me.

His great-grandson, (my father-in-law) who was born nine or ten or eleven years after his great-grandfather died, remembers hearing that Harvey wore red wool socks and that he groaned a lot, presumably because he was "old and had rheumatism."

But perhaps he wasn't as old as his tombstone indicates.

Janie Blevins, wife of Martin Caudill

My father-in-law's grandmother (his mother's mother) was Francis Jane Blevins. She was called Francis, Frankie, Janie, Jane, and Frankie Jane, depending on which document you look at. She was born April 22, 1876, died March 20, 1933 and is buried at Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Hays, North Carolina, beside her husband, Alfred Martin Caudill, who she married on September 16, 1894.



(click to enlarge)

Martin and Janie lived in a small cabin at the head of Basin Cove. This cabin is now preserved as part of Doughton Park, which is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It can be accessed by hiking four miles upstream from Longbottom Road in Wilkes County, NC, and involves crossing several streams.


Several of her children, including my husband's grandmother, were born in this cabin. Martin and Janie were once part of a thriving mountain community, largely wiped out during the 1916 flood, which took the life of a child, Cornelius Caudill, and a daughter-in-law, Alice, as well as Alice's mother.


Francis Jane Blevins, known as Janie by her descendents, was the daughter of James Harvey Blevins and Phoebe Holloway.