Main
John Stephen Holloway
Born 1819 Rapides Parish LA
Died 1891 TX

Go to:
Father
Mother
SPOUSE CHILDREN
Mary Elizabeth Martin

m. 1836?
Rapides Parish LA
b. Oct 11, 1819
LA
d. Feb 18, 1891
?Eastland Co. TX 		Caroline

b. 1837
Rapides Parish LA
d. Nov 26, 1872
Mary

b. 1839
Rapides Parish LA
d. Duffau, Erath Co. TX
John M.

b. 1841
Rapides Parish LA
d. Oct 1919
Rebecca Ruth

b. Dec 4, 1844
Rapides Parish LA
d. Dec 17, 1925
Eastland TX 		Louisiana

b. 1845
Rapides Parish LA

James Selathus

b. Mar 1, 1847
Rapides Parish LA
d. Jun 6, 1921
Williams, Coconino Co. AZ
Martha Adeline

b. Jun 8, 1851
Austin TX
d. Jan 24, 1937
Hamilton Co. TX 		Stephen Edward

b. Nov 22, 1857
Milam, Sabine Co. TX
d. Aug 8, 1933
Lubbock TX 		Elizabeth

b. 1859
Milam, Sabine Co. TX
d. Sep 10, 1926
Hamilton Co. TX
In Oct 1781, grandfather John Holloway was shot and scalped by Indians five leagues from the Fort of Natchez. At the time, he was apparently working as "an overseer" of the plantation of John Havard. His son George was tied with a rope but escaped during the night, and around 1782, when still a teenager, moved to Burke Co NC to live with mother Elizabeth's brother, William, and father James Taylor White. Her other six children remained with her. In May 1682, some of her brothers and their familes arrived by flatboat at Natchez.
The names John and James Holloway appear in several 1790's Spanish Colonial documents and militia lists. On Oct 30, 1798 John and James give an oath of loyalty to the United States as the Mississippi Territory becomes a US Territory (Mississippi was not admitted to the Union of States until 1817).
In the mid-1790's, father James and uncle John Holloway, along with their uncle Reuben White (1765?-1835) and his family, moved into what became known as Holloway Prairie. This is where they obtained Spanish land grants and engaged in the cattle business. Many of the Anglo families of the area came there from Natchez. Holloway Prairie was located between the present town of Deville and the parish seat of Alexandria, which was laid out in 1807.
Rapides Parish was formed in 1807 by the Territory of Orleans government. (see present day map for location).
In the 1840 U.S. Census for Rapides Parish LA, Page 204a and Page 204b line 10, there was a 4-person household headed by "J. S. Holloway":
1 male aged 20-30 (John S.);
2 female children under 5 years old;
1 female aged 20-30;
no slaves, and 1 person employed in agriculture.
John Stephen and Mary moved their family to Texas by 1850. During the Civil War, Confederate troops were sent into the Holloway Prairie area on several occasions, in order to root out pro-Unionists or draft dodgers, burning several homes in Holloway Prairie. The family eventually settled in Milam, Sabine Co. in Eastern Texas, which was founded about 1837 and is still sparcely populated.
In the 1850 U.S. Census for Liberty Co. TX, a "Stephen Holloway" aged 31 is listed. Also in his household is:
Mary Holloway, aged 29;
Caroline Holloway, aged 13;
Mary Holloway, aged 11;
John Holloway, aged 9;
"Rebeca" Holloway, aged 7;
Louisiana, aged 5;
"Celathus" Holloway, aged 3;
[Ancestry.com].
At present, Holloway is a community in Rapides Parish LA. It's center is located at the intersection of Hickory Grove Road, State Route 1207 and Route 28, about 14 miles NE of the parish seat of Alexandria, and 50 miles W of Natchez MS. Holloway Methodist Cemetery is located just off of Hickory Grove Road at the end of Slay Cemetery Road (see present day map for location). There is also a Hickory Grove Cemetery also known as Holloway Baptist Cemetery.
From E. W. McDonald's book The LaCroix Descendants; 1611 - 1991; From France Via Quebec To Central Louisiana, we see that father James Holloway married Catherine LaCroix. It appears likely, from age ranges in later Census records, that all of John and James Holloway's children were born in Rapides Parish, beginning in the mid-1790's. James Holloway and Catherine LaCroix had the following children: Mary; Nancy; Selita; Eliza; Elizabeth; Jane; and Stephen. As son Stephen married Polly Martin, and moved his family to St. Landry Parish and on into Texas, the remaining male Holloway children are probably descendants of his brother John.
Daughter Caroline married Ed? Mullins and had six children. Her ancestors heard she had Indian blood.
Son James married Cleopatra Ann Moss (1859-1955) and had at least five children. Son Stephen married Nancy Christopher (1862-1891) had six children (4 sons, 2 daughters), remarried and had at least two more daughters.
Wife Mary Elizabeth is buried in central TX at the Merriman Cemetery in Ranger, Eastland Co. TX. Headstone reads, "Mary, wife of J.S. Hollaway Oct 11, 1819 Feb 18, 1891" [Find-a-Grave.com].
SOURCES:
Aymond, Greg, Holloway Family of Holloway Prairie, internet website, Dec 1999.
U. S. Census, Rapides Parish LA, 1840, S-K Publ., 2003, page 204a, page 204b.
U. S. Census, Rapides Parish LA, Nov 15, 1850.
Documents ... , US Congress, [1815-24]
"John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website.
John Stillee Bible.
Unknown author, "...to John ..." [illegible], correspondence detailing discovery of baptismal records of Stillee children in Cathedral Archives, no date but possibly mid 1900's.
Veach, Damon, "Louisiana Ancestors", article in Sunday Advocate Magazine, Baton Rouge LA, Feb 21, 1982.
White, Gifford, "James White and John White", Wm Wiseman & the Davenports, Pioneers Of Old Burke County, North Carolina, v.2 by M.L.Vineyard & E.M.Wiseman, Franklin NC,1997, p. 111.
White, Gifford, James Taylor White of Virginia and some of his descendants into Texas, Austin, TX, 1982.