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Sarah "Holloway"
Born 1751? Barbados
Died before Mar 1787? ?Natchez District

SPOUSE	CHILDREN
? m. b. d.	?Lucinda b. 1770? ?SC d. by 1820? ?Rapides Parish LA	Bella b. 1771? Craven? Co. SC d. after May 1797 ?Natchez, Miss. Terr.	Dorinda b. 1773? Craven? Co. SC d. after 1820 ?St. Helena Parish LA
Elizabeth White and most of the White family moved from Virginia to South Carolina near Pee Dee River in Craven Co. [now defunct]. According to the records of the Cashaway [SC] Baptist Church: On "Sat 25 Oct 1760 ... Mr. James White [her older brother or father] for excess drinking be suspended from this church until satisfaction be given... 20 June 1767 .. on Cashaway Neck on Pee Dee in Craven County. The names of all the members... Elizabeth White [her mother who had recently died].. gone." Elizabeth's sister Jane was married in or before 1760, and Elizabeth herself married five years later.
Historical Marker of the Cashaway Baptist Church built in 1758, and located at the eastern end of the bridge over a bend of the Great Pee Dee River. The marker is on Cashua Ferry Road (State Highway 34) east of Darlington SC. View south of the river from the bridge in Sep 2015.
Sarah was born about 1751 in Barbados, and owned by the Holloway family when they lived in SC, since her daughters Bella and Dorinda were born to the family there [Wells, pp. 144-5, 148].
In Dec 1779, the Holloway family along with Sarah, daughters Bella and Dorinda set out over land as part of the Amos Eaton expedition to the Cumberland Settlement in Washington Co. NC (now central TN), arriving at the beginning of 1780, just a week after the lead party of men, horses and dogs headed by James Robertson.
According to the grandson Robert Holloway, John Holloway moved the family from SC to Natchez, then in the Louisiana French-Spanish territory, "in order to escape the Revolution".
The family of John Holloway arrived on two pirogues in the Grand Gulf area of the Natchez District by Jan 21, 1781. They left the pirogues in the care of Eleanor "Nelly" Price who managed the river dock in that area. The town of Grand Gulf no longer exists but was five miles west of the town of Port Gibson, about 40 miles up the Mississippi River from Natchez. After being sued Sep 8, 1781, John countersued John Townshend over the loss of the two pirogues [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book A, p. 8].
Receipt dated Feb 28, 1781 from "John Townshend" to "John Holoway" submitted with the lawsuit to the Natchez District Court [MDAH, microfilm roll no. 5326, p. 107]. The receipt shows initial charges dated Jan 21, 1781.
Pirogues were flat bottomed boats, that could be manually propelled by either a paddle like a canoe or a pole in marshes and swamps. Photo of a pirogue circa 1885 (lower boat) displayed at the Grand Gulf Military Park. The pirogue was used on the Mississippi River according to the Background plaque.
On Sep 12, 1781, John Townshend penned a letter describing what happened regarding the two pirogues earlier in the year, including a conversation with Elizabeth about the pirogues. He may have submitted this letter when he attended the John Alston estate sale on Saturday, Sep 15. Letter translated to French by Francis Farrell in 1781 for the Natchez Court [from photocopy of MDAH microfilm, roll #5618, p. 108; see an attempt at an English Tranlation of intelligible parts of the same letter].
Map of the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799.
In Oct 1781, Sarah's owner, John Holloway was shot and scalped by Indians five leagues east of the Fort of Natchez. At the time, he was apparently working as "an overseer" of the plantation of Joshua Howard on Second Creek. His wife Elizabeth White Holloway was seven months pregnant with their eighth child at the time. Son George Holloway and a slave were tied with a rope to a workbench, but George escaped during the night.
1895 Map of Natchez from the Ancestral Trackers website, shows the likely locations of St. Catherine, Second and Sandy Creeks in 1792.
After her husband's death, Elizabeth White Holloway, who was seven months pregnant, was appointed guardian of the six minor children. His estate was conveyed to her in a court proceeding on Oct 24, 1781. The estate inventory, completed on the same day, included carpenter and plantation tools, animals, and livestock belonging to daughter Elizabeth and son George. Son-in-law Cader Raby was also present for the inventory and signed it (with a mark). And there were also four slaves: one man "Samuel", 50 years old, and three females (Sarah native of Barbados, aged about 30, and her daughters Bella, about 10, and Dorinda, 8, both born in SC). In 1797, Bella, aged about 26, and her 2 ½ year old child Rose were sold by Elizabeth and John Stillee to John Girault of Natchez for $600 [Wells, pp. 144-5, 148].
In May 1782, 13 families arrived in the Natchez District after a flatboat journey down the Mississippi River, including the families of brothers James White, and John White, and the family of William Dewitt, who had just married Catherine "Cary" White, daughter of Elizzabeth's brother William White.
After the brutal death of her husband, the widow Elizabeth, purchased an improvement on St. Catherine Creek from Thomas Comstock. There she probably met John Stillee or Still Lee, who also owned land there. Several years later in 1791, her nephew William White married Amy Comstock, a daughter of William Comstock.
In 1783, Elizabeth White Holloway married John Stillee and they had three children over the next three years. They lived in Natchez where her husband is said to have bought a store or tavern "in the country" in partnership with a Jean Vauchere. This venture failed and they moved to the Tombigbee River, in the Mobile district of West Florida by 1788, when their property was seized by Vauchere and Carlos de Grand-Pré, the Commandant of the Natchez District, to repay debts. They moved back to the District by Dec 1797, after Manuel Gayoso de Lemos became governor. The new governor oversaw the withdrawal of Spain from the east side of the Mississippi River under the Pinckney Treaty. There John Stillee died in 1808.
On Sep 3, 1786, Elizabeth White Stillee gave birth to her last child, Michael.
On Mar 23, 1787, "two negro women and one negro girl" belonging to the indebted John Stillee were guaranteed surety by a Natchez resident Arthur Cobb at the Fort of Natchez. These three slaves were identified in the court records only as "Belinda" and "Dorinda" but would actually be Sarah's daughters Bella and Dorinda, aged about 16 and 14, and another slave Lucinda, aged about 17 [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book C, p. 171]. Two of John Stillee's slaves, a "mulatto named Frank" and another named "Bright" were sold at public auction to John Vauchere, a creditor and former partner of Stillee [McBee, p. 40]. He also purchased at least 400 acres of the Stillee land on St. Catherine's Creek at the auction [McBee, p. 107].
By May of 1787 John Stillee and wife Elizabeth, along with their three children and their slaves Bella, Dorinda, and Lucinda, had left the Natchez District when Carlos de Grand-Pré authorized the settling of the "affairs of John Stilles, absconded" by having three disinterested persons examine the "books and accounts" of Stillee, and meet any debtors mentioned in the books along with George Fitzgerald, who would defend the "absent party" [Wells, p. 125].
All three of Elizabeth's children by John Stillee were baptized on Nov 17, 1788 by Rev. Miguel Lamport of the Old Mobile Parish of the Immaculate Conception. In the transcription of the original in Spanish baptism records, Miguel is referred to as Michael Washington Lee, born Sep 3, 1786 and his parents are written as "John Stilly Lee and Isabel White, Protestants, natives of North America, residents of the Tombigbee River in this District". In the Stillee bible, Michael is referred to as Michael Lamport Stilley born Nov 22, 1786. Michael's middle name was changed to honor the Pastor. The twins were baptised as Mary Sally Lee and Paul Rubin Lee. Godfather of the three children "was Cassian Castenares, Sacristan". A sacristan was an officer of the Church with duties similar to a custodian.
On Jul 13, 1792, Elizabeth's son John Holloway and son-in-law Cader Raby signed an agreement with Col. Manuel Gayoso de Lemos regarding travel outside of the Natchez District. Cader's son Cader named a son Gayoso Carney Raby in 1826. Translation of the original document that was handwritten in Spanish.
Gayoso succeeded Grand-Pré in 1792 and changed the name of the mansion built by his predecessor to Concord. Postcard showing the mansion before it burned down in 1901.
In the mid-1790's, Elizabeth's sons John and James Holloway, along with her nephews Reuben White (1765?-1835?) and James T. White (1770?-1842?), moved into what became known as Holloway Prairie (now northeastern Rapides Parish LA), where they obtained Spanish land grants and engaged in the cattle business. Many of the Anglo families of the nearby Deville area came there from Natchez MS.
The names John and James Holloway, Elizabeth's sons, appear in several 1790's Spanish Colonial documents and militia lists. On Oct 30, 1798 John and James gave an oath of loyalty to the United States as the Mississippi Territory became a US Territory (Mississippi was not admitted to the Union of States until 1817).
By May of 1797 John Stillee and wife Elizabeth had returned to the Natchez District when they sold Sarah's daughter Bella, who had been with the Holloway family since her birth about 1771 in South Carolina. She was then about 26 years old and had a 2 ½ year old child named Rose. Both were sold to John Girault of Natchez for $600 [Wells, p. 144-5].
On Mar 14, 1798 Elizabeth and John Stillee were recorded in a deed transaction in Natchez, as being of Bayou Pierre, witnessed by Henry Milburn. The land was described as 764 acres bounded on the west by "Dewit and Armstrong". The Stillee family was not a household in the Natchez District in 1792 when the Spanish Census was taken. But in the "Bayou Pierre" subdivision were single male households under the name Jese (Jesse) Dwet, and Moises Armstrong, who both seem to have become neighboring land owners by 1798. However the $138 estate of Jesse Dewitt was appraised on Jul 24, 1794 for benefit of creditors. Jesse Dewitt was the son of the deceased William Dewitt and stepson of Elizabeth's niece Catherine White Dewitt, now married to the transaction witness Henry Milburn. In 1796 Dewitt's land appears to have been claimed by Ezekiel Dewitt and wife Mary, who had been granted the 400 acres in Apr 1789 by a Baron Carondelet. The 400 acres on Catherine's Creek was described as adjacent to "John Stilley [Still Lee]" in claim #590 Feb 24, 1804 [Natchez Land Claims, Book C, p. 73].
Bayou Pierre runs through what is now Claiborne Co., created in 1802 from Adams Co., Miss. Terr. (see present day map). Claiborne Co. now borders Jefferson Co. (see present day map for location).
In Apr 1799, the Governor at Baton Rouge attempted to settle the dispute between Elizabeth Stillee and Freeland over the loan of the slave named Peg to Freeland. The next month, John Girault certified that Elizabeth had placed in his hands by authority of the Spanish government sufficient property to pay the five heirs of her late husband, John Holloway, namely, John, Robert, George, Elizabeth and Mary, their respective shares of their father's estate, "agreeable to the tenor of my hand dated 5 Dec, 1797" [McBee, "Louisiana Spanish West Florida Records"]. At that time, son James was too young and son William was living outside the District.
John Stillee died on Sep 30, 1808. His son-in-law George B Watson and son "Reuben Stilly" were administrators of his estate. They reported to the Claiborne Co. Court that there were not enough a ssets to pay all of the debts of the deceased.
St. Helena Parish was founded in 1810 (see present day map for location), and borders Mississippi.
In Dec 1811, the widow Elizabeth "Stilley of St. Helena Parish in the Territory of Orleans", granted to her son James, as his share as heir of his father, the negro woman, Lucinda ("Lucey"), aged about 41, and her two children Jeffrey and Isaac, and in the future $200 "due by me as guardian to the said James in the year 1800" [McBee, Deed Book B, p. 67].
On Aug 31, 1817 an ill Elizabeth died at the Highland in east Baton Rouge LA. The day before, Dorinda, aged about 44, was sent to her along with some of her clothes and some money found in her trunk, at Elizabeth's request. Three years later, a female slave aged over 45, was counted in the St. Landry Parish household of "William Milbourne", likely the son of Elizabeth's niece Cary Dewitt Milburn from her marriage to William Dewitt. Her household was listed as "Cary Milbourne" in the same parish not far from Baton Rouge.
In the 1820 Census for St. Helena Parish LA, Robert Holloway included 8 children and 1 female adult in his household as follows: 1 male under age 10 (James Lee), 1 male under age 16-18 (George), 1 male between age 16-26 (John), 1 male aged 45 and over (Robert), 2 females under age 10 (Rebecca, Permelia), 3 females between age 10-16 (Jane, Susan, Elizabeth), and 1 female between age 26-45 (his wife Rebecca born after 1775). Also counted were 6 slaves, including one female over 45 (possibly Dorinda, born to the Holloway family in SC about 1773, and inherited in 1817 from Robert's deceased mother).
In the 1830 Census for St. Helena (line 101), the household of "Robert Holoway" included: 2 males under age 10? (Cader or possibly orphan children related to Robert's sister Elizabeth Raby), 2 males between age 15-20 (Robert S., James Lee), 1 male 50-60 (himself), 1 female between age 5-10 (Permelia), 1 female between age 15-20 (Rebecca), 2 females between age 20-30 (Susan, Elizabeth), and 1 female between age 50-60 (wife Rebecca born after 1770). Also counted were 7 slaves. About two years later, on Oct 4, 1832, Robert "ask tutorship of his minor children to wit: James L., Rebecca, & Permelia Holloway." On Jan 3, 1834 after her mother has died, son George is appointed Guardian of minor Rebecca.
SOURCES: Claiborne Co. MS, "1810 Tax Roll Details", trans. by Lee Kohler, website. "Franklin County, MS 1810 Census", abstract from Gillis book, rootsweb website. Marriages of Early Natchez Settlers, New Orleans Genesis Vol. 6 no.21, Jan 1967, p 84. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA, Greenwood MS, May 1990, pp. 12-15. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Census Records", Greenwood MS, May 1990, pp. 9-10. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA", Greenwood MS, May 1990, p. 16. Rowland, Dunbar, "1816 Census for Franklin Co. Miss.", taken from The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Centennial Edition, 1917, rootsweb website. "John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website. "Inventories Conveyance... re: death of John Holloway" and "Court proceedings and inventory of estate of John Holloway", Oct 24, 1781, in Natchez Court Records Book A, Jul 21, 1781 - Nov 1787, p. 304, photocopy from research of Mary Lois Ragland, Oct 1990. John Stillee Bible. Records of Old Mobile Parish 1781-1850, Sec. 8, Bk 2, record nos. 125,126, transcribed from original photocopy in Spanish (signed by Rev. Miguel Lamport) by Bernadette Mathews, Archivist, The Catholic Center, Mobile AL, Feb 11, 1999. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Boock C, p. 73, Book F, pp. 19, 21. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, pp. 8, 40, 107, Book C, p. 171. Marlboro County SC Churches, website, Cashaway Neck Baptist Church Record Book, 1756-1778, contributed by Glenn Pearson, May 2000, webpage. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, microfilm, roll #5618, vol.1, pp. 105-8. "Natchez District 1792 Spanish Census Index", in USGenWeb, Early Southwest Miss. Territory, website. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA", Greenwood MS, May 1990, p. 15-16. Rowland, Dunbar, The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Centennial Edition, 1917, Madison WI, pp. 85-89, 1816 Claiborne Co. Census. Scott, W. W., Annals of Caldwell Co., Lenoir NC, 1930, pp. 64-65, 118. U.S. 1820 Census, St. Landry Parish LA, Index, S-K Publications, 2021. Veach, Damon, "Louisiana Ancestors", article in Sunday Advocate Magazine, Baton Rouge LA, Feb 21, 1982. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, Bowie MD, 1992, pp. 52, 101, 125, 144-5, 151. 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.