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William Lee Holloway
Born 1831/2 Franklin Co. MS
Died after Jul 1870 ?Ashley Co. AR

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Father
SPOUSE CHILDREN
Sarah Jane Herring

m. May 23, 1850
Franklin Co. MS
b. Apr 3, 1834
Franklin Co. MS
d. after 1900
?Parker Co. TX
George K.

b. 1851?
Franklin Co. MS
d. after Jul 1870
?Ashley Co. AR
Richard C.

b. Sep 3, 1852
Franklin Co. MS
d. Dec 31, 1909
Ashley Co. AR
Alice Josephine

b. 1854?
Franklin Co. MS
d. 1886
William

b. 1857?
Franklin Co. MS

John P.

b. Oct 30, 1858
Franklin Co. MS
d. Feb 6, 1932
?Fort Worth TX
Mary A.

b. Jun 1860
Franklin Co. MS

Rufus Ashley

b. Dec 8, 1861
Franklin Co. MS
d. Dec 27, 1903
Bunkie, Avoyelles Parish LA
Johnson "Joe" Potter

b. May 31, 1865
Meadville, Franklin Co. MS
d. Mar 22, 1948
Mesa, Maricopa Co. AZ
Delo

b. 1868?
Franklin Co. MS

Ida Irene

b. Nov 15, 1869
Franklin Co. MS
d. Nov 28, 1903
Mansfield, Tarrant Co. TX
Franklin Co. MS was founded in 1809 (see present day map for location).
William's father died in Dec 1845. William's step-mother, Jane Porter Holloway, died of cholera in 1850. Some descendants believe William's mother was Indian.
Father George published his will in Franklin Co. MS in Jan 1845 but moved later in the year to Arkansas where he died in Dec. In the will, William amd Jane were named separately from his children of his second marriage, with no mention of their mother.
After his father died in late 1845, stepbrother James Lee was granted guardianship of Burlin Virgil (born 1838), George W. (1839), James M. (1841) and Porter Marcus Lafayette (1844). James M. enlisted in C.S.A. on May 20, 1861 and died Jul 10, 1861 near Richmond VA. Marcus (M.L.) also enlisted the same day.
William's sister Jane Holloway married John Wesley Herring (1825-1899) on Nov 12, 1849. They had two children before she died in 1855. She is buried in Herring Cemetery in Franklin Co. MS. Her grave marker lists her birth Feb 16, 1833 and parents as "George and Jane Hollaway", who were married about three months after she was born.
William and Sarah had six children aged 3 months to 9 years old living in their household in Franklin Co. MS when the census was taken in 1860. William also owned 23 slaves then. Shortly after he married Sarah, one of his slaves, Annis, married a slave at the Herring farm named Eli. Eli and Annis lived separately on their owners' farms but had three children. In 1863, Eli joined the U.S. Colored Infantry after Natchez became a Union occupied town. He died of disease in Apr 1865 at a Natchez hospital.
In the 1860 U.S. Census for Franklin Co. MS, enumerated on Sep 29, 1870, listed as house # 520, on lines 4-11 of page 311:
"Holloway W L", age 29, Farmer, he and his family all born in Miss.,
Sarah, age 26, Domestic,
George, age 9,
Ritchard, age 8,
Alice, age 6,
William, age 3,
John, age 2,
Mary, age 3 mos.
Nearby is the Thomas Herring, age 23, household.
The family of brother-in-law and widower, John W. Herring, aged 35, born in Ala., is listed on page 321, house # 592, next to a farmer and landowner Mary Herring [Sarah Jane's mother], aged 60, born in SC (1800) with Sarah Jane's brother, a 24 year old male named David born in Miss. [USGenWeb Archives, Franklin Co. MS 1860 Census].
By 1870, William's family was living in Ashley Co. AR. Since his parents died, William stayed close to the families of his father's siblings, James Lee Holloway and Robert S. Holloway (Jr.). James' son William Lee Holloway was probably named after him when born in 1860. Since James died 10 years later, William may have been sent to his namesake uncle.
Ashley Co. AR was founded in 1848 (see present day map for location), and borders Louisiana.
Son Richard married Candace Elizabeth Beasley (1854-1921) in 1882 and had at least 5 children born in Arkansas. Photo of his grave marker in Snyder Cemetery in Hamburg, Ashley Co. AR [find-a-grave].
By 1890, this family moved to Texas. It seems the deaths of several of William's step-family and his sister Jane were part of a cholera or Yellow Fever epidemic that erupted every year from about 1842 through 1854 with devastating consequences. The epidemic spread to various counties in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee by immigrants from the affected areas fleeing the disease. Some counties lost as much as one fourth of the population in a single season. It tended to start in the late summer and stop with the first frost sometime about October or November. This may have percipitated the movement of the Holloways out of Mississippi and Louisiana [Keating p. 89].
Daughter Alice married James P. Steedley (1847-1897).
Son John P. married Annie M McEachin (1862-1930). They are both buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Fort Worth TX. Photo of their grave marker [find-a-grave].
Son Johnson "Joe" married Maggie Luella Childress (1888-1962) and had 11 children,
while living in OK and possibly Parker Co. TX.
Son Rufus married Blanche Bertrund Furlow (1863-1927) Dec 10, 1884 in Avoyelles Parish LA. He is buried in the Cappel Family Cemetery in Bunkie, Avoyelles Parish LA. Photo of his grave marker. The 1927 obituary for his widow listed her leaving four children. In the 1900 census, the family had 5 children:
George C., age 18;
Owen Ledoux, age 13;
Ashton Rufus, age 12;
Kate, age 5;
Alvin J., age 2.
[find-a-grave].
Youngest daughter Ida Irene married William Finley (1859-1891) on May 3, 1891 in Mansfield, Tarrant Co. TX. but he soon died by suicide (Jun 16). They had one daughter, Willie, born Feb 18, 1892, but she died two weeks later. Ida married George C. Sharp (1859-1930) on Jul 29, 1894 and had 5 children all born in Mansfield TX. Photo of her grave marker in Rehoboth Cemetery in Arlington, Tarrant Co. TX [find-a-grave].
SOURCES:
"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.
Keating, John McLeod, The History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tennessee, The Howard Assoc. of Memphis 1879, reprinted Heritage Books , 2008, p. 89.
"Sarah Jane Hollaway",Find a Grave, memorial # 129860762, website.
USGenWeb Archives, Franklin Co. MS 1860 Census, trans. by Ann A. Geoghegan, 2002.
U.S. Census, Franklin Co. MS, 1860.
U.S. 1870 Census, Portland Twp., Ashley Co. AR, enum. Jul 1, 1870, p. 45, lines 14-16 and 21-26, from FamilySearch website.
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.
Will of George Holloway, Franklin Co. MS, Jan 24, 1845, probated Feb 18, 1846.