| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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?Margaret ? m. 1770? ?Burke Co. NC b. by 1755 ?NC d. after 1820? ?East Baton Rouge LA |
John (Jr.) b. 1775? ?NC d. after Mar 1821 ?St. Tammany Parish LA |
male b. 1766/75 ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1790 ?NC |
Isaac b. after 1776 ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1820 ?East Baton Rouge LA |
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female b. 1775/85? Natchez Dist. |
?Julian b. by 1787 ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1840 ?Caddo Parish LA |
Jacob? b. by 1790 ?Wilkes Co. NC d. after 1830 ?West Feliciana Parish LA |
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?George b. after 1790 NC d. after 1813 ?Claiborne Co. MS |
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Bladen Co. NC was created from New Hanover Co. in 1734. It is now located in
the southeastern part of the state. |
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Joshua Howard owned 200 acres on Second
Creek in the Natchez District. His petition to the British West Florida
Government for the land was dated Nov 6, 1776.
The receipt for surveying fees was dated Jan 22, 1777. After the Spaniards took
possession of the territory, Howard left the Natchez District for the Cumberland
Settlement in an area of far western North Carolina that later became Nashville
TN. He returned to Natchez at the end of 1788. |
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John Holloway arrived with his family on
two pirogues in the Grand Gulf area of the Natchez District by Jan 21, 1781.
He left them in the care of
Eleanor "Nelly" Price who owned a Mississippi
River dock in Grand Gulf. The town of Grand Gulf no longer exists but was not
far from the town of Port Gibson and about 40 miles northeast of Natchez. |
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Pirogues were flat bottomed boats, that could be 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. |
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The first record of a John Townshend in the Natchez District was on a
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 [a Sunday]. |
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"John Townsend" next appeared in the Natchez Court records on Sep 5, 1781 as a
witness to the sale of "all his cattle" by
John Alston to William Brocus. On the
morning of Sep 15, a Saturday, John is one of many witnesses to the sale of the
cattle belonging to the minor heirs of
John Alston. By Sep 29, 1781
John Alston had "absconded" when the rest of
his estate was put up for sale [McBee, Book A, p. 3, Book F, p. 235]. |
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On Sep 8, 1781, John asked the Court for an order of payment for $12 owed by
John Holloway. At this time John
presented the
Receipt
from Feb 28 that showed the balance due as well as another account against
a Joseph Stanley. In a reply submitted two days later on Sep 10 by "Jos. Duncan"
representing Holloway, stated that Holloway had an account against Townshend for
two pirogues, one of which was left in the care of the "negress",
a href="../price/ep1740.html">Eleanor Price, from whom the Townsend took it,
and the other was blown out into the river [McBee, p. 290-1, MDAD microfilm
roll #5618, v. 1, no. 105]. |
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On Sep 12, 1781, John penned a letter describing what happened regarding the
pirogues earlier in the year, including a conversation with
Elizabeth Holloway about the pirogues.
John 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]. |
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John may have arrived in the Natchez District in Nov 1780, because he tells the
Commandant that he arrived "about the last of November" before he went hunting with
a man named "Hansberry" [MDAH, p. 108]. A Caleb Hansborough witnessed a land deal
signed on Nov 24, 1779 between John Row and Jeremiah Bryan who sued Row for part
of the deal in Sep 1781, but on Sep 21, 1781 "Caleb Hansborough, absconded" was
on a list of debtors [McBee, p. 290, Book A p. 6]. |
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Caleb Hansborough had fled the Natchez District as part of a group that included
Philip Alston and Philip Mulkey
after they participated in the Apr 1781 attempt to take control of Fort Panmure
at Natchez, and about the time Spain was ceded control of British West Florida.
This group "escaped to the Cumberland Settlements [later became Nashville TN]
... The members of this party were pardoned and permitted to return
to their homes in the Natchez district" by Jul 1784 [Siebert, Loyalists in
West Florida, p. 13]. |
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On Monday, Oct 15, 1781, John sued a David Waltman, who had promised to pay a
$7 note owed to John by a John Coleman, likely the deceased husband of
Patience Raiford Coleman.
John Coleman was killed by Indians in May 1781 on his way to Illinois.
This was the last Natchez Court action of any kind involving John Townshend
[McBee, p. 292]. |
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John Holloway was shot and scalped by Indians
five leagues (about 17 miles) from the Fort of Natchez by Wednesday, Oct 24, 1781.
At the time, he was apparently working as "an overseer", and/or living,
at the Second Creek plantation of Joshua Howard,
who was "absent from this district". Son
George Holloway and a slave were tied with
a rope to a workbench, but George cut the rope and escaped during the night. George
later described the attack, saying his father was "soon [after they arrived] cruelly
murdered by Indians at Natchez". |
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The Commandant of the Natchez District received notice of the death of
John Holloway on Oct 24, 1781.
On that date a
Conveyance was issued to appoint the guardian of the surviving children,
and an Estate Inventory
was performed. The attack occurred on the plantation of
Joshua Howard, who was "absent" from the
District. |
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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799. |
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Absalom Hooper had claimed land on Second
Creek in the Natchez District several years
before Joshua Howard, both in the 1770's.
The two also claimed adjoining land along
Whites Creek in the Cumberland Settlement in western North Carolina in the 1780's.
Absalom did not return to Natchez with Joshua in 1788. The 4th item of his
Will written in 1811, lists
an "old Sam" among slaves bequeathed to his son Absalom (Jr.), along with
"Smith tools", presumably originally belonging to the
John Smith who earlier lived
on his land on Whites Creek. If Sam was the Natchez slave "belonging" to
John Holloway in 1781,
and being about 50 years old, he would have been about 80 when the will was written. |
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On Dec 31, 1788, "Joucha Hayward" arrived
in Natchez from "Cumberland/Tennessee",
not listed among the flatboats and without family. In a letter dated Mar 2, 1790,
from Carlos de Grand-Pré, Natchez,
Mar 2, 1790 to Governor Don Estavan Miro, the amount of tobacco was reported
by growers of Natchez. A "Joshua Houvard"
reported producing 5000 pounds of tobacco [MS Dept of Archives & History, website]. |
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After the widow of John Holloway remarried,
her eldest son, George Holloway left Natchez
and went to live with his uncle, William White,
and his grandfather, James Taylor White, in
Burke Co. NC, where part of the White family had settled and had become patriots
in a part of the country that was being "pacified", that is, freed from Indian threats. |
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In the 1787 Wilkes Co.
NC Census, in Capt. Johnson's Company, dated Jul 7, 1787, a "John Townzen"
is listed on the 6th line of Pg. 3, as a head of household of 5 members: 1 male over aged 21 and under age 60 [John, aged about 35], 3 males under age 21, 1 female [wife], and no slaves. |
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In Oct 1787, George Holloway married his
first cousin Mary Loving and started a family.
In the 1790 Burke Co.
NC Census for 5th Company, George is listed as a head of household of 4 members: 1 male aged 16 and up [George], 1 male under age 16 [son John], 2 females [wife Mary, daughter Elizabeth], and no slaves. Also, in the same Burke Co, 1790 Census, a "John Townsend" is listed as a household in the 9th company (precinct) of the 1790 Burke Co. NC Census [Scott, W. W., Annals of Caldwell Co., pp. 64-65]. |
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In the 1790 Burke Co. NC Census for Ninth Company, "Jno Townsend" is listed
as a head of household of 7 white members and 6 slaves: 4 males aged 16 and up [John, his 3 sons], 1 male under age 16 [son Issac born after 1774], 2 females [wife, and the daughter born by 1785], and 6 slaves [Genealogy Trails, Burke Co., website]. |
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According to the 1792 Spanish Census for Natchez District, there are no Townshend
households, regardless of spelling, but
Joshua Howard was
a head of household in the area of Second & Sandy Creek, as was "Juan Holladay"
[John Holloway born in 1769], both single
white males without blacks or slaves. A different translation has a Tonio Howard
with 6 whites and 5 blacks on 400 arpents (336 acres) of land in the same area,
which was east and south of Natchez. A Joshua Howard (1745-1813) was a slave
owner in Wilkes Co. NC at one time. [Note: in 1792, the cotton gin had not yet
been invented, nor were there steamboats on the Mississippi River]. |
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1895 Map
of Natchez showed the likely routes of the Second and Sandy Creeks in 1792. |
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Map of
Burke County NC from 1777 to 1799 showing location of the White and Holloway family
homes. |
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A "John Townson" was issued 100 acres of land on Nov 27, 1792 in Burke Co. NC,
located "On the waters of Mulberry"
[near George Holloway]. This was recorded
in Land Patent Book 80 page 47 as Burke County Grant No. 1575.
The original request for this land was entered on May 20, 1780 and assigned
Burke County Entry No.1791 (12 years and 6 months before the issue of the grant. |
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In the 1800 Burke Co. NC Census,
page 800, line 8, the "John Townsend" household consisted of: 1 male under age 10 [son born after 1790, George named for George Holloway?], 1 male aged 45 or over [John born before 1755], 1 female aged 16-26 [daughter born between 1775 and 1785], 1 female aged 26-45 [wife born before 1755], and 4 slaves. |
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In the 1805 Burke Co. NC List of Taxables a "John Townsen" appeared in Capt.
Coffey's Company owning 600 acres of land with 2 polls [Alexander, p. 227].
This may be John Townshend Jr. at most 25 years old, who was not a head of
household in the Burke Co. Census in 1800. John Sr. would be over 50 years old
and thus not taxable [Alexander, p. 227]. |
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There are no Townsend households in the US Census for western NC counties
after 1810 except for a Solomon Townsend family originally from that county. |
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A "Jacob Townshend" (possibly a brother of John) was mentioned by a John Randon,
a "half breed Creek", in a 1797 complaint in Tensaw Settlement records. Jacob was
later murdered. There are records of any Townshends in the 1810 census.
[Genealogy Addict, "Tensaw Settlement, part 4, 1800-1816", online blog]. |
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On Jul 18, 1811 George Townsend married Catherine Brown in Adams Co. MS.
Years later, on Apr 13, 1818, Catherine Townsend married John Corn in
Adams Co. [ancestry.com, MS marriages in Adams Co. 1800-1825]. |
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Possible son "George Townson" was listed as a single male household right next
to a single male household of Patrick Brown, also a single male head of household
in the 1810 Claiborne Co. Census, on lines 9 and 10 of
page 14 [MDAH, microfilm]. |
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"George Townshend" was listed on page 6, line 24 as paying tax on a Port Gibson
(MS) Town Lot valued $350, with 1 poll (George), no slaves, in the
Claiborne Co. Tax Roll for 1810. No Townshend was listed in the 1823
Taxroll, although Patrick Brown was. |
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In 1813 there was a court case, Catherine Townsend verson George Townsend in
Adams Co. MS [MDAH, Series 531 case files 1788-1817, Microfilm Box 2373, # 23]. |
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A "John Townsend" household was listed on page 326, line 79 in the
Warren Co. MS Census for 1820. In the household was John aged 18-25, 1 male
child, and a female aged 10-15, and 4 slaves. The 1850 Warren Co. Census listed
John as 50 years old born in "Ma" [MSGenWeb, website]. If "Ma" was meant to be
"Ms" for the Mississippi Territory which existed in 1800, John could have been
a son of John Jr. This John Townsend, born Sep 19, 1800 and died Nov 26, 1863,
had a son named Samuel (1828-1880) and both were buried in Saint Albans
Episcopal Cemetery in Warren Co. MS [Find-a-Grave website]. |
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In Dec 1809 Warren Co. was formed just north of Claiborne Co. It borders the
Mississippi River and includes the town of Vicksburg
(see present day map
for location). |
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A "John Townshend" appeared on page 43 of a database of "Known and Probable
Mixed Bloods" as being associated with the Creek Indian Nation but without a
code specifying how. One of the codes used was C = Countryman, "white man
living in Indian country with an Indian wife" [Wells, p. 43]. |
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On Jan 8, 1815 son Isaac fought in the Battle of New Orleans, as a Captain in
in Declouet's regiment. A "John Townsend" also served. It was the final
engagement in the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain
[Jean Lafitte NHPP, "Battle of New Orleans ... ", wikitree website]. |
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The household of "Isaac Townsend" household was listed tenth on page 17 of the
East Baton Rouge LA Census for 1820, submitted Jan 5, 1821. In the household
was Isaac aged 26-45, 2 males under under 10, 1 male aged 16-26, a female under
age 10, and 2 "foreign not naturalized" persons (Isaac's mother?). Twenty years
later a household of "Wm. Townsend" aged 20-30 appeared in the 1840 East
Feliciana Parish census in Jackson La. with the note that he married Susan Hurst,
aged 15-20 with a son, on Apr 11, 1839
[usgwarchives.net, website, files 1820ebr2.txt, 1840east.txt]. |
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A "John Townsend of St. Tammany Parish" LA gifted in a Marion Co. MS deed, a negro
girl "Betsy", aged 12 or 13, to his two "minor" sons on Mar 7, 1821, witnessed
by two Phillips men [Marion Co. MS Deeds]. St Tammany Parish is in the far
NE corner of the state just south of Marion Co. MS. |
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In 1830, on line 20 of
page 240 of the 1830
Census for West Feliciana Parish LA, a household headed by "J Townsend"
(possibly Jacob), aged 30-40, was counted with no male children, one female
aged 20-30, two female children and no slaves. Near him was a Thomas Fair
household [familysearch.org, website]. Fair is a surname associated with the family
of George Holloway in NC. The daughter
Mahala Holloway married Joseph Fair about 1821. |
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Feliciana was originally part of the Orleans Territory. After 1802, it was
divided into four parishes, New Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, and St.
Tammany.
See present day map
for location of East and West Feliciana Parish. |
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In 1840, on page 41, line 11 of the
Caddo Parish LA Census,
a "Julian Townsend" aged 50-60, was counted with 2 male children, one female
aged 40-50, and an adult male slave and a young female slave [usgenweb, website]. |
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Sources: Alexander, Nancy, Here Will I Dwell, The Story of Caldwell County, 1956. "Burke County, N.C. List of Taxables" abstracted by Ransom McBride, in NCGSJ, Nov 1982, p. 227. Andrea, Leonardo, South Carolina Colonial Soldiers and Patriots, publ. 1952, transcribed by Sara Augerson in website. Christenson, Elroy, website, John Hollaway Family. Genealogy Addict, "Tensaw Settlement, part 4, 1800-1816", online blog. Genealogy Trails, Burke Co. NC, 1790 Census, website, transcribed by Linda Natale, 2020. Genealogy Trails, Claiborne County 1810 Tax Rolls, website, transcribed by Lee Kohler, updated May 8, 2018. Genealogy Trails, Claiborne County 1823 Tax Rolls, website, transcribed by Lee Kohler, updated May 9, 2018. Imbert, J. Leopold, map maker, Carte des Possessions Angloises... 1777, reprinted by the Museum of the American Revolution from map image at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, "Battle of New Orleans, War of 1812 American Muster and Troop Roster List", wikitree website. "John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library. "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. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, Book A, pp. 2,3, 6,8, 291, 292, Book F, pp. 235, 555. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, microfilm roll #5618, vol.1, pp. 105-8. MDAH, Territorial Census Records, mdah.ms.gov, website, microfilm box 1810 Claiborne Co., p. 14. MDAH, Series 531 case files 1788-1817, Microfilm Box 2373, # 23. MSGenWeb, Natchez District 1792 Census Heads of Household Index, comp. by Ellen Pack, Census Index, transcribed and translated from Spanish. MSGenWeb, 1820 Warren Co. MS Census, submitted & trans. by Ann Allen Geoghegan, website. NCGenWeb, "State Census of North Carolina 1784-1787", website, pp. 178, 187. North Carolina Land Grants, vol. 2, at Morganton NC Library, p. 6, #1476, transcribed by Lisabeth M. Holloway Oct 9, 1987. Potter, Dorothy Williams, Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823, Gateway Press, Baltimore MD, 1982, p. 342. Scott, W. W., Annals of Caldwell Co., Lenoir NC, 1930, pp. 64-65, 118. Siebert, Wilbur H., Loyalists in West Florida, vol II, no. 4, p. 13. Tuller, Roberta, "1777 Petition of Holston Men", in An American Family History, website, Amazon Services, 2020. U.S. 1800 Census, Burke Co. NC, usgwcensus.org website, page 800, line 8. U.S. 1820 Census, East Baton Rouge LA, submitted Jan 5, 1821, trans. by Carol Walker, 1998, usgwcensus.org, website. U.S. 1830 Census, West Feliciana LA, familysearch.org, website, page 240, line 20. Univ. of NC, Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, "Burke County Census of 1790", no author, vol. 26, on website, Ninth Company, p. 336. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, pp. 101, 144-5, 151. Wells, Dr. Samuel James, Choctaw Mixed Bloods and the Advent of Removal, Univ. Southern Mississippi, 1987. |
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