| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | ||
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Lecretia (or Letisha) Wilkinson McConkey m. 1748? ?Bladen Co. NC b. 1730? Bladen Co. NC d. 1789? ?Robeson Co. NC |
William McConkey b. Apr 16, 1750 Bladen Co. NC d. Jul 21, 1830 Robeson Co. NC |
John P. b. 1752? ?Bladen Co. NC d. after 1805? ?Burke Co. NC |
Thomas (Jr.) b. 1755? ?NC d. after 1828? ?Robeson Co. NC |
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Robeson Co. NC was created in 1787 from Bladen Co., which was created from
New Hanover Co. in 1734. |
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Son William married Sarah Thompson (1763-1829). They are both buried in Lumberton,
Robeson Co. NC. |
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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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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799. |
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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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Son John next appears 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 has "absconded" when the rest of
his estate is put up for sale [McBee, pp. 3, 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 February that showed the balance due as well as another account against
a Joseph Stanley. In reply,
John Holloway stated that he had an account
against Townshend for two pirogues, one of which was left in the care of the
"negress", Eleanor Price, from whom the Townsend took it, and the other was blown
out into the river [McBee, p. 290-1]. |
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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.
He was killed by Indians in May 1781 on his way to Illinois.
This is 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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A 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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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, a "John 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 born after 1787], 2 females [wife, and the daughter born by 1785], and 6 slaves [docsouth.unc.edu, website, vol 26, p. 336]. |
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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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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 from the Ancestral Trackers
website, shows 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 household headed by son "John Townsend" consisted of: 1 male under age 10 [son born after 1790], 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" appears in Capt. Coffey's
Company owning 600 acres of land with 2 polls [Alexander, p. 227]. This may be
John Townshend Jr. who was not in the Burke Co. Census in 1800. John Sr. would be
over 50 years old and thus not taxable. |
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Map
showing Land Holdings in the Second Creek area in 1810 is an enlargement
of part of the Adams Co. 1810 Land Holdings Map found on the website of the
MS Achives and History. In the center of this map can be seen the land owned
by Joshua Howard and other members of the
Howard family. Brother John Howard (Jr.)
tried to claim 165 acres next to D. Ferguson and R. Sessions on May 29, 1804, the
same day that Joshua Howard tried to claim the 200 acres of land had been surveyed
for him in 1777. The latter tract would be the land that John Holloway was "improving"
and where he was killed. |
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Unrecorded Land Claims
dated Mar 29, 1804 by Joshua and John Howard, indicating the approximate location
of their lands on Second Creek, and where John Holloway was killed in 1781 while
working there [McBee, Unrecorded Land Claims nos. 1470-1, p. 555]. |
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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. Imbert, J. Leopold, map maker, Carte des Possessions Angloises... 1777, reprinted by the Museum of the American Revolution from map image at the 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. "John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, Book A, pp. 2,6,8, 291, 292, Book F, pp. 235, 555. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, microfilm, roll #5618, vol.1, pp. 105-8. MSGenWeb, Natchez District 1792 Census Heads of Household Index, comp. by Ellen Pack, Census Index, transcribed and translated from Spanish. NCGenWeb, "State Census of North Carolina 1784-1787", website, p. 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, file pg00766.txt, page 800, line 8. 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. |
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