Introduction
When two men have the same first and last name, were born at
about the same time in the same place, and resided in the same place for
several years, it can become difficult to differentiate between the two. It is
also often easy to make assumptions about one or the other which leads to them
being attached to the wrong records, and often the wrong families altogether.
This is the case with James Lewis Hollis and James Bell Hollis of Cannon
County, Tennessee. Neither of them have birth or death records, so there are no
primary sources available “proving” which James belonged to which Hollis
family. However, if the sources available to us are examined closely enough, it
is easy to ascertain this information accurately.
James Bell Hollis
James Bell Hollis was born between 1838 and 1840 in Cannon
County, Tennessee. He is first positively identified in his Civil War service
records for the Tennessee 4th Cavalry (Smith’s) (Note: This regiment’s service
records are filed as Tennessee 8th Cavalry (Smith’s)), where he is listed
as J. B. Hollis. (The service records from the Tennessee 4th Cavalry
(McLemore’s) can also be attached to James Bell Hollis.) Next, he is found in
Cannon County marriage records marrying Miss Mary Creson, daughter of Benjamin
F. and Sarah Creson, on 18 Feb 1866; he is listed as J. B. Hollis in this
record. He is then found in the 1870 Census in District 4, Cannon, Tennessee,
with his wife Mary, two children, and a man who will later prove to be an
important clue, 20-year-old James B. Laseter. In 1880, James is found in the
same location sans Laseter and with 5 additional children.
No death record or headstone record have been located for
James Bell Hollis, but as he is not found in the 1900 Census, it is safe to
assume he was deceased before that census. Several online trees list his of
death as 21 Oct 1881 in Cannon County, Tennessee, but I have yet to find a
primary source for this date. His wife, Mary, filed a Confederate Widow Pension
Application, which she was approved for, but neither she nor her witnesses
provide James’s date of death. Also, it is this application where we are given
a primary source proving that this James’s middle name is “Bell”.
James Lewis Hollis
James Lewis Hollis was born 8 May 1839 (which, like James
Bell, is between 1838 and 1840) in Cannon County, Tennessee. No Civil War
service record has been found for him. He is first positively identified in his
marriage record to Alice E. Todd on 1 Mar 1866 in Cannon County. (He and James
Bell were even married less than two weeks apart.) This family was not located
in the 1870 Census, but they were likely in Cannon County still. They are
located in the 1880 Census in District 3, Cannon, Tennessee with his wife and
four children.
The family is found in the 1900 Census residing in Justice
Precinct 3, Fannin, Texas with his wife and 3 children, and again in the 1910
Census in Trenton, Fannin, Texas. James died 18 Jun 1910 is buried in Burns
Cemetery in Trenton, Fannin, Texas. Though Fannin County did have death records
by this time, for some reason or another James did not have one, or else it has
not been located.
Two Families – One James Hollis Each
The family James Bell Hollis is most often attached to is
that of John Hollis and Esther (also spelled Easter and Easther) Bell who were
married in Rutherford County, TN on 4 Sep 1823. This seems like a logical
choice seeing as Esther’s maiden name is Bell. James Lewis Bell isn’t found in
very many online trees, but when he is he’s listed as a son of the same couple:
John Hollis and Esther Bell. The other tree that James Bell Hollis is sometimes
attached to is that of James B. Hollis and Martha Saffle, who married in
Rutherford County on 18 Apr 1829. (To avoid confusion, here on out this James
B. Hollis will be referred to as James B. Hollis Sr.) Of the three possible
connections, I believe the latter two are the correct ones.
As previously stated, it is easy to connect James Bell
Hollis to the family of John and Esther because of Esther’s maiden name.
However, it should be noted that James B. Hollis Sr. has a connection to the
Bell family as well. Esther Bell is the daughter of James Bell and Susannah
Lewis. James B. Hollis Sr. is the son of David Hollis and Elizabeth Lewis.
Susannah and Elizabeth are sisters, both daughters of Abraham Lewis and Esther
Todd. It is very possible that James B. Hollis Sr.’s middle name is Bell, but
that has not been proven.
The family of John and Esther Bell Hollis are found in the
1850 Census in District 3 Jones, Cannon, Tennessee (Family Number 396). Not
surprisingly, they have a son named James in their household who is listed as being
about 10 years old (so born circa 1840). James B. Hollis Sr.’s family is found
in the same place and are Family Number 358. They have a son named James listed
as well, who is listed as being about 12 years old (so born circa 1838). The
confusing part is that this James is given a middle initial of “W”. There are
two possible reasons for this: 1) Their son James had two middle names,
including one that started with the letter “W”, or 2) The more likely reason is
that this was probably a simple Census error, which anyone who has done
extensive research using the Census understands is not an uncommon occurrence.
It should now be noted that there are two families of
special note living close to the James B. Hollis Sr. family. The heads of both of
these families are named Luke Laseter [Lasiter]. The first is Luke Laseter
[Lasiter] born about 1820 in North Carolina, who is married to a Marinda, and
are Family Number 354 (Four households from the James B. Hollis Sr. family.).
In their household there are also two Fergusons residing: Clary, born about
1806 in North Carolina, and Sarah C., born about 1834 in Tennessee. Next door
to James B. Hollis Sr., with Family Number 357, is the family of Luke Laseter [Lasiter]
born about 1825 in Tennessee. In his household is his 1 year old son, James B.
Laseter [Lasiter]. This is the same James B. Laseter [Lasiter] found in the
home of James Bell Hollis in the 1870 Census. This connection appears to attach
James Bell Hollis to the family of James B. Hollis Sr., as they are living next
door to James Bell Hollis’s future boarder, but this alone should not suffice
as proof. Examining the 1860 Census will provide the further evidence needed to
definitively tie James Bell Hollis to James B. Hollis Sr. instead of to John
Hollis.
1860 Census
The family of John Hollis, who had remarried in 1849 to Elizabeth
Todd and again to a Mary (supposedly also a Todd, but no marriage record has
been found) prior to 1860, can be found in the 1860 Census in Cannon,
Tennessee. John’s son James is present in the household in this Census, which
proves to be an important fact. Barring the possibility that the same James
Hollis appears twice while the other James Hollis doesn’t appear at all in the
same Census, which is very unlikely, it would stand to reason that whichever
James Hollis is located outside of this household would be the James Hollis who
is the son of James B. Hollis Sr.
James B. Hollis Sr. died in 1850, so by the 1860 Census his
progeny were spread about a bit. It appears that his wife, Martha, and their
daughter Rachel moved to Readyville, and their son William Joseph Hollis took
over the family farm in Cannon County. (Their 1850 household included this son,
who was enumerated by his middle name only.) This is ascertained by the fact
that William’s next door neighbor is the aforementioned elder Luke Lasiter, who
was 4 households from the family in 1850 and with whom the Fergusons were
residing. (This Census says he was born about 1812, rather than 1820, but he is
still married to Marinda, so it is certainly him.)
William Joseph Hollis, who was born about 1835 in Tennessee,
has three other persons residing in his household: First, a 25-year-old woman,
Sarah Hollis, who appears to be his wife; second, a Clary Ferguson, born about
1806 in North Carolina. She is the aforementioned Clary Ferguson who resided
with the Lasiters in 1850 with her then-16-year-old daughter Sarah C. four
households away from the James B. Hollis Sr. family. As William Joseph Hollis’s
wife Sarah appears as “Sarah C.” in both the 1870 and 1880 Censuses, and she is
the same as age as Sarah C. Ferguson, one can logically conclude that William
had married Sarah C. Ferguson, though a marriage record has not been found;
Clary, or “Clara”, is still residing with the family in 1870 as well. (It
should be noted there are several records that appear to be missing from Cannon
County’s marriage collection during the period of the late 1850’s—such as the
previously mentioned missing record of John Hollis and his new wife Mary—so it
is not exactly an anomaly that the record for William Joseph Hollis and Sarah
C. Ferguson is unaccounted for.) The third person residing with William is a
21-year-old J. B. Hollis. This is almost certainly James Bell Hollis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, James Bell Hollis’s association with William
Joseph Hollis, the Fergusons, and James B. Lasiter leads this researcher to
conclude that he is the son of James B. Hollis Sr., therefore making James
Lewis Hollis the son of John Hollis and Esther Bell.
Final Note
Further connecting James Bell Hollis to William Joseph
Hollis is the fact that the two of them enlisted to fight in the Civil War
together; even though William ended up in Company E and James in Company G,
they were both of Tennessee’s 4th (8th) Cavalry (Smith’s),
William having joined the 4th/8th after being discharged from
the 18th Tennessee Infantry. William’s widow, like James’s, also
applied for and received a Confederate Widow’s Pension. William’s pension
application talks about both his service in the 18th Tennessee
Infantry and later the 4th Cavalry. He claimed to have been wounded
at “Paint Rock Bridge, Georgia”. It appears he died while his application was
being processed, so his widow (a second wife, Martha B. Lambert) had to
re-apply. His file is very sad; he claims to have lost everything to a fire,
and the man who interviewed him called him one of the “most helpless, needy,
and worthy” applicants he had ever interviewed, and also stated that his family
was one of the best to have ever lived in the county.
James Bell is my distant great-uncle!
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