The James and William Holmes Family of Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas

Almost as soon as I started getting serious about genealogy about 10 years ago, I ran into a quandary with my Holmes ancestry. Actually, I ran into several quandaries surrounding this family and it has taken years to unravel them and straighten everything out as best I can.

I feel strongly that my information on this Holmes family is as complete and accurate as any that exists in the world, and I feel obligated to share this information with fellow Holmes family researchers. I can answer numerous questions that have plagued those of us that have studied this confounding family for generations, and I can attach members to this family that most (if any) researchers have up to now not known belonged to this family. 

There are so many questions about this family that it is difficult to know where to begin. I guess the best place to start is with the two primary progenitors of this family and what we know about them, and then work our way forward.

In early Perry County, Tennessee we first find our two men of intrigue together: William and James Holmes. They both signed a petition in 1819 to have Perry County formally formed, and they appear in the 1820 Census there. It has been unclear to many what these two men's relationship was to one another. Because they appear to have an age gap of over 15 years, some have presumed them to be father and son. Others believed them to be brothers, but no document ever satisfactorily specifies their relationship.

In 1829, James applied for a pension for service in the Revolutionary War. A full transcription of his application can be found here: http://revwarapps.org/r5171.pdf. I will not copy all of it, but I want to make note of certain bits of information.

His application was made out of Perry County. He reported that he was a private in the company of a Captain Benjamin Tutt of a South Carolina unit, the name of which he could not recall. He reports to have served along with his father, William Holmes. It is worth noting that an apparent cousin, also named William Holmes, appears to have served in the same unit; in his pension, a witness on his behalf says that he was enlisted by the elder William Holmes, his uncle. [Pension of the second William Holmes--see testimony of William Couch: http://revwarapps.org/w27864.pdf].

Two of the witnesses to William's initial claim are noteworthy: Absalom Denton and William Holmes. They attested that James "is generally reputed and believed to have been a private Soldier in the Revolution." The Denton family are closely allied with this one, and we will discuss them further later on. A more "fun" note is that two of his witnesses (no apparent relation) were from Dickson County, Tennessee; the Justice of the Peace that signed their statement was a John W. Napier, who coincidentally is a cousin of mine on another branch of my family.

In a letter to the Revolutionary Claims office, James states: "You will perceive by a search of the records, that I have drawn my bounty land. You will also see that William Holloms, my Father, who served at the same time, and in the same Regiment with me has drawn his bounty land, or at least I drew it, as [heir] to him." Interestingly, none other than Colonel David "Davy" Crockett, then a United States Representative of the State of Tennessee, took an interest in the case, and James authored a letter to him. To Col. Crockett he writes: "Colonel you know me very well, I have always done all for you that in my power lay, and always shall, and I want you to help me out if you possibly can, and it shall ever be recollected with gratitude. – Please write to me and let me know how you come on, and accept of the best wishes of your old friend for your prosperity and success, and everything you may undertake that is good."

In 1836, he reports being 68 years old, which means he was born approximately 1768. He reported that he "that he entered into the Army of the United States in the year of '79 with Lieutenant Farrow [Thomas Farrar] and served in the Regiment in the South Carolina line of the Continental line under ...Capt. Benjamin Tutt...he can recollect he left the service in the Spring of 1782; he served two years and a half." That would make him roughly 11 years old when he joined up and roughly 14 years old when he left. This would not be completely unheard of, but still quite uncommon. Perhaps since he was with his father this was allowed.

In 1843, James stated he was 75 years old, which again has him being born about 1868. At this time, he believes he enlisted in 1780 and left in 1783, stating "he enlisted with the advice and consent of his father when a small boy just barely able to bear Arms when he first entered the service in the same company with his father. Then he marched from Greenville district to Seneca a fort on Savannah River. At which place he staid and not far from it for the term of one year and then was furloughed and he returned home to see his mother and to get some better health and [stayed] some few weeks and then returned to the Fort agreeable to his Furlough and there remained in actual service for near one year longer and was again Furloughed and went again home and returned agreeable to furlough and some time after he was taken sick and his father hired a man to serve in his place and that the Fort Seneca was surrendered and before he recovered the War ended. "

It does not appear James was ever successful in receiving his pension, though he reports having received his Bounty Land Warrant. Apparently without any comrades to corroborate his service and no service record, the pension office found his serving as an 11-15 year old boy unlikely.

But all of this gives us useful information--his father's name, his age, his home state, and proof of his association with Absalom Denton and William Holmes (the younger one, and not his cousin from South Carolina).

The 1819 petition to form Perry County gives us additional noteworthy names. Names of all the signers can be found here: http://tngenweb.org/perry/1819-petition/. There are some attention-worthy disclaimers that the transcriber provided:

- Original Material in Poor Condition.  Best Copy Available;

- Spelling is transcribed as was written in the original record;

- This is an interesting piece. From my analysis, the petition includes some who may not be of legal age and there are a few duplicate names; the spelling of names was quite creative. some names were duplicated but there may have been some junior/senior situations.  This is copied to the best of my ability, retaining spelling and pages. You will note that there seems to be several [duplicates] of names. In other words, the same names are on more than one page.

38th and 39th on the list are William and James Holmes, one right after the other. Further on we have the following noteworthy names, including several duplicates, as the transcriber mentioned, and some names of persons I am certain were not of legal age of majority (which was 21 at this time):

Benjamin Denton
Absalom Denton
Samuel Denton
Benjamin Denton
James Holmes
Samuel Holmes
Denton Shipman
Isaac Shipman
Abraham Denton Sr.
Abraham Denton Jr.
Samuel Denton Sr.
Samuel Denton Jr.
Absalom Denton
Jacob Shipman
Isaac Shipman Sr.
Benjamin Holmes
John Shipman
Isaac Denton
Abraham Holmes
James Holmes Jr.
James Denton
James Shipman

James Holmes Jr. would have been about 12 in 1819. If Benjamin Holmes was 21, he was only just. Abraham Holmes would have been about 13. Samuel Holmes would have been about 17. And it appears one of our James Holmeses signed twice.

Another petition in 1819 requesting a "right of preference" be granted to an Andrew Stobough Sr. includes the following names: William Holmes, Samuel Holmes, Benjamin Holmes, Denton Shipman, Isaac Shipman Jr., Shipman Denton, Samuel Denton Jr., Abraham Denton, Samuel Denton Sr., Benjamin Denton, and Absalom Denton. Source: https://lists.rootsweb.com/hyperkitty/list/denton.rootsweb.com/thread/29110146/

Between 1820 and 1850 many Holmeses would appear in records in Perry and Wayne counties, Tennessee and later Searcy and Van Buren counties, Arkansas, and Stoddard County, Missouri, being the three primary places our Holmeses migrated to after leaving Perry County. The trouble has been ascertaining where each of these Holmeses belong--whether as James's son, William's son, or NEITHER. Up until I collected the records I have now succinctly outlining one of the two families, there was only ever one record found that firmly established what relationship two Holmes men shared. Everything else has been conjecture. We Holmes researchers had no choice but to make our best educated guesses on where each Holmes man belonged, but we never had solid proof--until now that is.

I am now going to list the various men that at one point or another have been assumed to be the sons of James or William Holmes, what we know about their age (if anything), and in what records they first appear that has led to their being lumped with our Holmes men. You'll find each and every one of them applied to either James or William in online trees, and many if not most are applied to both in one tree or another--that is the extent of the confusion and widespread guesswork that has occurred on this matter. There is no particular order.

1. Benjamin Holmes - Age unknown/likely born circa 1798. Sworn Chain Carrier in 1821 deed from Absalom Denton to William Young and signer of the 1819 petition to form Perry County. Does not appear in 1830 Census or 1840 Censuses or known tax lists.

2. Samuel Holmes - Born circa 1802. Signed 1819 petition, appears in 1830 Census in Perry County. Appears to be the Samuel Holmes in neighboring Wayne County on tax lists in 1836 and 1838 and on the 1840 Census there.

3. Abraham "Abram" Holmes - Born circa 1806. This guy right here has caused a large amount of confusion because he was enumerated twice in the 1830 Census and purely to annoy genealogists, I'm sure, continually switched between using the name Abraham and the name Abram at will. The 1830 Census caused some to believe there were two Abrahams, or that he was just "Abram" and the other was a mis-transcription of "Absalom", but I do believe--like many before him--that Abraham was simply enumerated twice. Once, he is next door to the aforementioned Samuel. The other time he is quite near James. In one household, it is him, his apparent wife, and three small children. The other appears to be him and his wife with two 10-14 year old girls. No children born before 1831 have been identified for Abraham; that's not to say he didn't have any, but they have not been found. He was too young to have had daughters over age 10 by 1830, so I feel that one household has children or step-children or nieces/nephews/other relations, and the other is has what are possibly nieces but more likely sisters of his wife or other relations. I do not believe there were two Abrahams in this family. He also appears on the 1837 tax list for Perry County.

4. Benjamin Holmes - Born circa 1816. "But wait, isn't he the first man in this list, and didn't you say he doesn't appear in censuses or tax lists?" Yes, because unlike with Abraham, there actually were two Benjamin Holmeses--and I will prove it. He appears in the 1837 tax list for Perry County and the 1840 Census for Perry County.

5. James Holmes - Born 1807. This is James Holmes II of three total, including the aforementioned eldest James. He appears in the 1837 tax list and the 1840 Census, both in Perry County.

6. James Holmes - Born circa 1816. Yes, a third one. James III appears in the 1837 tax list for Perry County (as later records would prove, he apparently had just turned 21 in that tax year) but not the 1840 Census. It is also possible that the eldest James paid taxes twice if he owned enough property to justify it; regardless, there was still a third James as proven by the 1840 Census. There were three enumerated James Holmeses, their ages being 70-79, 30-39, and 20-29. This would be the youngest of the three.

7. Absalom Holmes - Born circa 1813. My ancestor. Absalom's spelling is sometimes deviated to Absalum or Apsolom or some other variation. Some crazy people want to add the first name "Asa" to him just because they like it and think it sounds cool? I guess? I am only guessing because there is no formal record in existence in the universe or in the history of time that indicates his first name was anything but Absalom. No Absalom A. or A. Absalom on records. No formal document calling him Asa or alluding to such a name. Someone somewhere in the last few decades saw a record for an Asa Holmes, assumed it was our Absalom, and decided his name was Asa Absalom. Dozens if not hundreds of copy-and-paste genealogists followed suit and put that name in their trees. So once and for all I cannot make myself more plain: There was no Asa Absalom Holmes--at least not in this family. The Absalom Holmes that married Julia Gambill, Olive Hollis, and at least two women named Elizabeth and lived in Perry County, TN, Van Buren County, AR, Newton County, MO, and Limestone County, TX WAS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE NAMED ASA ABSALOM HOLMES AND IF YOUR TREE INDICATES OTHERWISE, IT IS WRONG AND YOU CANNOT PROVIDE A SINGLE DOCUMENT PROVING OTHERWISE. 

Please don't absorb information out of people's family trees without verifying its accuracy; that way we don't end up with COUNTLESS online family trees disrespectfully applying an incorrect/made-up first name to a person. I'm sure you hope that on future family trees someone doesn't give you the name Bob before your actual name, right? Just for no reason. Like I would be Bob Nathan Vaughan Marks in dozens of family trees until the end of time because some ridiculous person wanted to make up a name because it sounded fun. If you don't want genealogy karma to come back and bite you, it would be wise to verify things like this when you notice, "Huh. This guy appears in 5 Census records and many other documents, and not one of them shows his name as Asa. Gee, I wonder why that could be?!?!?!?"

There, I feel better now that that is out of my system. ABSALOM appears in the 1837 Perry County tax list and subsequently in the 1840 Census of Wayne County, where he reportedly married his second wife Olive Hollis in the same year.

8. John Holmes - Age unknown. He appears in the 1837 Perry County tax list. He could be the John Holmes in the 1830 Census for neighboring Wayne County, where there was a separate Holmes family [http://tngenweb.org/wayne2/1830-census/]. It has not been clear if this John belongs to our family or not. He was not located after 1837; there was a John Holmes in Texas in the 1850 Census born 1811, but there is no indication they are one in the same. If he paid taxes in 1837, he was at least 21, so he would have been born 1816 or earlier.

9. Welcome Holmes - Born circa 1814. He appears in the 1840 Census in Searcy County, Arkansas. He appears to be the first member of this family to have come to Arkansas. His connection to our family is proven by his connection to the aforementioned Benjamin Holmes--the one listed number 4. On 11 Jun 1915, the Van Buren County Democrat out of Clinton, Arkansas published a letter to the editor from a William D. Holmes. He was the son of Benjamin Holmes (No. 4) and his letter discussed the early days of the county. He stated he moved with his father to Searcy County in 1844, and to Van Buren County five years later. He writes, "I remember helping my father Benjamin Holmes, my Uncle Week Holmes (Welcome Holmes) and Joe Barnes build the first jail house ever built in Van Buren County and it was built at Clinton. I was 16 or 18 years old at the time." This proves his connection to our family, and also was the aforementioned only discovered record (up to this point) that specifies a relationship between any of the Holmes men on this list (whether they are brothers, cousins, or uncles/nephews). 

10. Jacob L. Holmes - Born circa 1819. He first appears in the 1850 Census in Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas, where many of our Holmeses would be enumerated at one point or another. He is not found in other widely-available records before or after this point.

11. George W. Holmes - Born circa 1815. He certainly appears in the 1850 Census in Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas, the aforementioned place where Jacob and others are found in 1850. He is almost certainly the Washington Holmes that appears in the 1838 tax list of Wayne County right next to Samuel Holmes [http://tngenweb.org/wayne2/category/1838taxes/] because in 1840 his household is enumerated directly adjacent to the household of the aforementioned Absalom Holmes; Samuel is enumerated a few pages away.

12. William Holmes - Born circa 1823. He appears for the first time in the 1850 Census in Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas.

So now we have 12 men to try and place as sons of either James or William. While some mingle closely enough together to assume they're brothers (George and Absalom, Samuel and James III), and in one case we know the younger Benjamin and Welcome are brothers, we have really had no way to definitively divvy them all up between their respective families. If like some, you believe the elder William is a son of James--highly unlikely since the 1850 Census says James was born in 1783, and as we have established James was born in 1768, he would have been 15 when William was born--then the remaining sons of James would be uncles to William's sons. If James and William are brothers, then these men are either brothers or 1st cousins to one another.

I am going to lay out the households for James and William in 1820 and 1830 to give us an idea of how difficult this task has been. Then I will provide the document that definitively pieces together one family which in turn allows us to determine the members of the other family.

James Holmes - 1820 Census - Perry County, Tennessee
Males under 10 - 4 (at least 6 of the listed men, with the possibility of John, fall in this age range)
Males 10-15 - 2 (at least 2 of the men fit in this category, with John also possibly fitting)
Males 16-18 - 1 (Only Samuel Holmes fits this enumeration)
Males 16-25 - 1 (Only the elder Benjamin Holmes fits this enumeration)
Males 45 and over - James, who would have been 52
Females under 10 - 1
Females 10-15 - 1
Females 26-44 - James's wife, who if closer to 44 could be the mother of all these sons, but if very much younger would likely be a second wife

William Holmes - 1820 Census - Perry County, Tennessee
Males under 10 - 3 (again, at least 6 and as many as 7 fit this enumeration)
Males 10-15 - 1 (at least two and maybe three fits)
Males 26-44 - William, who would have been 37
Females 10-15 - 1
Females 26-44 - William's wife

James Holmes - 1830 Census - Perry County, Tennessee
Males 10-14 - 2 (At least 3 fits, not including John)
Males 15-19 - 2 (At least 3 fits, not including John)
[James not enumerated for some reason]
Females 10-14 - 1
Females 50-59 - James's wife. This and the previous enumeration indicating she was age 44 or younger indicates she was born roughly between 1775-1780, meaning she was likely the mother of all his sons with the possible exception of the oldest son.

William Holmes - 1830 Census - Perry County, Tennessee
Males 5-9 - 1 (only one fits this--the younger William)
Males 10-14 - 1 (At least 3 fits, not including John)
Males 15-19 - 1 (At least 3 fits, not including John)
Males 20-29 - 1 (At least 3 fits, not including John, but Abraham has his own household)
[William also not enumerated for some reason]
Females Under 5 - 1
[William's wife also not enumerated, though he could have been widowed and remarried]

So what can we infer from these records and what we know about each man?

- Samuel was born about 1802; William about 1783. While it is not impossible for someone to have children before the age of majority, it would be quite uncommon. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume Samuel was the son of James and not William.

- William had only one son who was 10-15 in 1820; since that son appears to still be living with him in 1830 and Abraham is on his own, we can infer that Abraham was likely the son of the eldest James, and therefore James II (or possibly the the mysterious John) was likely the son of William.

- As mentioned, the younger William only fits as the son of the older William and the older Benjamin only fits as the son of James. Therefore, we can infer that the other Benjamin would be the son of William, and since we know Welcome was the brother of Benjamin, he too would be William's son.

Again, these are all conjecture until we have a solid document proving the outline of this family. Fortunately for Holmes researchers everywhere, I have some--courtesy of the archives of Stoddard County, Missouri.

Samuel Holmes is our savior. He is still in Wayne County in 1850. Living with him he has James Holmes III, James's apparent wife Elizabeth, and a 2 year old enumerated as a male, but also enumerated as being named Susannah. Based on the records I am going to share here, I believe "Susannah" was actually named Samuel. By 1860, Samuel had removed to Stoddard County, Missouri where he resided with James and the younger Samuel. It is unclear if James III was widowed or divorced.

Interestingly, in 1830 Samuel is enumerated with 3 males under age 5 and two females 5-9 in his household--but no wife is enumerated. I'm not looking too hard at that since, as previously mentioned, neither James nor William were enumerated in their respective households in the same year and same county. I think the Perry County census guy was really slacking off that year.

By 1840 in Wayne County, Samuel is enumerated by himself. So a number of things could have happened. Perhaps he was caring for children that were not his own--nieces/nephews or step-children. Or maybe all of his children died in a terrible occurrence. We really have no way of knowing for sure, but what we do know is that when he died in 1865, his heirs were determined to be his siblings, indicating that he either had no children or if he did, those children had died.

Samuel held extensive land holdings at the time of his debt. He both owed a number of debts and was owed a number of debts at the time of his death. As such, there were extensive proceedings concerning his estate. It appears he died in intestate in mid-1865 and Alison E. Carter was appointed his estate's administrator on 2 Jun 1865. [https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mostodd2/probate/pro51.htm] At some point between that date and 13 Feb 1866, Henry H. Bedford was appointed the estate's new administrator, and on that date the administrators became Abraham Holmes and James A. Cooper. Abraham identified himself as the oldest brother of Samuel. [https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mostodd2/probate/pro201.htm]

This is noteworthy in and of itself even though it is not the main document that pieces together this family. This assertion by Abraham indicates a couple of things. We have determined Samuel was likely too old to be William's son, meaning Abraham was also a son of James. He clearly means eldest "surviving" brother, because we have determined that the elder Benjamin Holmes was the oldest of the listed 12 men, proving Benjamin was deceased by this time. We now have two documents proving relationships between two Holmes men--that is, until we get to additional probate records.

Unlike the two documents cited above, the bulk of Samuel's estate records are not online. I ordered them from the Stoddard County archives, along with the estates of James Holmes and others, to see what clues they might yield. Fortunately, we hit a gold mine.

Abraham states in the probate records that Samuel had insufficient funds for his estate to pay his debts. But as he owned numerous land holdings, those could be sold to collect money to pay off his debts. He secured permission to sell land for that purpose, but in order to accomplish this, he had to secure the permission of all of Samuel's heirs. His heirs were, by default, his siblings and the surviving heirs of his deceased siblings. Most of these heirs were minors and did not live in Stoddard County, so the estate had to sue the absent parties to override the need for their permission to divide and subsequently sell Samuel's land in order to pay his debts.

Note: I don't currently have the patience to transcribe the very difficult-to-read documents, many words of which are illegible and it makes an attempt at a full transcription very confusing with so many missing words. I am going to be focused mostly on the names of the parties rather than the specifics of the legal transactions occurring in these documents. Sections with gaps will be separated by an ellipsis.  

Stoddard County, Missouri
Circuit Court Book D, Pages 710-711

Stoddard County Circuit Court November Term 1871

Absalom Holmes, Abraham Holmes, }
and George W. Holmes, Plaintiffs      } Petition for the Partition of Real Estate
against                                                } 
The heirs of James Holmes, deceased, to wit Samuel Holmes & Absalom Holmes, the unknown heirs of Benjamin Holmes, deceased, the heirs of Jacob Holmes, deceased, to wit William Holmes, Julia Ann Holmes, George W. Holmes, & Caroline Holmes, and Sylvia Lee late Holmes, and the unknown heirs of Milly Wright late Holmes, Defendants

Now on this 9th day of January, 1872...the said plaintiffs and defendants are the legal representatives of the said Samuel Holmes, deceased, and the original parties [illegible], the said Absalom Holmes, Abraham Holmes, George W. Holmes, Benjamin Holmes, Jacob Holmes, James Holmes, Sylvia Lee (late Holmes), and Milly Wright (late Holmes), being brothers and sisters of the said Samuel Holmes, deceased, and are [as] such entitled to the one eighth part of the following real estate hereafter described. That the said James Holmes is deceased, that said Samuel Holmes Junior was his son and entitled to the interest of the deceased father and if further appearing that said interest had been legally transferred to James A. Cooper, to whom the said interest now belongs, that the said Jacob Holmes is dead and left as his legal representatives to wit William, Julia Ann, George W. Junior, and Caroline Holmes, are each entitled to the one fourth of an eighth of said estate, that Sylvia Lee is now dead leaving heirs whose names and places of residence is unknown, that they are entitled to the one eighth part of said real estate, that Milly Wright late Holmes is now dead and left heirs whose names and residence are unknown, but who are entitled to the one eighth part of said real estate, that the said Benjamin Holmes is dead and left heirs whose names and places of residence is unknown but who are entitled to the interest of their deceased parent to wit one eighth part, that said real estate is as follows to wit...

Pages 442-443 of the same Circuit Court book show where Samuel Holmes Junior, son of James, transferred his right to his father's portion of the estate to James A. Cooper. Interestingly, the defendants list a second Absalom Holmes as an additional heir to James, but he is not mentioned again in the full listing of heirs of Samuel's siblings above. And in fact, Samuel Jr.'s attorney states that he was administrator of James's estate and that Samuel Jr. was his only heir--but that was untrue. C. B. [Caleb B.] Crumb was indeed James's estate administrator--but Samuel Jr. was not the only heir. Like Samuel, James died intestate--but documents show he had another son.

In Stoddard County Probate Book C (at least I think it says C--my photocopy halfway cuts off the book it came from) on pages 771-772, on 31 Aug 1868 the court orders the appearance of Samuel M. Holmes, minor heir of James Holmes, deceased, to appear before the court and "show cause, if any he has, why a guardian should not be appointed for him." He would have been about 20 years old, not quite the age of majority. The court then appoints William B. (or P.) Cone of "Absalom M. Holmes, Minor Heir of James Holmes, Deceased".

I can find no further record of Absalom M. Holmes. I can find William Cone in Stoddard County up to 1860, but not after. They either moved from the area, or more likely died. I would assume that Caleb Crumb did not lie about Samuel being the only of James--I believe he meant only "living" heir, implying that between 1868-1872, Absalom M. Holmes died. I have not found any information to the contrary.

But that doesn't mean there weren't sum, um, "fibs" in these estate records. They gave the heirs of James and Jacob. They said the heirs of Benjamin were unknown; I too don't know who these heirs are. I think it's possible that they are the young children residing with Samuel Holmes in the 1830 Census, but I can't prove it. Perhaps the family did not stay in touch with Benjamin's children when their mother presumably remarried. But while it is true that their sisters Sylvia and Milly were deceased by 1872, I don't think it likely at all that their heirs were "unknown" to the surviving Holmes brothers.

Before we move on to that though, let us rejoice! We can now answer several questions about these Holmes families and how they were configured.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, this document proves that William Holmes was not the son of James Holmes. His children would also have been Samuel's heirs if he had. So the 15 year age gap here indicates that James was indeed the elder brother of William. If you have James Sr. as the father of William b. 1783 in your tree, it is time to amend your tree to show him as the son of James's father, the eldest William who served in the Revolution.

Secondly, this pieces together the sons of James and William as follows:

Sons of James, b. 1768:
1. Benjamin, born circa 1798
2. Samuel, b. 1802
3. Abraham, b. 1806
4. Absalom, b. 1813
5. George W., b. 1815
6. James, b. 1816
7. Jacob, b. 1819

Sons of William, b. 1783:
1. James, b. 1807
2. Welcome, b. 1814
3. Benjamin, b. 1816
4. William, b. 1823

You'll notice this leaves out the John Holmes who appears in the 1837 tax list of Perry County. I would posit two possible scenarios:

1. John is unrelated to this family. Holmes not being a terribly uncommon surname, he may have just been living in Perry County at that time and not been related to the family.

2. John may in fact be a son of James, but died without heirs prior to Samuel's death, meaning he was not entitled to his estate nor did he leave any heirs entitled to it.

Number 2 is possible only because James's 1820 Census leaves open the possibility of another son. We now know the enumerations of that household apply as follows:

James Holmes - 1820 Census - Perry County, Tennessee
Males under 10 - 4 (Absalom, George, James, Jacob)
Males 10-15 - 2 (Abraham and ???, perhaps this is John)
Males 16-18 - 1 (Benjamin)

So now we know where our various Holmes belong in their respective families. Now we should turn to the two "new" (and by that, I mean previously unknown) family members: Sylvia and Milly Holmes. I found each woman in various family trees, but only a handful, and neither had parents assigned to them. In fact, Sylvia's maiden name being Holmes was known because of various vital records of her children, but Milly's maiden name was unknown among her descendants until now according to all the family trees I could find. The information I will show here will indicate, as I stated above, that the Holmes brothers were indeed aware of the names and probably the places of residence for their respective sisters, but perhaps in order to avoid further hassle and litigation they decided to feign ignorance of their nieces and nephews. I don't think we'll ever know for sure.

I also want to point out two more interesting tidbits from the estate records of Samuel Holmes. One will tie in directly with the identity of one of his sisters.

In July, 1869 a "controversy" arose concerning the debts of a William S. Welborn to Samuel's estate. Among the witnesses called to try and settle the matter was a Stephen Holmes. I was previously unaware of this Stephen, but I found him in the 1870 Census for Stoddard County. He was born in 1843 in Tennessee, and he was a black man, or possibly mixed. I don't know if he was related to our family or not, but his name stood out to me when combing Samuel's estate records.

Secondly, in 1866, an inventory was submitted to the court listing all of the debts owed to Samuel's estate. One of those enumerated debts was as follows:

1 quit claim due from Niel W. Wright for the West Half of NW 1/4 & SE 1/4 of NW 1/4 of Section 15 in Township N 25, Range 11 E

This indicates that Niel W. Wright was a resident of Stoddard County, at least around 1866. Oh, and who are Niel's parents? I'm glad you asked. According to the 1850 Census in Crittenden County, Kentucky, they are Thomas and Mildred Wright. And according to the death certificates of multiple children of their's, what was their mother's name? Why, Millie Holmes, of course. And not-so-coincidentally, in the 1830 Census of Perry County, Tennessee, who was enumerated two spaces away from the adjacent households of Samuel and Abraham Holmes? Why, Thomas Wright, of course.

Mildred "Millie/Milly" Holmes appears to have married Thomas Wright about 1826-1827, according to the age of their eldest daughter. After 1830, they are found in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1840, and in Crittenden County after that. Mildred J. Wright Holmes is buried at the Boyd Cemetery near Sheridan, Kentucky. She was born 14 Jul 1811 and died 15 Feb 1868, according to her headstone. So she was in fact deceased by the time of the partitioning of Samuel Holmes's real estate. But if her son Niel was living in Stoddard County in the 1860s, then Samuel was clearly aware of his nephews name and residence and would therefore certainly know the names and residences of Niel's siblings. And if that is the case, his brothers would likely know as well. Supporting that is the fact that Niel (or Neal) enlisted to serve in the 16th Missouri Infantry (Confederate) out of Newton County, Missouri, also known as the county of residence for Absalom Holmes during the Civil War.

Again, I can't speak to why Absalom, Abraham, and George pretended to not know the names and residences of their nieces and nephews, but it seems pretty clear they did in fact know them.

Further, the facts indicate the brothers were also aware of their Lee nieces and nephews, even if they claimed not to be.

As mentioned above, in the 1850 Census you'll find enumerated the following households all in Campbell Township, Searcy, Arkansas:

William Holmes Jr., son of William and brother of James
George W. Holmes, son of James
Jacob L. Holmes, son of James
William Holmes III, son of William
Abraham Holmes, son of James

Various other Holmeses are either in Hartsugg Township, Van Buren County, Arkansas, right next to the Searcy County border, or other parts of Searcy County--other than Samuel and his brother James, who are still in Wayne County, TN at this time.

But also in Campbell Township, Searcy, Arkansas, you'll find the household of...

Sylvia Lee, born about 1812 in TN
Wyatt Lee, born about 1834 in TN
Sarah Lee, born about 1838 in TN
James Lee, born about 1840 in TN
Amanda Lee, born about 1845 in MO

The chances of this being anyone other than Slyvia Holmes Lee seem slim. But for better assurance, you'll find that also in Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas are the households of Gashum Lee and his apparent father, Joseph. Gashum was born in Tennessee, and Joseph in South Caronlina. This apparently same Joseph and his apparent brother, also named Gashum, can be found in the 1820 Census in...you guessed it, Perry County, Tennessee.

The family then went to Wayne County, where in 1840 Joseph Lee, represented by his "lawful attorney Gashum Lee", deeded land to Samuel Denton of Perry County [https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/lee/15179/]. This indicates a familiarity with the Denton family, who also ended up in and around Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas. Carmen Baxter, the Lee family researcher that shared that information, also references an Abel Lee as a relative and likely brother of the elder Gashum Lee. Abel and Gashum were likely brothers of Joseph, and they were apparently in Lincoln County, Tennessee prior to eventually coming to Perry. And in later years, a daughter of Sylvia Lee would claim her father's name was Abel Lee. I am assuming this was another son of Joseph, but I cannot find any records of Abel Lee, so I cannot be sure. For now, I list Sylvia's husband as as unknown Lee, possibly Abel Lee.

I believe that Sylvia's husband, whatever his name, died in or about 1850 because it would appear she actually had a 5th (or 6th or more) child by him. If Sylvia had children older than Wyatt, we don't have documentation of them. However, I think it highly likely that Ambrose Lee is also their son. Ambrose is also in Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas in 1850, living in a Baker household and apparently working as their farmhand. He was born about 1831. He is later found in Coryell County, Texas and is buried in nearby Bell County, Texas. McLennan County also borders these counties.

This area of Texas is the same area where Sylvia's confirmed children ended up. They are living in Bell County in the late 1860s, and Sarah Lee Crouch can be found in McLennan County in 1870. James Lee marries in Bell County in 1868, though he is in Dallas by 1870. Wyatt is also documented as living in Bell County in the late 1860s, but is in Dallas County by 1870. I think it would be a big coincidence for Ambrose to go from Searcy County, Arkansas to the Bell County, Texas region without connection to these other Lees. They are almost certainly cousins at least, but I think Ambrose is most likely a son of Sylvia.

Sylvia is buried in the Rawlins Cemetery near Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas. Her headstone states she died 20 Apr 1867. The 1850 Census indicates she was born about 1812 in Tennessee; she is absent from the 1860 Census. This would mean that in 1820, 9 year old Mildred was enumerated in the 10-15 year old column, and Sylvia in the under 10 column of James Holmes's household. It is unknown who the 10-14 year old in James's 1830 household would be, but if Ambrose is Sylvia's son and was born about 1831 (and his headstone says he was born about 1824--but all his Census records from 1850-1880 indicate 1830-1831) then she was likely married by that point. The 10-14 year old was not enumerated in James's 1820 household, so she was likely not his daughter but some other relation.

Sylvia Lee dying in 1867 aligns with Samuel Holmes's estate stating she was deceased in 1872. Again, since she lived in the same township with George and Abraham Holmes in 1850, we know they were aware of their nieces' and nephews' names, even if they perhaps did not know their residences in 1872. I want to point out some additional information I found when researching Sylvia's family.

None of her children have death certificates as best I can ascertain, but as I mentioned, I do believe she had a 5th (or 6th if you agree that Ambrose is likely her son) child. A Cynthia Louisa Lee married a James Dial/Dyle on 3 Feb 1868 in Coryell County, TX (Ambrose was already living in Coryell at this time, by the way). She is not located in the 1870 Census. She was remarried to a Benjamin F. Haney circa 1873. She was widowed again and remarried to William J. Renfro(w) on 6 Sep 1877 in Johnson County, TX. By 1880, she is in Eastland County, TX, and by 1900 in Chickasaw Nation, near Woodville (now New Woodville) five miles southeast of Kingston in Marshall County, Oklahoma.

It may not have registered that Cynthia was a part of this family were it not for an 1868 incident. The Ku Klux Klan, or "The Mob", threatened and attacked several members of her family. Her sister Sarah had married Benjamin Crouch by this time, and Mr. Crouch was one of the main victimized parties reporting to the incident to Lt. D. F. Stiles of the U. S. Army. He states that he, his wife, and "Mrs. Dial, a widow" fled Bell County for McLennan County due to the KKK's threats, and that his wife's brothers, "the Lee brothers", were on the run from them. This report proves Cynthia Lee Dial's association with Sarah Lee Crouch and indicates she is their sister. It is theoretically possible she is a cousin or other relation, but sister seems most likely.

The incident made national news and can be read in its entirety in the 15 Jul 1868 edition of the Sacramento Daily Union (Sacramento, CA) or the 8 Jul 1868 edition of the Semi-Weekly Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI), and numerous other papers in July, 1868.

In part, the report states:

Ku-Klux Klan In Texas - Official Report of Lieutenant D. F. Stiles, United States Army.

An abstract of the report of the officer directed by Major General Reynolds, commanding, to investigate and report In regard to the alleged outrages of the Ku Klux Klan in Texas. Is as follows : On the 20th of May I proceeded to Waco, McLennan county, and there found Benjamin Crouch, Mrs. Crouch, his wife, and Mrs. Dial, a widow. Crouch informed me, under oath, that on or about the night of April 15, 1868, the mob— or the Ku-Klux, as they are called In Bell county came into his house and forced bis wife to open the door. Three men— William Eritt, William Pruitt and Joseph Webb — searched the premises. They presented their pistols in Crouch's face and threatened to shoot him if he ever fed or harbored any of his friends- many of whom were lying out in fear of the mob.

After ordering Crouch to leave the county, they left the house and joined a band of a dozen men who waited outside. Fearing violence. Crouch left his home and moved to McLennan county. He afterward returned to his place for the purpose of getting his stock and some cotton he bad left in his flight, but could find nothing. He was informed that the property was taken possession of by the mob. The Lee brothers — brothers-in-law of Crouch were lying out at the time, and thus escaped. They afterward fled to Arkansas. Mrs. Dial accompanied the Lieutenant as far as Galesville in search of her younger brother, who had been reported killed. 

Though further in the report, the officer concludes that at least one of the brothers must have been killed due to the discovery of his pistol and horse in possession of KKK associates, the 1870 Census proves both James and Wyatt survived and fled to Dallas County.

Descendants of Cynthia Louisa Lee Dial Haney Renfro have combined her with Amanda Lee, daughter of Sylvia Holmes Lee. It is not known what became of Amanda. But in the 1880 and 1900 Censuses, she reports having been born in Missouri in 1850-1851, making her several years younger than Amanda. However, in her tribal enrollment (see below) she claims to have been born closer to 1844-1845, but based on the false information she gave in her application, she may well not have been truthful about her age as well.

Rather than assuming her name was Cynthia Louisa Amanda or some other combination of these names, it is more likely that Sylvia was pregnant when she was widowed and had Cynthia after the 1850 Census. She must have gone to Missouri for whatever to have her child, perhaps even Stoddard County if her brothers had already arrived there. It makes far more sense for Cynthia and Amanda to be two different people than one in the same, but hey, it's possible.

In her later years, I believe Cynthia either lost her marbles a bit or made a valiant attempt to defraud the United States government and its indigenous people. In 1900, Cynthia decided to enumerate herself as a Native American and apply for tribal citizenship in the Choctaw Nation. She was not alone; a number of destitute white people tried to make a case for unclear (and usually non-existent) Native American heritage in order to reap the rewards of free land that came along with it. There are still people attempting this same scam today, unfortunately.

In her application, she now gives her age in 1900 as 55 (even though she said was 49 a couple months previous for the Census). She claimed that her mother was 1/4 Choctaw. She said he mother "lived in the far back nation and in Tennessee about '41, 2, and 3; she lived in Mississippi; my mother never lived here." She claimed to have come to the Choctaw Nation (in modern-day Oklahoma) when she was small, about 1850, stayed there a few years and then went to Arkansas. She said that after 10 years there, they came back to "the territory" for four years, and then lived in Texas from 1861-1883, when she says she came back to IT, and went back and forth between IT and Texas more times.

Her enrollment was refused, and she tried again, answering more questions. She says now she was born in February, 1844. Here are some of the questions she was asked and answers she tendered.

Q. Are you a Choctaw?
A. I was raised and taught that.
Q. Do you claim Choctaw by blood?
A. Yes sir, by blood.
Q. What is the name of your father?
A. Abel Lee.
Q. Was he an Indian?
A. No sir.
Q. What is your mother's name?
A. Cynthia Lee. 
Q. Is she living?
A. No sir.
Q. Was she an Indian?
A. Yes sir.
Q. How much Indian blood did she claim to have?
A. She called herself one quarter.
Q. And how much Indian blood do you claim?
A. One eighth.
Q. Was your mother's name ever on any of the Choctaw tribal rolls?
A. No sir.
Q. Is your name on any of the Choctaw tribal rolls?
A. In what county and district did your mother belong?
Q. I can't tell you.

And it goes on like that, with more questions she can't answer and her providing no proof of her claims. She was unable to provide any witnesses to corroborate her claims either. She was seeking enrollment for herself, a child, and a grandchild. As I said, I believe she was simply looking to acquire the federal benefits of tribal membership. Up until 1900, every record she appeared in listed her as a white person, and same with all of her siblings, nieces, nephews, and maternal first cousins, uncles, and aunt. She there is not one shred of evidence that there was Native heritage in the Holmes family. Barring a grand conspiracy where literally dozens if not hundreds of Census takers, county and state officials, medical and religious professionals, and military personnel ALL LIED and said that these Native Americans were white in what was notoriously one of the most racially divided centuries in the history of the world...then no, the Holmes family and their kin were not Native. See Census Card number 252 in the Choctaw Enrollment category of the Native American Applications for Enrollment in the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 collection on Ancestry or Family Search for the complete application.

The primary purpose of this post was to piece together the families of James and William Holmes. Now that that has been accomplished, I want to add some supplemental information--but from here on out, we are merely dealing with some of my ideas and theories. Almost none of what I am about to share can currently be satisfactorily proven, but they are theories I am trying to work out. And perhaps someone else that can answer these questions or provide necessary supplemental information will come across this blog and be able to fill in some blanks for me, which would be awesome.

Firstly, I want to mention two men that I have considered could be connected to our brothers James and William Holmes. The first is an Isaac Holmes. He was born about 1778 in South Carolina according to the 1850 Census in Coffee County, Tennessee. He ended up there by way of Warren and Bedford counties. I don't know anything about his heritage, but he came to my attention because one of his daughters ended up in Stoddard County, Missouri like James's sons Samuel, James, and Abraham. Keziah Holmes, wife of William Smith, was in Stoddard County by the 1870 Census, and reportedly died there in 1887. I found it interesting that a Tennessee-native Holmes with a South Carolina-native father ended up in Stoddard County, but I cannot otherwise connect Isaac with James or William.

I've also been intrigued by a Robert Holmes b. 1793 in South Carolina. He can be found in Carroll and Bedford counties. Again, I have found no definitive connections, but I consider him a "person of interest" and have been on the look out for his descendants among my Holmes DNA matches.

Lastly, I want to discuss the Denton and Shipman families. They were two other early Perry and Wayne county families that intermarried with each other, and had branches that came to Searcy County, Arkansas when the Holmeses did. At least two Denton sisters are documented as marrying Holmes brothers--Mary Denton and Wincey Denton, daughters of Benjamin, married James and Benjamin Holmes, respectively, sons of William Holmes. Benjamin Denton's wife is supposed to be Nancy Shipman. This was likely deduced because one of their sons was named Shipman Denton. [Source: https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/denton/2637/] I think it's also worth noting that one of the signers of the 1819 petition to form Perry County was Denton Shipman (yes, you read that right--one was Shipman Denton and one was Denton Shipman).

A Christopher Denton and his apparent brothers Absalom, John, and James all came to Searcy and Van Buren counties from Perry County. Their father was not Benjamin; if they were all indeed brothers, then only Abraham Denton had enough sons in his household in the 1820 Census in Perry County to accommodate all of them. Family history dictates that Christopher's wife Elizabeth was a Holmes. There is nothing to support this other than anecdotal evidence and a Denton reseracher's interpretation of the following court records.

In 1834, Christopher and his brother James were tried for petit larceny. James was convicted and Chris was acquitted. During the proceedings, it was noted that James Holmes Sr. and William Holmes were excused from the jury for being relatives of Denton by marriage. People have interpreted that to mean that Christopher's wife was a Holmes. I have interpreted that to mean James and William married Denton sisters. Elizabeth's Census records from 1850-1880 put her born about 1820, and maybe as late as 1826 according to one year. But William does not have a 5-9 year old daughter in 1830, only one under 5. And he has a 10-14 year old daughter in 1840, presumably the same girl. Could she be Elizabeth and she really was born closer to 1826 than 1820? It is possible, but I have not seen any reason to believe that other than how folks interpreted the jury dismissals of James and William Holmes.

Another woman from Searcy County is attached as a daughter of William--a Malinda Adeline, wife of Richard Watts. She is in Searcy County in 1850, and Van Buren County in 1860, but she was born in 1820 according to these records and as already established, there is no fitting enumeration for this daughter in William's households.

If you look at the names of James Holmes's sons, it is easy to see why it makes more sense to interpret his jury dismissal as his being married to a Denton himself. Absalom, Abraham, Samuel, James, and Benjamin Denton all signed the 1819 petition to form Perry County. And then James happens to name sons Absalom, Abraham, Samuel, James, and Benjamin. Coincidence? Probably not. Numerous DNA matches between Holmes descendants and Denton descendants further implies the connection. And because William was also dismissed from the jury, I believe his wife was another Denton sister. Their wives were most likely sisters of Christopher Denton, making him their nephew. Again, I can't prove this with documentation, but the evidence strongly indicates this to be the case.

Besides the connection the mutual connection to the Dentons, the reason the Shipmans intrigue me is because, well, I am a Shipman as well. This Holmes family is on my mother's side, but on my father's side I descend from this same Shipman family that married in with the Dentons. The Jacob Shipman of Perry County was said to have been married to a Nancy Denton. My ancestor was another Jacob Shipman, a cousin of this Jacob. Mine lived in Wayne County and also made the trip to Searcy County, where he died after 1851.

The Shipman and Denton ancestries have a lot of holes and question marks in them; it is possible there is more overlap than we know. I have considered that my parents might both descend from the Dentons one way or another. It would not be the first time; my parents are distant cousins through the Napier and Todd families, and my mother's parents are cousins through the Moon family. I have other instances where my grandparents' families intermarry with one another. So really, anything possible when it comes to the genealogies of those of us with early American colonial ancestry, especially Southern colonials.

I hope this information will be helpful to Holmes descendants and researchers. If you have any questions or supplemental information, please feel free to e-mail me.