The Saga of Isaac and Ann Gray Holleman, Part 2

 

Susan White, major Hollyman family researcher, continues the amazing story of the biracial couple, Isaac Holleman, enslaved to Josiah Holleman, and Ann Gray, a White girl, who became Isaac's second wife during the American Civil War. - Glenn N. Holliman

We know from the date of Isaac Holleman’s emancipation in 1836 that he was born in 1818.  He was likely one of the 4 black male slaves under 14 on the 1820 census listing for Josiah Holleman, plantation owner of the original Hollyman land dating from 1684.  Isaac continued to live on Josiah’s land, showing up on the 1830 census as one of 3 black male slaves age 10-23.  He would have been 12.  

Josiah petitioned the Isle of Wight Court on April 4, 1836, for Isaac’s freedom, and it was granted.  We do not know why Josiah chose to free him and can only speculate.  This fact is even more confounding on the 1840 census, where Josiah’s listing of slaves shows a free black male age 10-23 who would be Isaac, age 22, and a free black female, under age 10.  Six slaves of Josiah’s are also listed on this census, 3 males and 3 females.

Above, the Holleman House in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  The house still sits on farmland in the Mill Swamp district purchased by English immigrant Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691). This home was built in the 1830s.  This picture is from 1907, forty-two years after the 13th Amendment to the Constitution freeing the slaves.  Isaac would have known this home and most probably helped construct it.

Josiah wrote his will in 1847, leaving named slaves, including Isaac, to his executor, Isaac Cofer.  No mention is made of Isaac’s emancipation in the will.  

Unfortunately, Josiah’s estate did not contain enough money to satisfy its debt, and sale of Isaac is listed in the estate auction to raise funds. Isaac’s sale added $355 to Josiah Holleman’s estate. Research indicates Josiah (1771-1848) had been suffering from what we now call dementia and that could have contributed to his inadequate financial situation.

Isaaq was bought by nearby neighbor Richard Urquehart. a particularly wealthy man in the county, living on his plantation, Strawberry Plains, with 88 slaves listed on his 1850 census. 

This 1864 map is not easy to read.  It is of Isle of Wight County, Virginia with the borders of Surrey County in the top left and Southampton County, lower right.  The Holleman plantation is center top, diagramed in color with the words 'Mill Swamp' just to the right.  The Richard Urquhart home is south of the Holleman home, and is named for “Widow Urquhart.”   If one looks closely one will see three farms owned by Grays.  Susan and Denise Keeter Goff’s research is that Ann Gray did not belong to one of these families.

Richard died in 1857, and his widow Mary continued to manage the plantation.  “Widow Urquehart,” as she is referred to on the 1864 map of the county, owned 113 slaves on the 1860 census, an amazing number indicating immense wealth.  Three Black males, age 40, are listed on the 1860 slave schedule for her.  One of these is most likely Isaac; he would have been 42 in that year.

Josiah Holleman’s land was in the northwest corner of Isle of Wight County, near where Surry and Southampton counties meet with Isle of Wight.  Free Negroes lived in these counties, and one Moses Pretlow, lived in Surry County, just north over the Surry/Isle of Wight line, not far from Josiah’s land.

Moses apprenticed to Henry Callcote in 1833, and married Rhoda by 1820, as shown on the census.  They raised a family of 7 children, Malinda, Riley, Ann, Mary, John, Michael, and Major.   Moses continued a Free Black, appearing with his family, also free, on census listings from 1820-1850.  Moses farmed his own land in Surry County.   

Moses’ story is important to Isaac’s story because not only he, but also his children were free.  We would have had much difficulty tracing Moses had he been enslaved.  His oldest daughter, Malinda, appears in Isaac’s story beginning in the 1860 census, with 5 other people, Virginia Pretlow, 22, Robert, 11, Ada, 8, Moses, 6, and baby Isaac, age 2 months, all with surname Pretlow.  We don’t know who Virginia is, but based on Freedman’s Records of 1865, Isaac had 3 children then, Robert, 15, Ada, 11, and Moses, 7.  Baby Isaac remains a mystery.  Malinda and her family moved from Surry County to the east side of the Nottoway River, in Southampton County by 1860. 

Interestingly, a White Pretlow family, Robert and Roanna Pretlow, with son Charles, lived along the same road as she, 3 households apart, and the family in between was Moses’ widow, Rhoda, with her still at-home children.  The white Pretlow family pops up again in later years.  The last known location of Malinda is in the 1870 census, listed with surname Holleman. She was Isaac Holleman’s first wife, and continued to live in Southampton County.  A young woman Levinia lived with her, along with 3 black males, Dawson, Hilliard, and Thomas Holleman.  Their relationship to Malinda is unknown.

The Pretlow House from a Historical Structural Survey of Southampton County, Virginia with commentary below.

A house built by Charles Pretlow, was described in a 2008 survey of Southampton County homes, and we include it here to illustrate the neighborhood our characters knew.  “The Charles Pretlow Farmhouse at 37165 Pretlow Drive, is a good example of the vernacular Victorian styles. A frame, two-story, five-bay, central hallway building with interior gable-end chimneys; the house is one-room deep and has a rear one-story kitchen ell. This dwelling has a shallow gable roof with a box cornice with partial returns and decorative brackets. The front entrance porch is supported by paired square wood posts with a cutout star decoration on each side, filigree trim, and scroll brackets. The style (of the Charles Pretlow House) most often observed in Southampton County is vernacular Victorian (referred to as “folk”). Adapted into existing traditional building styles such as the I-house (two-story, one-room deep, central hallway) plan, one or two-story gable-front with side-wing (L-shaped) dwellings, pyramidal hipped with recessed porch, plus front or side-gabled structures, vernacular Victorian was common during the period from about 1870 until about 1910. 

 The Victorian features added to these folk buildings are usually Italianate or Queen Anne inspired decoration, which are typically less elaborate than the high style Victorian interpretations. Typical features might be a full return cornice with brackets under the eaves and/or spindle work porch detailing.”

In a third article, the saga of Isaac and Ann Gray Holleman will continue.  Information on the Holleman House and its history can be found in earlier blogs.  An archive of Hollyman (many spellings) and associated families can be found at www.bholliman.com.

The American Hollyman families are featured also in Hollyman Family at Ancestry.com managed by Jeanette Holiman Stewart who has information on over 70,000 family members!

Tina Peddie, long time Hollyman genealogist, maintains the Hollyman Family Facebook page. - GNH