Where did James Grantson Holliman Live? (1750-1836)

 by Glenn N. Holliman and Sally Campbell

Background

James Grantson Holliman’s great-grandfather, Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691), gave up his home in Bedfordshire, England, and sailed the dangerous Atlantic with his sister, Judith.  They arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1650.  Judith married and disappeared from history.  Chris farmed, married, and, by his death, had accumulated over 1,000 acres in Isle of Wight County.

Christopher divided his land among his four sons.  One of them, Richard, chose to stay in the area and expanded his share of the family's legacy by acquiring land in Surry County.  His son, Samuel Holliman (1707-1789), inherited his grandfather’s adventurous spirit and relocated to Edgemore County, North Carolina.  Years later, possibly due to the depletion of his land from years of tobacco farming, Samuel moved again, this time to Johnston County, North Carolina. 

This map was passed along to this writer by the late Rhodes Holliman, Ph.D. It shows in yellow and purple markings where James Grantson Holliman performed his militia service during the American Revolution when he lived in Johnston County, North Carolina. For a copy of his pension application, one may visit Hollyman Tree (Holyman Heritage Group) at Ancestry.com or www.bholliman.com, a virtual archive of associated family materials.

Either in Edgemore or Johnston County, James Gantson Holliman came into this world in 1750 and died in 1836. After service in the North Carolina Militia during the American Revolution, he followed in his ancestors' footsteps and moved to newer, richer farmland. 

James purchased property in what is now Union County, North Carolina, and Lancaster County, South Carolina. There, he prospered. His sons Charles, Warren, and Cornelius married, but like their father, other ancestors and tens of thousands of young Americans, continued the westward movement. Their destination was Fayette County, Alabama. Warren would move on to Arkansas after a few years in Alabama.

Cornelius received a free land grant for his service in the War of 1812.  Perhaps the other brothers migrated in order to establish larger, more productive farms.  Sally reminds us that in order to move family, stock, tools and supplies in a wagon train, migrants had to have a certain amount of cash or trade goods. One did not start a new farm and house penniless.  The people left behind were either financially established, impoverished, or elderly like James Grantson Holliman. His daughters did not move to Alabama.  They stayed in the Carolinas most probably to care for their father in his final months.

New Research

Sally Campbell, a descendant of James Grantson Holliman, has searched land records and traveled the countryside of Lancaster, SC and Union, NC counties to discover precisely where he farmed and raised his family. James owned properties on both sides of the state borders, which confused his descendants as to whether they were South or North Carolinians. 

He took an oath in Anson County (now Union County) for his Revolutionary War service.  In his 80s, it appears that James had a disability, and he went to Monroe (Courthouse), NC, rather than Lancaster (Courthouse), SC, because there were fewer creeks to cross by cart and horse. Does this research clarify the location of his legal residence?  Perhaps his descendants can claim citizenship from either state!

 Sally’s research reveals:

 1. James owned property along Lynches Creek, the boundary between Lancaster and Chesterfield, South Carolina counties.  Anson County, North Carolina, was divided later, and James' property was in what is now Union County.

 2. James also owned land in South Carolina adjacent to Paul Plyler at the fork of Wild Cat Creek, on the south side of Great Lynches Creek, and on the south side of Pole Cat Creek.

 3.  Paul Plyler, a major property owner, had possession of South Carolina land on both sides of Otter Creek and Little Otter, a branch of Lynches Creek, and Wild Cat Creek.

 This map prepared by Sally shows Monroe, NC where James took his Revolutionary War service oath.  Underlined in red in North Carolina is the Pole Cat Creek property area.  In South Carolina underlined in red is Otter Creek. 

This is a close up of the map.  Tradesville, nearer than Monroe, NC, to Holliman property, probably was the village of choice to purchase supplies.  Pole Cat and Otter Creeks are underlined west of the Lancaster and Chesterfield County lines—the county line defined by Lynches Creek.  

Building on the thoroughness of Sally’s research, I pulled up a map that the late Walter Holliman did in the early 1990s before the internet era. Walt, whose family donated his research to this writer, reinforces Sally’s work. He, too, identified South Carolina creek branches where Hollimans and Plylers lived. At the top of Walt’s map, he also shows there were Holliman and Blakeney properties on the North Carolina side.

All three of these families, or at least some of their offspring, moved to Fayette County, Alabama, where some of descendants live to this day.  Cornelius Holliman received his Alabama land as a grant from War of 1812 service.

I want to thank Sally for reaching out to provide this information, her interpretations and catching typos. Not only was James Grantson my fourth GGF, but his neighbor Paul Plyler is also my fourth GGF because his daughter, Elizabeth, married Cornelius Holliman, my third GGF. This story affirms what historians have written: neighbors married neighbors, and neighbors often migrated in families in America’s westward movement. It appears that the Carolina neighborhood caught ‘Alabama Fever’.

Sally Campbell is a descendant of both Cornelius Holliman and Charles Holliman, double-descended from James Grantson Holliman.  Below is her story. - GNH

My parents were from Texas and stationed in Washinton DC during WW2, and that is where I and my twin sister were born.  After WWII, they moved to a suburb of Philadelphia PA, where I grew up.  I graduated from Simmons College in Boston, and married and moved to NY state for 10 years.  Then my husband and I moved  to Charlotte NC, with our three children.  I worked in Computer Services for UNC-Charlotte for about  fifteen years, then my husband and I bought a cruising sailboat which we sailed to the Bahamas and back for 3 or 4 winter months almost every year for 20 years.  

I have always been interested in family history then was started in researching names, dates when I interviewed my paternal grandmother about her 8 siblings. I wish I had interviewed all my grandparents.  I knew my maternal grandfather Elijah J. Holliman was born in Fayette, Fayette County,  north western Alabama.  I discovered Newells' History of Fayette County, which mentioned that Cornelius and his wife Elizabeth Plyler were from South Carolina. I found 'The Plyler Genealogy'  by Monroe, NC.author Herman Starnes.  With the Internet it was easy to communicate with the late Maxine Wright of Arkansas. - Sally Campbell

The sources for this article are based on land abstracts from the book 'Some South Carolina County Records Vol. 1 by Brent Holcomb, printed in 1976, pages 143 through 195, and 'Lancaster County South Carolina, Union County North Carolina metric Topographic Map' by the US Geological Survey printed in 1986.