Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Holliday, William ???? - 1777
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 5, 2025, 4:56 pm

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

HOLLIDAY FAMILY.  
The Holliday family was founded by William and Adam Holliday, who came from
the north of Ireland in 1750, and became the founders respectively of
Gaysport and Hollidaysburg.  They were in all the relations of life good and
highly respected citizens.  Each attained to a ripe old age, and when at last
they successively laid down the cares and burdens of this life, when their
eyes had closed in the sleep that knows no waking, their remains were
reverently borne, to the "Hollidaysburg Burying Ground," and there (beside
the children who were massacred in 1781) were placed beneath the mold of the
valley they were the first to improve. True, no marble slab or granite column
marks their last resting place, but a more imperishable monument than could be
produced with either exists in the fact that a beautiful little town, standing
where the Holliday brothers stood on that memorable day in 1768, still 
perpetuates their name.
   William Holliday, although he devoted much time to the cultivation of his
farm, was (with his sons) also active in the work of repelling the attacks of
the ruthless savages.  His family consisted of his wife, his sons John, James,
William, Patrick, Adam, and another (a lunatic) whose name is not remembered,
and a daughter named Janet.  Soon after the revolutionary war commenced James
joined the Continental army.  He was a noble looking young fellow, and
obtained a lieutenant's commission.  He was engaged in several battles, and
conducted himself in such a manner as to merit the approbation of his
superior officers, but in the thickest of the conflict at Brandywine he fell,
pierced through the heart by a musket ball.  A Hessian, under cover, had fired
the fatal shot, but it was his last, for a young Virginian, who stood by the
side of Holliday, rushed upon the mercenary and hewed him to pieces with his
sword.
   With the Holliday family, however, as with many others, time has wrought
numerous changes.  The lands of both the old pioneers passed out of the hands
of their descendants many years ago, and but few of the name even are found in
this vicinity.  After the revolutionary war, as previously mentioned, the
general government purchased of Adam Holliday his tract of one thousand
acres, and presented it to Henry Gordon, in restitution of what was
considered an unjust confiscation during that war.  This transaction made
Adam Holliday a wealthy man during the remainder of his days.  He died in
1801, leaving but two heirs, his son John and a daughter named Jane, who
married William Reynolds, of Bedford county. 
   After the estate was settled it was found that John Holliday was the richest
man in this part of the county, if not, indeed, in the whole extent of the old
county of Huntingdon.  Born December 18, 1780, John Holliday, married Mary,
daughter of Lazarus Lowry, in 1802.  In 1807 he removed to the present site
of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a farm and all the land upon
which the town now stands from Doctor Anderson, of Bedford.  Although a town
was laid out there, and christened Johnstown in his honor, it seems that he
had no faith in its future greatness, for after a few years he sold his lands
to Peter Livergood for eight dollars an acre, and returned to Hollidaysburg.  
He there erected a two-story building of hewn logs, and occupied it as a hotel, 
also for the sale of general merchandise. 
   About 1827-28 Mr. Peter Hewit, father of James M. Hewit, lately deceased,
purchased this hotel and store property from John Holliday, and occupied it
as a hotel, store, and postoffice [sic] until the year 1839, when it was torn
down, and on the same site was erected the brick building now known as the
American house.
   John Holliday continued to reside here until his death, which occurred
December 20, 1843.  To him and Mary, his wife, were born ten children: Adam,
born November 9, 1804, and now resides in Oil City, Pennsylvania; Mary, born
April 23, 1806, married Andrew Bratton, of McVeytown, and now resides in
Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania; Sarah, born December 11, 1807,
married Solomon Filler, a prominent builder of Bedford Springs, both dead;
Lazarus L., born November 5, 1809, died in Missouri, July 17, 1846; John,
jr., was born December 8, 181l, and after having fought by the side of Gen.
Sam Houston, and other heroes, for Texan independence, died on shipboard, on
his way from Vera Cruz to Galveston, August 2, 1842; Alexander L., born May
7, 1814; Jane, born August 27, 1816, became the wife of J. L. Slentz (she
died in Pittsburg about the year 1869); Caroline, born July 12, 1818, married
D. McLeary; William R., born September 16, 1820, now resides in the State of 
Massachusetts; Fleming, the youngest of the family, was born May 25, 1823, and 
is now a resident of the west.
   Jane Holliday, the daughter of Adam, was born October 10, 1783, and died
May 10, 1865.  She married William Reynolds, of Bedford county, who, as
proprietor of the Bedford Springs hotel for many years, became well known. 
Among their children were William, Holliday, James, Henry, Mary, and Ruth. 
Henry, the only survivor, is now a resident of one of the southern States.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Debbie Robinson Stearns.

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