Lenoir County, NC Miscellaneous ESTATE OF THOMAS HOLLOWAY
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SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE OF THOMAS HOLLOWAY
Equity Court of Sumter County, S. C. - Isaac Holloway vs Reddin
McCoy et al - 1818
Abstracted by Martha Mewborn Marble from microfilm roll
#0207712 obtained from the Church of the Latter Day Saints - Sumter
County, S.C. Equity Court Records Roll #376-400
I first learned about the settlement of Thomas Holloway's estate in
1984 from a brief mention in "Nunns of The South and Southwest" which
gave no details and did not indicate where the bulk of the information
could be found. In 1994 Ruth Fentress mentioned she had looked at some
Equity cases in Sumter County and as I expected, she had made a few
brief notes and was able to supply the microfilm roll number. It took
five hours to read this information and take notes as many of the pages
are badly torn or the microfilm is faded. This case is important to a
number of families still located in the Craven, Lenoir, Pitt County
area of N.C. and, of course, to those members of the family who moved
from N.C. Between this case and that of the Griffin-Bryan Supreme Court
Case, we can identify all of the children, all but one of their spouses
and grandchildren of John Holloway who lived near Fort Barnwell on Half
Moon Swamp, Craven County, N.C. It is not clear if the two Griffin
sisters who married William and John Holloway were the mothers of these
grandchildren and indeed, there is much conflicting information even
among legal documents. Some of the Depositions provide ages and maiden
names of other residents of this area. An example of these conflicts
are the Craven County Estate Records for John Jr. which would indicate
he never left Craven County. The Griffin-Bryan Case stated he went to
Georgia and Bible Records found in Georgia state he did go there;
however, those same Bible Records give a list of children for John that
are identical to those given for William in this case. Records in
Craven County and Depositions in this case provide a list of children
for John identical to those found in this case. Also, the Griffin-Bryan
Case indicated William went to Georgia, and Depositions in this case
indicate he died in South Carolina. Several of these families can be
traced in Pitt and Craven County records and through surviving records
in Lenoir County.
Thomas Holloway late of Sumter District, South Carolina died instate by
1818 and left no wife or children. He was possessed of a large estate
and Reddin McCoy, a nephew, appears to have been the only relative to
have lived in the area and was appointed Administrator of the estate.
He had not settled it and some of the heirs wished to obtain their
share, which for the time, was rather considerable. Many Depositions
were taken, in N.C., S.C., Miss., and in Georgia from various people
who had known Thomas Holloway in order to determine exactly who were
his brothers and sisters or their heirs. There was slightly different
information in a few cases, one heir was almost swindled out of her
money, and another person claimed to be an heir, but received no money
from the estate. There is a detailed list of the estate sale, a plot of
the 1340 acres of land Thomas owned and a list of his 14 slaves. In
addition there is a long list of people who owed Thomas money. The
distribution of the estate is listed in detail. Thomas was an elderly
man when he died and his grown nieces and nephews were spread over
N.C., S.C., Ga., and Miss. No doubt it took quite a long time to locate
all of them, aquire Depositions, and distribute the money. This case
appears to have been spread over the years 1818 to 1825.
As stated in a number of Depositions, Thomas was the son of John
Holloway and grew up at Fort Barnwell on Half Moon Swamp. He was a
carpenter and a joiner. There was never a mention of his mother. He had
the following brothers - James, John, and William and sisters - Sarah
who md Joseph Price, Elizabeth who md Daniel Wilson, Ann (Nancy) who
never married, Isabelle who md Francis Nunn, Mary (Polly) who md Elijah
McCoy, and Bethsiah/Bettie/Martha who md John Pearson. All his brothers
and sisters died prior to his death. One of the first pages indicates
whether some of the heirs lived in South Carolina or out of state;
however, these pages are badly torn.
The estate of Thomas was divided into 8 equal shares. Listed below are
the 8 shares, those nieces and nephews sharing each share, and all
information abstracted from this case including Depositions taken from
many people. They are listed in the order found on the page with final
accounting which may indicate order of birth.
A. 1/8 share to heirs of brother James Holloway, dec - $2,952.60
l. Heirs of James
a. Isaac Holloway - probably lived in Sumter County, S.C.
2. Information
a. A Deposition of Hardy Holloway who claimed to be a brother of
Isaac, son of James, and nephew of Thomas dec. The children of
Hardy were William, James, Thomas, and Sarah
b. Hardy did not share in the estate. Why, is not known. There
appears to be only one Holloway family in Craven County, but
there is no indication where Hardy lived.
B. 1/8 share to heirs of Sarah (Sally) Price dec., wife of Joseph
Price, and sister to Thomas Holloway - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of Sarah Price
a. Elizabeth Scurry - lived in South Carolina
b. Vincent Price - lived in Amite Co., Mis
c. Margaret McCoy - lived out of state - infirmed
C. 1/8 share to heirs of Bettie/Martha/Bethsiah Pearson wife of John
Pearson and sister to Thomas Holloway - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of Bettie/Martha or Bethsiah Pearson
a. 2 children who were already dead - appeared to have no heirs
b. Elijah Pearson - lived out of state - had borrowed money from
Thomas Holloway which had not been repaid
D. 1/8 share to heirs of Elizabeth Wilson wife of Daniel Wilson and
sister to Thomas Holloway - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of Elizabeth Wilson
a. William Wilson
b. Willis Wilson
c. Karrepput Wilson md John Williams
d. Keziah Wilson md William Tuton
e. Jemima Wilson md Samuel Mills
f. Sarah Wilson md Nasby Mills
g. Beathe/Mathia Slaughter/Statter (written many different ways)
md George (?) Slaughter or Statter - lived in Laurens County,
Georgia - was almost swindled out of her inheritance
1. Had a son, not named, and a daughter Susannah
According to Depositions, Elizabeth also had following children who
appeared to have died without heirs and did not receive a share
h. Ferebee Wilson md John Mills
i. Daniel Wilson
j. Elizabeth Wilson md Shadrack Tuten
Elizabeth lived near New Bern in 1769 - Abraham Cox said she was born
and raised in Craven County and lived after marriage in Pitt County
where she died
E. 1/8 share to heirs of Isabella Nunn, wife of Francis Nunn and sister
to Thomas Holloway - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of Isabella Nunn
a. Joshua Nunn - gave Deposition - stated he lived with uncle
John Holloway for two years
b. Stephen Nunn - in his deposition in 1818 he stated he was 64
years old - stated he had visited Thomas Holloway on Black
River in S.C. - also listed another brother of Thomas as
Mathais Holloway dec with no heirs - said James went to S. C.
c. William Nunn
d. Francis Nunn
e. Elizabeth Nunn md Phillip Miller
f. Mary (Polly) Nunn md Moses Goodwyn (dec)
Isabella lived near New Bern in 1769
F. 1/8 share to heirs of John Holloway brother of Thomas - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of John Holloway
a. John Holloway - Elizabeth Moore stated that John had a defect
in one of his ears
b. Edmond Holloway
c. James Holloway
d. Lizzy Holloway who md --- Jones - her last name given once as
Ives so she could have been married twice - her husband's name
appears to be in the deposition taken in 1820, but it is torn
John - lived out of state - lived near New Bern in 1769 - Sarah Lane
stated that this John went to Tenn
G. 1/8 share to heirs of William Holloway brother of Thomas - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of William
a. John Holloway - lived out of state - represented his brothers
and sisters - gave deposition on 19 June 1820 and used a mark
b. William Holloway
c. Jeremiah Holloway
d. James Holloway
e. Nancy Holloway who md Thomas Kembull/Kimbook
f. Mary (Polly) Holloway who md David Pridgen
g. Elizabeth (Bitsy) Holloway who md James Williams
Had a daughter Lizzy who died as an infant according to deposition of
Abigal Daughtry and a daughter, Susannah, was listed on one notation,
but there was no Susannah who received a disbursement - this could have
been Lizzy
Abigal Daughtry stated in her deposition that she lived with the widow
of William in S. C. - lived on Broad or Saluda River near Columbia in
1769
H. 1/8 share to Reddin McCoy as Administrator of Mary (Polly) McCoy,
sister to Thomas Holloway - $2,952.60
1. Heirs of Mary Holloway who md Elijah McCoy
a. Reddin McCoy
b. John McCoy
c. Elizabeth McCoy who md ---- Pringle (Probably William who
purchased from Thomas' estate)
Mary lived near Thomas Holloway in Sumter Co
According to deposition of Stephen Nunn, John also had a son
Mathais who must have already been dec without heirs
DEPOSITIONS GIVEN BY VARIOUS PEOPLE, MOST OF WHOM LIVED IN CRAVEN, PITT
OR LENOIR COUNTIES, N.C. MOST OF THE INFOMATION HAS ALREADY BEEN
INCORPORATED INTO THE ABOVE AND ONLY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS GIVEN
HERE
1. Petition by various members of the family on 6 May 1820 to settle
estate
a. signed by name - Joshua Nunn, Stephen Nunn, William Nunn, Francis
Nunn, Phillip Miller, John Williams, Willis Wilson, James Holloway,
John Holloway, Edmond Holloway
b. By mark - Mary Gooding - her husband dec, Elizabeth Miller,
Kirappeth Williams, Liza Jones, Liza Jones' husband - name torn
2. Abraham Cox of Pitt County, N.C. - gave a list of Elizabeth Wilson's
children, including ones that were dead - stated he visited with
Elijah McCoy about 1788 in S.C. - said one of Thomas' sisters md
Elijah McCoy and one md Wm Nunn of Lenoir Co.
3. Elizabeth Moore of Lenoir County, N.C. - 17 May 1820 - taken by
Walter and John Dunn - Elizabeth stated her maiden name was LAWSON
said John Holloway was the father of all the children - John lived
at Fort Barnwell on Half Moon Swamp gave list of children of Old
Francis Nunn - said Thomas a carpenter and joiner gave list of all
children and husbands of daughters - said she went to school with
several of the children and was present when John Sr. died
4. Stephen Nunn of Lenoir County, N.C. - 64 years old in 1820 - gave
list of children including one who appeared to have died without
heirs, Mathais - visited Thomas on Black River
5. Joshua Nunn of Lenoir Co., N.C. - lived with John Holloway for 2
years
6. Jeremiah Loftin of N.C.
7. Sarah Lane wife of Daniel Lane of Craven Co., N.C. - stated she was
ancient - stated she lived with Thomas as a young child, said James
d in Georgia
8. Dinah Daughtry of Craven Co., N.C. - 1820 - 77 years old
9. Abigal Daughtry of Craven - 63 years old - lived with widow of Wm
Holloway in S.C. - gave details on William's children
10. Frederick Isler Cox of N.C.
11. Susannah Slaughter or Statter of Laurens Co., Ga. - regarding her
mother almost losing her inheritance
MISC
1. Family members buying from estate were John McCoy, Jr., William
Pringle, Elijah McCoy, Isaac Holloway, Reddin McCoy
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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Martha Mewborn Marble <mmarble@erols.com>
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