William Holmes

Compiled by Paul W. Holmes   —   updated: March 2022
Comments or queries? — email: paulhol  at(i.e., @)  gmail.com

William Holmes

Born: 1747 in County Down, Ireland
Died: 1799 in Fairfield County SC

Arrived in America about 1785
      
 
View old map of County Down
in northeast Ireland

    Just after the American Revolution, William Holmes came to America. His cousin, Finley Holmes, traveled with him. Both were young men, and they landed at the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Upon arrival, both William and Finley moved inland up to the Richland Territory near where the city of Columbia was to be located. William chose to settle in what is now Fairfield County to the north of Columbia, South Carolina.

A land purchase in 1795 by William in Fairfield County and confirmed in 1835 - see Purchase and Resurvey of Land • 1795/1835 Fairfield County SC   below. A map by Robert Mills of the Fairfield District, SC surveyed in 1820 shows where that plantation might have been located (in 1820 it would be with his son, William B. Holmes). On that map of William's land also is shown the "Holmes Store" located on the old highway north out of Columbia at Neckley's Creek - near the Little River. Since this map was published, the road to Columbia [SC state road 215] has been rerouted to the west with the rerouting starting about 1½ miles south of Jenkinsville to 3 miles north of Jenkinsville. The old portion of the road [east of SC 215] where the Holmes' Store was located is now named St. Barnabus [Church] Road (or State Road S-20-247 on some maps).

To the North of William's land holdings (on Neckley's Creek near the Little River) is a Presbyterian church located on the Little River, the Ebenezer A. R. P. Church (first called Little River, then called Ebenezer, now called the Old Brick Church). In 1793, “Wm. Holmes” was one of the charter members of that church. In the history of Early Methodism in the Carolina, he’s the “pious Associate Reformed elder,” who's the father of Rev. William B. Holmes and Rev. Joseph Holmes.   From Chreitzberg, A. M. (1897). Early Methodism in the Carolinas. Nashville: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. pp. 211.

William's Family

Spouse: Mary Holmes
Children: Ann Holmes Hawthorn, Jane Holmes, Mary Holmes Martin, Harry (or Henry) Holmes, William B. Holmes, Joseph Holmes"

William's Heritage

Parents: unknown
Siblings: unknown


Narrative of life of William Holmes

Tentative Family Tree of cousin William Holmes

Names shown on the Tentative Family Tree of cousin William Holmes

Sources:

Beasley, Irene. (1973). AS I REMEMBER THEM —. (Memoirs of the Holmes' family - printed for family distribution).

Family Records, unpublished records of the Holmes family - correspondence, Bibles, interviews, etc.

Mills, R. (1825). Fairfield District, South Carolina. Surveyed by John Allen Tharp, 1820. Improved for Mills' Atlas 1825. Map. 1:126,720. Philadelphia/Baltimore: Engd. by H.S. Tanner.

Newspaper accounts of weddings and deaths, and other public documents.

Property deed records and property related matters recorded by Fairfield District/County Clerks Office were provided by Ken Shelton in association with the Fairfield County Historical Museum, the Fairfield County Library, and the Fairfield County Genealogy Society —  see http://www.ken-shelton.com/Fairfield/Deeds/deeds.htm.

United States Federal Census data.
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