| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | |||
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Rose b. ?Dec 1794 ?Tombigbee Dist. West Florida |
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Elizabeth White and most of the White family moved
from Virginia to South Carolina near the Pee Dee River in Craven Co. [now defunct].
According to the records of the Cashaway [SC] Baptist Church: On "Sat 25 Oct 1760 ... Mr. James White [her older brother or father] for excess drinking be suspended from this church until satisfaction be given... 20 June 1767 .. on Cashaway Neck on Pee Dee in Craven County. The names of all the members... Elizabeth White [her mother who had recently died].. gone." Elizabeth's sister Jane was married in or before 1760, and Elizabeth herself married five years later. |
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Historical Marker of the Cashaway Baptist Church built in 1758, and located
at the eastern end of the bridge over a bend of the Great Pee Dee River.
The marker is on Cashua Ferry Road (State Highway 34) east of Darlington SC.
View south of the river from the bridge in Sep 2015. |
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Bella was born about 1771 in SC to the Holloway family. Her mother was Sarah,
a native of Barbados, born about 1751, also owned by the family, as was another
daughter named Dorinda, born about 1773 in
SC [Wells, pp. 144-5, 148]. |
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In Dec 1779, the Holloway family along with Bella,
and two other female slaves, mother Sarah
and sister Dorinda, set out over land
as part of the Amos Eaton expedition to the Cumberland Settlement in Washington
Co. NC (now central TN), arriving at the beginning of 1780, just a week after
the lead party of men, horses and dogs headed by
James Robertson. |
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According to the his grandson Robert Holloway,
John Holloway moved the family from SC to
Natchez, then in the Louisiana French-Spanish territory, "in order to escape the
Revolution". |
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The family of John Holloway arrived on two
pirogues in the Grand Gulf area of the Natchez District by Jan 21, 1781. They
left the pirogues in the care of Eleanor "Nelly"
Price who managed the river dock in that area. The town of Grand Gulf no
longer exists but was five miles west of the town of Port Gibson, about 40 miles
up the Mississippi River from Natchez. After being sued Sep 8, 1781 for nonpayment
of supplies, John countersued John Townshend
over the loss of the two pirogues [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book A,
p. 8]. |
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Pirogues were flat-bottomed boats, that could be manually propelled by either a
paddle like a canoe or a pole in marshes and swamps.
Photo of
a pirogue circa 1885 (lower boat) displayed at the Grand Gulf Military Park.
The pirogue was used on the Mississippi River according to the
Background
plaque. |
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Receipt
dated Feb 28, 1781 from "John Townshend" to "John Holoway" submitted with the lawsuit
to the Natchez District Court [MDAH, microfilm roll no. 5326, p. 107]. The receipt
shows initial charges dated Jan 21, 1781. |
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On Sep 12, 1781, John Townshend
penned a letter describing what happened regarding the two pirogues earlier in
the year, including a conversation with Elizabeth about the pirogues. He may have
submitted this letter when he attended the
John Alston estate sale on Saturday, Sep 15.
Letter translated to French
by Francis Farrell in 1781 for the Natchez Court
[from photocopy of MDAH microfilm, roll #5618, p. 108; see an attempt at an
English Tranlation
of intelligible parts of the same letter]. |
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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799. |
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In Oct 1781, Bella's owner, John Holloway
was shot and scalped by Indians five leagues east of the Fort of Natchez. At
the time, he was apparently working as "an overseer" of the plantation of
Joshua Howard on Second Creek. His wife
Elizabeth White Holloway was seven months pregnant
with their eighth child at the time. Son George Holloway
and another slave were tied with a rope to a workbench, but George escaped during
the night. |
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1895 Map
of Natchez from the Ancestral Trackers website, shows the likely
locations of St. Catherine, Second and Sandy Creeks in 1792. |
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After her husband's death, Elizabeth White Holloway,
who was seven months pregnant, was appointed guardian of the six minor children.
His estate was
conveyed to her in a court proceeding on Oct 24, 1781. The
estate inventory,
completed on the same day, included carpenter and plantation tools,
animals, and livestock belonging to daughter Elizabeth and son George.
Son-in-law Cader Raby was also present for
the inventory and signed it (with a mark). And there were also four slaves:
one man "Samuel", 50 years old, and three females (Sarah native of
Barbados, aged about 30, and her daughters Bella, about 10, and Dorinda, 8, both
born in SC) [Natchez Court Records, Book A, p. 304]. |
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In May 1782,
13 families
arrived in the Natchez District after a flatboat journey down the
Mississippi River, including the families of brothers James White,
and John White, and the family of
William Dewitt, who had just married
Catherine "Cary" White, daughter of Elizzabeth's brother
William White. |
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After the brutal death of her husband, the widow
Elizabeth, purchased an improvement
on St. Catherine Creek from Thomas Comstock. There she probably met
John Stillee
or Still Lee, who also owned land there. Several years later in 1791, her nephew
William White married Amy Comstock, a daughter
of William Comstock. |
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In 1783, Elizabeth White Holloway married
John Stillee
and they had three children over the next three years. They lived in Natchez where
her husband is said to have bought a store or tavern "in the country" in partnership
with a Jean Vauchere. This venture failed and they moved to the Tombigbee River,
in the Mobile district of West Florida by 1788, when their property was seized
by Vauchere and Carlos de Grand-Pré,
the Commandant of the Natchez District, to repay debts. They moved
back to the District by Dec 1797, after
Manuel Gayoso de Lemos became governor.
The new governor oversaw the withdrawal of Spain from the east side of the Mississippi
River under the Pinckney Treaty. |
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On Sep 3, 1786, Elizabeth White Stillee gave
birth to her last child, Michael. |
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On Mar 23, 1787, "two negro women and one negro girl" belonging to the indebted
John Stillee were guaranteed surety by a
Natchez resident Arthur Cobb at the Fort
of Natchez. These three slaves were identified in the court records only as "Belinda"
and "Dorinda" but would actually be Bella, aged about 16, and
sister Dorinda, aged 14, both of whom came to Natchez
with the Holloways, and Lucinda, aged about 17
[McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book C, p. 171]. Two of John Stillee's slaves, a
"mulatto named Frank" and another named "Bright" were sold at public auction to
John Vauchere, a creditor and former partner of Stillee [McBee, p. 40]. He also
purchased at least 400 acres of the Stillee land on St. Catherine's Creek at the
auction [McBee, p. 107]. |
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By May of 1787 John Stillee and wife
Elizabeth, along with their three children and
the slaves Bella, Dorinda, and and
Lucinda, had left the Natchez District when
Carlos de Grand-Pré authorized the settling
of the "affairs of John Stilles, absconded" by having three disinterested persons
examine the "books and accounts" of Stillee, and meet any debtors mentioned in
the books along with George Fitzgerald, who would defend the "absent party"
[Wells, p. 125]. |
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The Stillee family relocated to the Tombigbee settlement (now in southern Alabama),
and resided there until about 1796. That year the population of the
"Tombigbee settlers was 287" [Elliott, p. 35 ref. Holmes, Jack D.L.,
"Notes on the Spanish Fort San Esteban de Tombecbe" in Alabama Review,
XVIII, 286]. |
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All three of Elizabeth's children by John Stillee
were baptized on Nov 17, 1788 by Rev. Miguel Lamport of the Old Mobile Parish of
the Immaculate Conception.
In the transcription
of the original
in Spanish baptism records, Miguel is referred to as Michael Washington Lee,
born Sep 3, 1786 and his parents are written as "John Stilly Lee and Isabel White,
Protestants, natives of North America, residents of the Tombigbee River in this
District". In the Stillee bible, Michael is referred to as Michael Lamport Stilley
born Nov 22, 1786. Michael's middle name was changed to honor the Pastor. The twins
were baptised as Mary Sally Lee and Paul Rubin Lee. Godfather of the three children
"was Cassian Castenares, Sacristan". A sacristan was an officer of the Church with
duties similar to a custodian. |
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On Jul 13, 1792, Elizabeth's son John Holloway and
son-in-law Cader Raby signed an agreement with
Col. Manuel Gayoso de Lemos
regarding travel outside of the Natchez District. Cader's son Cader named a son
Gayoso Carney Raby in 1826.
Translation of the
original document that was handwritten in Spanish. |
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Gayoso succeeded
Grand-Pré in 1792 and
changed the name of the mansion built by his predecessor to Concord.
Postcard
showing the mansion before it burned down in 1901. |
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In the mid-1790's, Elizabeth's sons John and
James Holloway, along with her nephews
Reuben White (1765?-1835?) and
James T. White (1770?-1842?), moved into what became
known as Holloway Prairie (now northeastern Rapides Parish LA), where they obtained
Spanish land grants and engaged in the cattle business. Many of the Anglo families
of the nearby Deville area came there from Natchez MS. |
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By Dec 5, 1797 John Stillee and wife
Elizabeth had returned to the Natchez District
when she sold Bella, who had been with the Holloway family since her birth.
Bella was about 26 years old and had a 2 ½ year old child named Rose.
Both were sold to John Girault of Natchez for $600 [Wells, p. 144-5]. |
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Bella's new owners were John (1755-1813) and Mary (born 1766 neé Spain, and married
in VA, died 1825 Jefferson Co. MS) Girault. In
1794, they owned land "one league east of Fort" on St. Catherine's Creek and
bordering that of John Stillee,
before he absconded and the land was sold at public auction to Juan Vauchere.
On May 31, 1797 Mary, a 10-month old daughter of John and Mary, died. Their next
child, named Ann Mary, was born in Oct at their new home on the plantation "Bellevue"
which was adjacent to the mansion of Gov. Gayoso
[Stuck, website]. Bella and Rose were purchased by them a couple months later
on Dec 6 [Wells, Natchez Postscripts, p. 144-45/48]. |
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John Girault certified that Elizabeth Stillee
had placed in his hands by authority of the Spanish government sufficient property
to pay the five heirs of her late husband, John Holloway,
namely, John, Robert, George, Elizabeth and Mary, their respective shares of their
father's estate, "agreeable to the tenor of my hand dated 5 Dec, 1797" [McBee,
"Louisiana Spanish West Florida Records"]. At that time, son James was too young
and son William was living outside the District. |
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On Mar 14, 1798 Elizabeth and John Stillee
were recorded in a deed transaction in Natchez, as being of Bayou Pierre,
witnessed by Henry Milburn.
The land was described as 764 acres bounded on the west by "Dewit and Armstrong".
The Stillee family was not a household in the Natchez District in 1792 when the
Spanish Census
was taken. But in the "Bayou Pierre" subdivision were single male households under
the name Jese (Jesse) Dwet, and Moises Armstrong, who both seem to have become
neighboring land owners by 1798. However the $138 estate of Jesse Dewitt was
appraised on Jul 24, 1794 for benefit of creditors. Jesse Dewitt was the son of
the deceased William Dewitt and stepson of
Elizabeth's niece Catherine White Dewitt, now married
to the transaction witness Henry Milburn. In 1796 Dewitt's land appears to have
been claimed by Ezekiel Dewitt and wife Mary, who had been granted the 400 acres
in Apr 1789 by a Baron Carondelet. The 400 acres on Catherine's Creek was
described as adjacent to "John Stilley [Still Lee]" in claim #590 Feb 24, 1804
[Natchez Land Claims, Book C, p. 73]. |
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In 1798, John Girault was appointed by Gov. Sargent as the Commander of Militia for
Pickering Co. which became Jefferson Co. in 1802
(see present day map).
Bayou Pierre runs through what is now Claiborne Co., created in 1802 from Adams Co.
Claiborne Co. now borders Jefferson Co.
(see present day map
for location). |
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In Apr 1799, the Governor at Baton Rouge attempted to settle the dispute between
Elizabeth Stillee and Freeland over the loan
of the slave named Peg to Freeland. The next
month, John Girault certified that Elizabeth had placed in his hands by authority
of the Spanish government sufficient property to pay the five heirs of her late
husband, John Holloway, namely, John, Robert,
George, Elizabeth and Mary, their respective shares of their father's estate, "agreeable
to the tenor of my hand dated 5 Dec, 1797" [McBee, "Louisiana Spanish West Florida
Records"]. At that time, son James was too young and son William was living
outside the District. |
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John Stillee died on Sep 30, 1808.
His son-in-law George B Watson and son "Reuben Stilly" were administrators of
his estate. They reported to the Claiborne Co. Court that there were not enough
assets to pay all of the debts of the deceased. |
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In Dec 1811, the widow Elizabeth "Stilley of St. Helena Parish in the Territory of
Orleans", granted to her son James Holloway,
as his share as heir of his father, the negro woman,
Lucinda ("Lucey"),
aged about 41, and her two children Jeffrey and Isaac, and in the future $200
"due by me as guardian to the said James in the year 1800" [McBee, Deed Book B,
p. 67]. James turned 21 about 1800. |
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St. Helena Parish was founded in 1810
(see present day map
for location), and borders Mississippi. |
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On Aug 31, 1817 an ill Elizabeth died at the Highland in east Baton Rouge LA.
The day before, Dorinda, aged about 44, was sent to her
along with some of her clothes and some money found in her trunk, at Elizabeth's
request. Three years later, a female slave aged over 45, was counted in the St. Landry
Parish household of "William Milbourne", likely the son of Elizabeth's niece
Cary Dewitt Milburn from her marriage to
William Dewitt. Her household was listed
as "Cary Milbourne" in the same parish not far from Baton Rouge. |
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In the 1820 Census for St. Helena Parish LA,
Robert Holloway included
8 children and 1 female adult in his household as follows: 1 male under age 10 (James Lee), 1 male under age 16-18 (George), 1 male between age 16-26 (John), 1 male aged 45 and over (Robert), 2 females under age 10 (Rebecca, Permelia), 3 females between age 10-16 (Jane, Susan, Elizabeth), and 1 female between age 26-45 (his wife Rebecca born after 1775). Also counted were 6 slaves, including one female over 45 (possibly Bella's sister Dorinda, born to the Holloway family in SC about 1773, and inherited in 1817 from Robert's deceased mother). |
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In the 1830 Census for St. Helena (line 101), the household of "Robert Holoway" included: 2 males under age 10? (Cader or possibly orphan children related to Robert's sister Elizabeth Raby), 2 males between age 15-20 (Robert S., James Lee), 1 male 50-60 (himself), 1 female between age 5-10 (Permelia), 1 female between age 15-20 (Rebecca), 2 females between age 20-30 (Susan, Elizabeth), and 1 female between age 50-60 (wife Rebecca born after 1770). Also counted were 7 slaves. About two years later, on Oct 4, 1832, Robert "ask tutorship of his minor children to wit: James L., Rebecca, & Permelia Holloway." On Jan 3, 1834 after her mother has died, son George is appointed Guardian of minor Rebecca. |
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SOURCES: Claiborne Co. MS, "1810 Tax Roll Details", trans. by Lee Kohler, website. "Franklin County, MS 1810 Census", abstract from Gillis book, rootsweb website. Marriages of Early Natchez Settlers, New Orleans Genesis Vol. 6 no.21, Jan 1967, p 84. Elliott, Jack D. Jr., The Fort of Natchez and the Colonial Origins of Mississippi, rev. 2013 of article in Journal of Miss. Hist., 1990. "John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website. "Inventories Conveyance... re: death of John Holloway" and "Court proceedings and inventory of estate of John Holloway", Oct 24, 1781, in Natchez Court Records Book A, Jul 21, 1781 - Nov 1787, p. 304, photocopy from research of Mary Lois Ragland, Oct 1990. John Stillee Bible. Records of Old Mobile Parish 1781-1850, Sec. 8, Bk 2, record nos. 125,126, transcribed from original photocopy in Spanish (signed by Rev. Miguel Lamport) by Bernadette Mathews, Archivist, The Catholic Center, Mobile AL, Feb 11, 1999. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Book C, p. 73, Book F, pp. 19, 21. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, pp. 8, 40, 107, Book C, p. 171. Marlboro County SC Churches, website, Cashaway Neck Baptist Church Record Book, 1756-1778, contributed by Glenn Pearson, May 2000, webpage. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, microfilm, roll #5618, vol.1, pp. 105-8. "Natchez District 1792 Spanish Census Index", in USGenWeb, Early Southwest Miss. Territory, website. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA, Greenwood MS, May 1990, pp. 12-15. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Census Records", Greenwood MS, May 1990, pp. 9-10. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA", Greenwood MS, May 1990, p. 15-16. Rowland, Dunbar, The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Centennial Edition, 1917, Madison WI, pp. 85-89, 1816 Claiborne Co. Census. Scott, W. W., Annals of Caldwell Co., Lenoir NC, 1930, pp. 64-65, 118. Stuck, Charles Jr., "Jean/John Girault Chronology", website. U.S. 1820 Census, St. Landry Parish LA, Index, S-K Publications, 2021. Veach, Damon, "Louisiana Ancestors", article in Sunday Advocate Magazine, Baton Rouge LA, Feb 21, 1982. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, Bowie MD, 1992, pp. 52, 101, 125, 144-5, 151. White, Gifford, "James White and John White", Wm Wiseman & the Davenports, Pioneers Of Old Burke County, North Carolina, v.2 by M.L.Vineyard & E.M.Wiseman, Franklin NC,1997, p. 111. White, Gifford, James Taylor White of Virginia and some of his descendants into Texas, Austin, TX, 1982. |
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