Talbot-Bibb-Pulaski County GaArchives Biographies.....Holmes, James June 1794 - December 1854 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Paul W. Holmes holmesp@cofc.edu March 5, 2018, 4:41 pm Source: References at end Author: Paul W, Holmes March 5, 2018 James Holmes (1794-1854) James Holmes, born in 1794, was the first child of Finley (b. 1765) and Jenny Downs Holmes (b. ~1770). He was born and raised in Columbia, SC. At the age of 21 his father died and the family decided to move to Georgia. James was in charge of settling the estate. It took a year or two to do the inventory of the household items and farmlands and to sell everything. Shortly afterward he was buying land near Macon, Georgia, for the move by the family. He, along with his mother and her other children, then moved to Georgia. James, around 1812, married a Georgia girl, Mary "Polly" Bryan, and in 1817 his sister, Mary Catherine, married David Bryan - brother to Polly. At some point the families relocated to Talbot County, Georgia. Talbot County, established in 1827, is in the west central portion of Georgia 30 miles north east of Columbus, Georgia. The families of James and his sister, Mary Catherine, lived in adjoining plantations in the county. James and Polly had five children. Polly died about 1831. Around the same time, James built a plantation house in Talbot County and remained in that house until 1852. He then moved to a farm at Pleasant Hill (east of Woodland, Georgia, in Talbot County) near the plantation of his brother, William Thomas Holmes. After Polly's death, he remarried in 1847 to Jane C. Gaither, a widow. They had two children together, Oliver Skinner Holmes and James F. Holmes. For most of his life, James farmed the land. At his death late in 1854, James Holmes estate included 60 slaves valued at over $30,000, and the plantation lands of more than 1400 acres were appraised at $9800. Add in furnishings of the plantation house, other at other items around the plantation including crops, and cash on hand, it totaled to over $50,000. According to his will, James passed on to Jane the plantation land and house and 405 acres of adjoining land. He also bequeathed to her slaves, household items, the family carriage and horses, and other various plantation items. Each of the children were bequeathed slaves. Jane lived until sometime after 1870. She is shown in the Talbot County census for 1860 and 1870, but not in the 1880 census. All of James' children by Polly and by Jane were born in Georgia and, as adults, could be found in Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi. References Land Transactions - Fairfield County, SC, Fairfield County, South Carolina, Finley Holmes Estate Sale - 1816 - Fairfield County, SC Book Y. p. 144. Transactions - Bibb County Deeds - 1823 land transfer in Monroe County GA - 202 ½ acres. Land Transactions - Houston County GA - 1824. Land Transactions - Bibb County GA - 1824, 1826, 1832, 1836. Davidson, W. H. (1983). A rockaway in Talbot: travels in an old Georgia county, Vol 1, 2, 3, and 4. West Point, GA.: Hester Printing. Georgia Property Tax Digests - 1818, Pulaski County GA - Holmes James and Holmes James for Holmes Finley minor - 202 ½ acres. 1830 U.S. Federal Census, Bibb County GA "Holmes James". 1850 U.S. Federal Census, Talbot County GA - line 17 "James Holmes". 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedules, District 23 Talbot County GA - Slave Owner: "James Holmes" with Slaves: 22. __________________________________________________________________ Text by Paul W. Holmes • holmesp at [i.e.,@] cofc.edu Additional Comments: http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/00034/0008245.html File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/talbot/bios/holmes436bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb