Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Holmes, Joseph 1842 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 19, 2009, 5:22 am

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  Joseph Holmes, a prominent farmer of Oxford township, has had a remarkable
career. The story of his military service under two flags is unusual. When a boy
in Jackson county, he was in close touch with the doings of the border war and
learned of numerous crimes committed on both sides. When he reached maturity he
enlisted in the Confederate army and was a member of the Mounted Rangers of
Missouri, and fought under the stars and bars for six months and received an
honorable discharge. He then returned home to care for his sick mother in
Jackson county when order No. 11 was issued and he fled to the mountains of
Colorado. There he enlisted in the Union army and for several months fought
Indians under the stars and stripes and at the expiration of his term of service
was honorably discharged and now draws a pension from the United States
Government. Joseph Holmes is a native of Hawkins county, Tennessee. He was born
January 22, 1842, and is a son of Urial R. and Sally (Harris) Holmes, both
natives of Virginia and of old Virginia stock. Urial R. Holmes and the Harris
family settled in Tennessee in 1825 and in 1854 went to Missouri, locating in
Jackson county, where Uriah Holmes died in 1856, at the age of forty-seven
years. Urial Holmes and Sally Harris were the parents of nine children as
follows: Samuel died in Texas in 1895; Richard, Santa Fe, Mo.; Joseph, the
subject of this sketch; John, killed while serving in the Confederate army
during the Civil war; Mary married Mr. Hayes; Urial R. lives in Jackson county;
Sally married Richard McAllister, Olathe; Hillman resides in Jackson county,
Missouri, and Harold died in infancy. The mother of these children died March 4,
1864. When the Civil war broke out, Mr. Holmes served for six months with
Colonel Rosser's rangers and in the fall of 1863 went to Colorado and served in
the Union army two years. He was married December 4, 1873, to Miss Tabitha A.
Cummings. She was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Hiram Cummings, a
Johnson county pioneer. They were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom
grew to maturity, as follows: Richard Hiram, farmer, Oxford township; Oliver S.
died March 3, 1915; Emery C., killed by lightning, June 30, 1914; William G.,
farmer, Oxford township; Roy, on the home farm; Eaton, also on the home farm;
Lena May married Emmett Pitt and is now deceased; W. Bryan resides at home;
Stella May and Arthur, deceased. Mr. Holmes is one of the successful farmers and
stock men of Oxford township. His farm consists of 180 acres of well improved
land and is one of the valuable farms of Johnson county. Mr. Holmes is a
Democrat and takes a live interest in events of the times. The family are
members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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