Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameRev. William Holmes 
Birth1747, County Down, Ireland
Death17 Jul 1799, Fairfield Co., South Carolina
Misc. Notes
William Holmes, born in 1747 in Ireland and a cousin of Finley Holmes (Find A Grave Memorial# 75125429) arrived at the port of Charleston, South Carolina in 1789, not long after the Colonies had established independence from England in the Carolinas. William was 20 years older than Finley. He and Finley probably traveled together to the upstate districts of South Carolina, where William settled along the Little River in Fairfield District about 20 miles north of what would become Columbia, South Carolina. Records show that he purchased land there in 1795 on the Little River at Neckley's Creek (shown on Robert Mills' map of the Fairfield District, SC - surveyed in 1820). He had married in Ireland, his wife and some of their children were born there. The family sailed over sometime after William had established himself in the Fairfield District, South Carolina.
In 1793, William Holmes was listed as one of the charter members of Old Brick Church (first called Little River Church and later, Ebenezer Church), located on the Little River in Fairfield County [Chreitzberg, A. M. (1897). Early Methodism in the Carolinas. Nashville: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. pp. 210-211]. He and his wife, Mary, had six children: Ann Holmes Hawthorn (b. ~1777, d. 1825), who married Adam Hawthorn (b. ~1778, d. 1827); Jane Holmes, Mary Holmes (b. 1782 in Ireland), who married Robert Martin (b. ~1770 in Fairfield County, SC; d, 1860); Harry (or Henry) Holmes; William B. Holmes (~1785 in Ireland; d. after 1850 in South Carolina); and Joseph Holmes (b.~1789 in Fairfield County, SC), who married to Mary Ann Pearson Holmes - her father was Philip Peter Pearson, RS-SC (b. 1746, d. 1835) and her mother was Mary Butler Pearson (b. 1765, d. 1854).
William Holmes in his last will left all his property to his wife, Mary, and his children. An 1800 census of Fairfield County taken a year after William's death, shows William's wife with two male children and one female child in the family. The children listed all resided in South Carolina. The children of the two reverend sons, settled in South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida.
In 1793, William Holmes was listed as one of the charter members of Old Brick Church (first called Little River Church and later, Ebenezer Church), located on the Little River in Fairfield County [Chreitzberg, A. M. (1897). Early Methodism in the Carolinas. Nashville: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. pp. 210-211]. He and his wife, Mary, had six children: Ann Holmes Hawthorn (b. ~1777, d. 1825), who married Adam Hawthorn (b. ~1778, d. 1827); Jane Holmes, Mary Holmes (b. 1782 in Ireland), who married Robert Martin (b. ~1770 in Fairfield County, SC; d, 1860); Harry (or Henry) Holmes; William B. Holmes (~1785 in Ireland; d. after 1850 in South Carolina); and Joseph Holmes (b.~1789 in Fairfield County, SC), who married to Mary Ann Pearson Holmes - her father was Philip Peter Pearson, RS-SC (b. 1746, d. 1835) and her mother was Mary Butler Pearson (b. 1765, d. 1854).
William Holmes in his last will left all his property to his wife, Mary, and his children. An 1800 census of Fairfield County taken a year after William's death, shows William's wife with two male children and one female child in the family. The children listed all resided in South Carolina. The children of the two reverend sons, settled in South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida.