Benjamin Holmes Sr. (1801 - 1865)

Born 1801 in Lincoln, Georgia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Nancy (Sumrall) Holmes — married 18 Apr 1825 in Marion County, Mississippi, United States

Descendants

Died 1865 at about age 64 in Holmesville, Pike, Mississippi, United States

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Born to Elisha Warren Holmes, Sr. (1773-1850) of Ireland and Sarah "Sallie" Stovall (1777-1850) of North Carolina. Elisha Holmes was a blacksmith. He & Sarah Holmes came to MS in 1812 from Georgia and were the parents of all the Holmes descendants of Pike and Walthall counties. They had 11 children. Their home was three miles east of Tylertown.

Benjamin, born in GA, moved to MS with his parents and settled on the east side of Magee's Creek, two miles north of China Grove, now in Walthall County. Walthall County was created in 1910 from Pike & Marion counties, so at that time China Grove was in Pike County.

Benjamin was a farmer and made plantation bells. Benjamin married Nancy Mary Sumrall (1808-1895) of South Carolina on April 18, 1825, in Marion County, MS. They had 16 children.

12 children survived to adulthood:

1. David Stovall Holmes (1827-after 1864)
2. Capt. John Holmes (1830-1907)
3. Sarah Elizabeth "Betsy" Holmes Ellzey (1833-1857)
4. Mary Ann Holmes Ellzey Chandler (1834-1897)
5. Emily Holmes Ellzey (1836-1906)
6. Benjamin Holmes, Jr. (1837-1881)
7. Raiford Holmes (1840-1864 in Civil War)
8. Elisha Gardner Holmes (1843-1906)
9. Needham Holmes (1844-1909)
10. Doctor James Holmes (1846-1915)
11. Eliza Jane Holmes Kaigler (1848-1928)
12. Calvin Holmes (1852-1912; many sources state birth as 1842 but Calvin did not appear on the 1850 census. He appeared in 1860 as 8 years old)

Benjamin & Mary Holmes are buried in the Benjamin Holmes Cemetery, Walthall County, MS. However, these graves have been lost to logging. Directions to the gravesite from Glen Dale Tynes: Take Hwy 27 north at Tylertown to Salem School, go by the school and take the road on the left - drive just up the road a little and you will see pine trees on the right side of road. The graves are said to be out in those pines.

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From the files of Mary J. Dribben: Benjamin Holmes, the husband of Mary Sumrall, settled on the east side of Magee's Creek, some two miles north of China Grove. He was a farmer and bell manufacturer. He made them by hand in his shop and supplied the people with bells. He raised a large family of boys and girls and was the father of Dave and Captain John Holmes, the last Captain of Quitman Guards and Benny Holmes of the same company, James and Needham, and Betsy, Mary Ann, and Emily. All the Holmes' whose name may be found in the rolls of the several military companies of Pike County sprung from Elisha Holmes, Sr. and Sally Stovall, those glorious Ole Georgia ancestors, like the rest of them who first planted themselves in the wilds of the Mississippi Territory, gave to the Confederacy its heroes and its heroines.

This person was created through the import of Thornhill_2011-05-04.ged on 05 May 2011. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=118951302

Dawn Kelley's work on Find A Grave has been a valuable asset to anyone looking into the families of the Holmesville MS. area.

Sources

• "Mississippi Marriages, 1800-1911", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2Z1-KLF: 14 February 2020), Benjn. Holmes, 1825.