Albert Garner HOLMES
Born: 25 APR 1804 in North Carolina
Died: 4 Feb 1854
Father: Robert Holmes
Mother: Marjary Bell
Married: Millie Turner 15 Oct 1824  b: 2 DEC 1810 in Sumner County,Tennessee
Our Child: Calvin Baker Holmes

Children
Lucinda Millie HOLMES b: 15 DEC 1843 in Macon County,Tennessee
Elizabeth J. HOLMES b: 1825 in Sumner County,Tennessee
James HOLMES b: 1829 in Sumner County,Tennessee
Mary Frances HOLMES
Albert F. HOLMES b: 1832 in Sumner County,Tennessee
Margery A. HOLMES b: 28 NOV 1833 in Sumner County,Tennessee
Robert Yancy HOLMES b: 10 NOV 1836
Calvin B. HOLMES b: 16 DEC 1838 in TN (Sumner Co.)  (our ancestor)
Margaret HOLMES b: 1841 in Sumner County,Tennessee
Wilson HOLMES b: 1846 in Sumner County,Tennessee
Leatha A. HOLMES born May 25, 1851 (Joyce Hetrick ancestor)

Robert's son Albert (the 12th child) who was the administrator of his estate tried until 1857 (the date of his own death) to get Robert's pension increased postumusiously to the rate of Captain as Robert had raised a troop over which he was captain toward the end of the war. Albert G. Holmes was the father of our Ancestor, Calvin B. Holmes, and Joyce Hetrick's ancestor, Leatha A. Holmes.

Albert G. Holmes and Milly Turner on Sumner County Website

The following information about Albert Garner Holmes is from Joyce Hetrick's book

Theda Womack, a descendant of YANCY TURNER, and a life-long resident of Sumner County, wrote in a letter to the author, no date, but about 1992.

Albert and Milley lived on [the] farm willed to him by his father. This farm was about 3 miles northeast of Pleasant Grove Methodist church, in the edge of Macon County. In 1950, it was owned by Paul Davis when I found the grave stones and copied them. His tombstone showed that he was born 25 Apr. 1804, the same date shown in father’s Bible, and that he died 4 Feb. 1854. Her tombstone read “Milley Holmes, born 2 Dec 1810, married 15 Oct 1824, died 1 Sept. 1854.” Their grave markers have since been destroyed.

Albert Holmes-3 & Milley Turner-4

Nathaniel Holmes-1; Robert-2; Albert Garner-3
Henry Turner-1; Susannah-2 [Thomas Graves Yancey]; Yancy Turner-3; Milly-4

In April, 1842, Sumner County was divided and Macon County formed. Macon is bounded on the north by Kentucky, and by Clay, Jackson, Smith, Trousdale, and Sumner Counties. The country is steep and rocky, but with fertile valleys nestled between the hills. Grains and vegetables were grown for domestic consumption and tobacco was grown as a cash crop. In the early days, tobacco was hauled to the Cumberland River and shipped on floats to New Orleans where it was sold. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad was built and used to haul the products. In 1860, the white population was 6,244 and black 1,046. By 1880, it had grown to 8,429 whites and blacks had decreased to 890.

MILLEY TURNER HOLMES's brother, B. Y. [Bartlett Yancey] Turner-4, was one of the first Justices of the Peace elected in the new county.

The children of Albert-3 & Milley Turner Holmes

Nathaniel Holmes-1; Robert-2; Albert Garner-3; Calvin Baker.-4; Harry Cleveland-5, Ammie Myrtle-6

Henry Turner-1; Susannah-2 [Thomas Graves Yancey]; Yancy Turner-3; Milley-4

  1. Elizabeth J. Holmes-4, born about 1825

  1. Jane Holmes-4, was born about 1827, married Hilary J. Weatherford before 1850, and had four [or more] children.

  1. James Holmes-4, born about 1829, was shown on the Census in 1860 as "idiotic," and lived with his sister, Mary Frances-4, and her husband, Quinton S. Bell, in Sumner County. According to family history, James was "retarded." [Letter to the author from Theda Womack, no date.]

  1. Mary Frances Holmes-4, was born August 10, 1831, and on June 22, 1854, was married to Quinton Sarver Bell by Rev. S. S. Davis. Mary Frances died January 12, 1887, and is buried at Mt. Vernon Methodist Church Cemetery.

  1. Margery A Holmes-4, was born November 28, 1833, and married Bird Trout on January 25, 1855. She died May 30, 1887, and is buried in Mt. Vernon. She was widowed during the Civil War and never remarried. She partly raised the orphan daughters of her sister, LEATHA HOLMES-4 DORRIS.

  1. Robert “Bob” Yancey Holmes-4, was born November 10, 1836, and married [Mrs.] Julia Durham Roark. He died April 28, 1917. His obituary stated that he died at home on Douglass Pike after an illness of about five weeks. He was 80 years old. He had been a member of the Methodist church and was survived by his wife and one son, Harry C. Holmes, a businessman of Gallatin. The Reverend R. H. Hodges preached the funeral at his home. He was buried at Mt. Vernon Methodist graveyard..Robert had been a member of Company F of the Tennessee 20th Infantry. He was listed as a deserter in Murfreesboro on December 24, 1862, but had joined Company E of the 9th Cavalry on September 1, 1862. He was captured at Cynthiana, Kentucky, on June 25, 1864, and sent to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was paroled June 12, 1865, after about a year in prison.

  1. Calvin B. Holmes-4, was born December 16, 1838, and married Amanda Rippy, February 12, 1865, after he returned from the Civil War. He died June 10, 1915. They had eight children. Calvin had also been a member of Compay F of the 20th Infantry and was also listed as a deserter on December 24, 1862, but he had joined Company E of the 9th Cavalry September 1, 1862. He was captured while on furlough in June of 1863 and forced to take the Oath of Allegience. He was left an invalid by the war. His son, Charles Wilson Holmes, who was born January 2, 1870, was killed, along with his wife, in the 1925 “cyclone” [tornado] which struck the Sumner County area and killed many people. He died at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville and was buried at Mt. Vernon. He and his wife lived in the Liberty community.

  1. Margaret Holmes-4, was age nine in 1850, so she was born about 1841. However, that is all we know about her. She probably died as a child.

  1. Lucinda Milley Holmes-4, was born December 15, 1845. In 1860, after her parents' deaths, she lived with her sister, Mary Frances Bell, in Sumner County. On November 20, 1866, Lucinda married "Sandy" William A. Escue-3, the son of JAMES ESCUE-2, who lived just north of the Quinton Bell’s. She died November 7, 1922.

  1. Wilson C. Holmes-4, ALBERT and MILLEY's youngest son, died between 1868 and 1870. When his estate was settled in 1870, there was $160 to be divided between LEATHA HOLMES DORRIS, Lucinda Holmes Escue, Albert T. Holmes, who was living in Lee's Summit, Missouri, at that time, and Calvin B. Holmes. Wilson's name had been an important clue in tracing the family maternal lines. Calvin named one of his sons Charles Wilson Holmes, presumably after his deceased brother.

  1. Albert T. Holmes-4, was born circa 1831 and died about 1927. The oral family history about Albert T. Holmes is a series of rumors and half-truths. It was said that he never married and, as an old man, lived with his niece, Louie Holmes Witham. When he was younger, he moved to Missouri and was in the Union Army. After the Civil War, he lived in Missouri for many years but came back to Tennessee when he was very old. A daughter, apparently illegitimate, came to visit the family once many years ago but lost touch. She apparently predeceased her father. At the time of her visit, she was reportedly a “little white-haired lady.”

The truth of the matter seems to be that Albert Holmes-4 married Amanda M. Johnson in Sumner County in February, 1855. Apparently, Albert left Sumner County and went to Missouri, either shortly before or after the start of the Civil War. Where Amanda was is a question that remains. He enlisted in Company "A" 43rd in Missouri in the Federal Army. He was interviewed in the Tennessee Census of Civil War Veterans in 1922. His responses to the survey questions are quite interesting. He said he stayed in Missouri the whole of the war. When asked about his living conditions during the war he stated "plenty to eat, wear, sleep in a good warm place and no disease." We may wonder if he was in the same war with the rest of the men? His whole survey sheet is very positive and up beat, so maybe he was just experiencing a little "selective memory" for a man of 90!

12. LEATHA A. HOLMES-4, the youngest child of ALBERT GARNER HOLMES-3 and MILLEY TURNER HOLMES, was born in Macon County, Tennessee, in September, 1851. LEATHA married JAMES W. DORRIS. LEATHA-4 was apparently named after her mother's sister, Leatha Turner. (Note: Leatha is the Ancestor of Joyce Hetrick, but not ours.  Our Ancestor is Leathas brother, Calvin Baker Holmes)

We have no photograph of LEATHA, but we have photographs of some of LEATHA's siblings, all of whom were very handsome men and women. LEATHA’s daughters were both very beautiful women, and greatly resembled their aunts and uncles, so we may suppose that LEATHA HOLMES was also a beautiful young woman.

In 1850, ALBERT HOLMES-3, his wife, and children, were living in [the part of Sumner that became] Macon County. The children at home were listed on the census as: Elizabeth, age 25; James, age 21; Mary F., age 20; Albert T., age 19; Margra A., age 16; Robert T., age 13; Calvin, age 11; Margaret, age 9; Lucinda, age 8; Wilson, age 4. The youngest child, LEATHA, would not be born until the next year, 1851.

He said that he had been discharged near Jefferson City, Missouri, and lived near there. He stayed in Missouri and practiced "photographing" for a living. "About 1900," he came back to Tennessee and lived with his niece. A. T. Holmes is listed on the 1891 tax rolls in the "Males of Tennessee" volumes which "recreate" the missing 1890 census. Apparently, he did have a daughter, Mary, who came from Missouri to visit him in Tennessee once, but when he died, his estate was willed to his niece. Apparently, Mary predeceased him. His body was taken back to Missouri for burial and accompanied by Luther Fykes and Bessie Witham. [Oral history from Theda Pond Womack in a letter dated July 12, 1991.]

Albert T. Holmes was a very handsome man. In the picture we have, he wore his beard as "chin whiskers" and they were long and light colored. He was a "sharp dresser," and took great pride in his appearance. He was a Presbyterian and taught Sunday School for many years. The children from the church remembered him because he always carried gum for them in his pockets. Annie Neal Troutt Johnson remembered him and had several pictures of him which the author copied in 1990. Several of the nieces and nephews remembered his big camera on a tripod.

1850 Census

Quotes from Joyce Hetrick book

Two of the Holmes boys, cousins of LEATHA HOLMES, were two of those interviewed and their answers tell quite a bit about the conditions of the war for them and what life was like before the war. James Arelias Holmes-4 was the son of Nathaniel Holmes-3 [older brother of ALBERT G.] When asked where his grandparents came from, he said Ireland, but didn’t remember much else. He said he lived in a six-room log house as a child and his job at home was to chop wood, clear land, plow, hoe, feed cattle, sheep, hogs and go to the mill. He said his father, Nathaniel Holmes, Jr.-3, was a farmer and school teacher and his mother looked after the house, spinning, weaving, and making clothes. His father died before he [James Arelias] was “big enough to work.”

He stated he went to some free schools, but mostly to subscription schools. He said he went to school three or four months a year after the crops were “laid by.” School would be in late summer before the fall harvesting of crops started and after the need for field labor was ended. The children probably only got a few months of school each year and only a few years total.

He enlisted in May of 1861 at Bethlehem Church in White Oak Creek, and his first battle was fought at “Seeder Hill” some seven or eight months later. After that, he went to Richmond, Virginia, and from there to Winchester Valley. He was wounded in his left arm “with the bone sticking out.” Afterwards he taught school, he said, and I guess he “larned ‘em real good” as his spelling and grammar were simply terrible on his interview form.

R. C. Holmes-4, James’s brother, didn’t remember much more about their family origins, but recalled his parents owned two slaves and they owned about 150 acres of land valued at about $1,000. James had said 75 acres, valued at $4,000, and one slave. It doesn’t take too long for the family oral history to become garbled unless it is written. R.C. enlisted in 1862 and was captured and put in prison. After the war, he farmed.

Another man, named Holman, was interviewed at the same time. He spoke of being marched to Chicago as a prisoner and having his feet freeze in the 12 inches of snow, as he was barefoot. He said several of his company lost their feet. He said punishment for the troops was to be forced to “ride Morgan’s mare” which was a 2” X 12” board sharpened on one side [edge] and help upright on a 16 foot tall leg, like a giant saw-horse. They had to crawl up a ladder and then crossed the sharpened beam on their hands and crotch. he called it “coon” across it. It must have been quite uncomfortable and dangerous as well. A 16-foot fall would be equal to falling off the roof of a house or out a second story window.

Most of the men interviewed about their war service took a positive outlook on life and the times they had lived through. They seemed to agree the war was difficult, and the times in general were hard, but that men worked, black and white, and that the honest, hard-working man was not despised for working. Only one of the interviews reviewed, written by a man named Escue, seemed to have a really negative outlook. His view was “a poor man couldn’t get ahead” and “toil was looked down on, and slave owners looked down on the man who didn’t own slaves.” He also believed the ones who did own slaves “never did a lick of work.” He seemed a bitter man who blamed all his problems on others’ good or better fortune and didn’t try very much to help himself.

LEATHA HOLMES DORRIS’ namesake, LEATHA VIRGIE JOHNSON, her granddaughter, had known the names of all LEATHA’s siblings, [but not the names of ALBERT and MILLEY.] This was used as a clue to check all of the Holmes census listings in Sumner and surrounding counties to "find" them on the 1850 Census. This family was one of the easier ones to trace backwards from the oral history. ROBERT HOLMES' Revolutionary War pension was a gold mine of information about the family. Theda Womack's knowledge of the family filled in many of the gaps left by these documents.

ALBERT-3 and MILLEY HOLMES lived in a log house near his parent's place, and not far from her parents, YANCY and MARY TURNER. Their son, Albert T., was interviewed in the 1922 census [and questionnaire] of Confederate soldiers when he was about 90 years old. He said they had about 100 acres of land with a value of $4,000. There was a school, called Trammel School, about a mile away from the home and the children went there about five or six months out of the year. He said he had about five years of schooling altogether. Albert, Jr., also said they did not own any slaves or keep any servants.

In 1850, ALBERT's brother, Thomas Holmes-3, and his wife, Rebecca, were living in Carroll County, Tennessee, where they are listed on the census. Living at home with them were their children: Louisa A., 22; Mary E., 20; Rebecca, 17; Albert, 15; Thomas, 12; James, 11; John R., 10; Paralee, 5; Marjary J., "Prichard," 25 [probably should read "Richard"]; and Elizabeth E., age 5. Thomas Holmes-3 had sold the part of the family farm that he had inherited.

On the whole, the group of people in this volume seemed rather long-lived for the times in which they lived. However, ALBERT-3 and MILLEY apparently both died in 1854, he on February 4 and she on September 1. They were buried on their farm which later was known as "Mrs. Paul Davis" Farm, North of Pleasant Grove in Macon County. Small family graveyards on the family farm or plantation was a common practice in Sumner County. This may have been a cultural holdover from Virginia, where widely-scattered plantation owners were required to set aside burying grounds on the plantation for themselves and their slaves. [Burial information from Theda Womack in a letter to the author.]

After the deaths of ALBERT-3 and MILLEY in 1854, Patton Bell [the father of Quinton Bell, Mary Frances’-4 husband] was appointed guardian for the younger children, including LEATHA, who was about three yeaars old when her parents died. LEATHA-4 was the twelfth child, as her father had been, so the orphaned infant was surrounded by a large family of relatives, including her elderly grandparents, YANCY and MARY TURNER, and her brothers and sisters. Her paternal grandparents, ROBERT HOLMES-2 and MARGERY BELL HOLMES had been dead for several years when LEATHA HOLMES-4 was born.

We don't know if Patton Bell took actual custody of ALBERT's and MILLEY's children, or if he merely oversaw their raising and handled their financial affairs. Lucinda lived at least part of the time with her sister, Mary Frances, and Quinton Bell, and probably LEATHA did, too. They lived in Sumner County, just off Trammel Creek, south of the ESCUES and JOHNSONS, not far from Liberty Church.

Wilson Holmes-4 would have been about eight years old when his parents died, Lucinda-4, about 12 years old; Calvin-4, about 15 years old; Margaret-4, about 13 years old; Robert-4 was 17 years old; and LEATHA-4, about 3 years old. James-4 was of age, but was retarded, so he was unable to care for himself independently. He lived with his sister until his death, after 1860. Mary Frances-4 and the older married daughters, including Marjory [Margie] Holmes-4 Troutt, probably had the responsibility for raising the younger children. Mary Frances Holmes Bell must have been a caring individual to assume so many family responsibilities after the deaths of her parents. Her husband must also have been a kind and caring individual to take on the raising of so many of his wife’s siblings.