Marjary Bell  (name also appears as Marjory or Marjery)
Born: bet. 1758 - 1771, Rowan Co, NC
Died 30 Apr 1841, Macon Co, TN

Father: Thomas Bell  B: abt 1735, Northern Ireland
Mother: Catherine Wilson B: abt. 1738, Augusta, VA

Married: Robert Holmes

Our Child: Albert Garner Holmes

As the widow of Robert Holmes, Marjory (name also appears as Margery) Holmes applied for pension August 6, 1838, while living in Sumner County, Tennessee. The claim was allowed.

ROBERT HOLMES-2 was about 34 years old when he and MARJORY BELL married, but they didn’t waste any time starting a family. Nine months and eight days after the wedding, their first son, Nathaniel Holmes-3, was born. Genealogical research has shown that about 80% of the time this group would name a first son after the paternal grandfather. ROBERT adhered to this tradition, and named his first son, Nathaniel Holmes.

ROBERT and MARJORY lived on Little Dutchman Creek in the part of Rowan County that became Iredell County, and raised their children near both their families. His parents were dead by the end of the century and her father was also dead by 1800. ROBERT’s brother Albert Holmes-2, a blacksmith, sold his inherited lands and went to Sumner County, Tennessee, around 1797 or 1798. Deeds recorded in the Iredell County Court Minutes dated January 28, 1797, record that James Holmes-2 and Albert Holmes-2 sold to ROBERT HOLMES-2 200 acres and the deed was proven by David Beall. In another deed, ROBERT and James Holmes-2 sold to Albert Holmes-2 227 acres, also proven by David Beall. That same year, there was a transfer from Francis and Margaret Holmes to James Holmes, 71 acres, sworn to by Fergus Sloan. In 1787, James and Mary Holmes sold 320 acres of land to Robert Patton.

In 1794, the Court Minutes record that David Henry was to serve as overseer of the road in the “room of” Aenaes Campbell, and that John Dobbins, Jr., serve as overseer of the road from South Yadkin River to Scandling old field “in room of ROBERT HOLMES.” [Iredell County, Minutes Court of Pleas.]

That same year, James Holmes had an apprentice bound to him named Robert Fanning, and he was to teach the boy weaving and provide for him “agreeable to the law and to give him a saddle above what the law directs.” A few years before this, in 1790, Betsy Fanning, orphan of Thomas Fanning, had been bound to James Holmes and he was to give her five pounds currency over what the law allows when she was free. He also had bound to him, Patsy Fanning, “Orphan of Thomas Fanning, with the 5 pounds over and above what the law directs, after 10 years and 5 months.” [Iredell County, Minutes Court of Pleas.]

In 1794, Frances and Margaret Holmes sold 640 acres to Jacob Nichols, but the lands were not further identified as to location. [Iredell County, Minutes Court of Pleas.]

What prompted ROBERT and MARJORY to leave Iredell County, North Carolina, and follow Albert, we don’t know. Albert may have written letters home telling them what a wonderful place Tennessee was. General Rutherford, under whom ROBERT had fought several times, now lived in Sumner County, as well. Many North Carolina Revolutionary veterans had received land grants in Tennessee that prompted many of them to move. No record was found that ROBERT received a grant, but it is possible that records of it were overlooked. Some grants to Tennessee lands were recorded in Kentucky. It is possible, too, that he did not get a grant, but decided to go anyway and purchase land.

Many of the Augusta County, Virginia, Wilson families who had moved to North Carolina, also moved into Tennessee as early as 1780. Groups of these same families were continually moving to Tennessee well up into the 1820s.

After living in North Carolina nearly 30 years, ROBERT HOLMES picked up his family and moved to Tennessee about 1806, when he was over 50 years old. His brother, Albert, was still living in Tennessee as late as 1820. ROBERT’s brother, James, stayed in Iredell, North Carolina, where his descendants are found today. Some of ROBERT’s children were nearly grown at the time of the move, but all of the children apparently moved with the family. They settled in the part of Sumner County that eventually became Macon County, Tennessee.

Children of Robert-2 and Marjory Bell-2 Holmes

Taken from the Revolutionary Pension Record

1. Nathaniel Holmes-3, was born July 18, 1782, buy died as a child sometime before 1799. This child’s name was repeated in a later-born sibling. The oldest child, Nathaniel, was probably dead by the time the other son was named Nathaniel, “Junir” in 1799. That names were important to the family is underscored by the fact that when the children with important names died young, the names were reused for subsequent children.

2. Hanon Holmes-3, born October 22, 1784, died as a young child. If this child’s name was an heirloom family name we do not have the connection. This name was not reused.

3. Marey Holmes-3, born April 10, 1786, married John E. Davidson in Maury County, Tennessee, about 1810. She died before 1838. Probably named for her grandmother, MARY.

4. Elizabeth Holmes-3, was born October 22, 1788, married Thomas McCracken, and lived in Polk County, Missouri, in November of 1870 when she died. ROBERT had a sister by this name.

5. Marjery Holmes-3, born February 20, 1789, married Daniel Littleton Henderson in 1810 and died soon after, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth Holmes Henderson. Obviously, Marjery was named for her mother.

6. Robert Holmes-3, was born March 7, 1791. This child died as an infant and the name was repeated for a later child.

7. James Holmes-3, born July 14, 1794, died after 1825. ROBERT’s brother was named James.

8. Thomas Holmes-3, was born October 10, 1796. His wife’s name was Rebecca and he died in Carroll County, Tennessee. He was apparently named for his grandfather, THOMAS BELL.

9. “Nathaniel Holmes, Jr.,”-3, born April 5, 1799, the second child to be so-named. His wife was Jane “Ginnie” Steel. He died after 1838, and he still had young children at home. His sons were interviewed for the 1922 Confederate Veterans census.

10. “Nancy” Agnes Holmes-3, born November 4 [7?] 1801. [Nancy was a nickname for Agnes.] She married John G. Alexander and died about 1863 in Simpson County, Kentucky. MARJORY had a sister by this name.

11. Robert Holmes-3, born December 25, 1802, the second child to be named Robert. He married Polly Lavion and died before 1841. He had a bastard child [when he was a child age 12] with a woman named Polly Hicks. His father and brother posted bond for him.

12. ALBERT GARNER HOLMES-3, was born April 25, 1804. He is the author’s ancestor, and married MILLEY TURNER. He died February 4, 1854, in Macon County, Tennessee. This child was obviously named for his father’s brother, Albert Holmes-2. We do not know if there is any significance to the “Garner” part of his name.

Almost every relative had a child named for him or her. The use, and reuse, of “heirloom” names makes one wonder about those names we are unable to connect to one relative or another.

ROBERT’s brother, James-2, after whom he named a son, would buy or inherit the remainder of the family land in Iredell County. In 1790, he married Ester McConnell, the daughter of Alexander McConnell, in Iredell. In 1816, he deeded the land for the Tabor Meeting House on Little Dutchman’s Creek for a Presbyterian Church. His sons were: Robert-3, Nathaniel-3, and a daughter, Ester-3, who survived him. James-2 was also a Revolutionary veteran and received a pension. In addition to farming, he was also a weaver and taught apprentices the trade. Part of the lands of NATHANIEL HOLMES-1 were still owned by his descendants into the 1980s. James-2’s revolutionary pension stated that he was from Raphoe Parish, County Donegel, Ireland. This is the single bit of hard evidence on where the family originated in Ireland. [Heritage of Iredell.]