My Hollis Line

To date, I have only been able to confirm my Hollis line completely to Rufus Hollis (b. 1814 in SC) and Martha Powell of Marion, Union Parish, Louisiana (My 2nd great grandparents). [1] They were married in Union County, Arkansas in 1845.  She died sometime after 1853 and he died about 1869 - both in LA.  Rufus had at least 2 other wives (1st - Nancy Pool and 3nd - Catherine Whitehead).  Their graves have not been located.  He did not appear to own any land in LA so he likely was a sharecropper living on rented land.  Martha was probably the daughter of Bartlett Powell of Edgefield District, SC.

yDNA results (male only) indicate that I am related to the Hollis clan that settled in Fairfield District, SC shortly before the American Revolution.  I had my yDNA tested and the closest yDNA match is to a known descendant of Elijah V. Hollis, Jr. (Perfect match at 25 markers). [2] I have other yDNA matches to proven descendants of other Hollis men of Fairfield District but they are not as close a match.  

Also, and this is not scientific by any means, I have seen numerous photos of descendants of Moses Hollis and Rosannah Hagen and there is strong positive facial recognition to many of these male and female cousins.  In particular, pictures of Alabama Senator John Hollis Bankhead and myself are eerily alike.  Now this may just be a fluke but I have seen pictures of other Hollis descendants of Moses and Rosannah and they certainly share a similar, but not as strong, familiarity.  Whether this similar facial trait is a Hollis gene or some other family gene is anyone's guess: The marriages of Hollis men to Knighton women make the Knighton family a key genetic factor in the Moses+Rosannah line as well.  There were also several Hollises marrying their 1st cousins - thus carrying double doses of Hollis and double doses of Knighton.  And we have Moses Knighton (1723-1795), who married Susanna Hollis and together they fathered daughters who married Hollis men.  For example, Captain John Hollis married their daughter Nancy.  I have seen pictures of two present day descendants of Isaac Knighton Hollis (son of Elijah V. Hollis, Sr.) that bear a close resemblance to my father and myself.  Most of the pictures that I have seen of Hollis men and women that share a facial resemblance can be traced back to the Moses+Rosannah line.  This is purely anecdotal and there may be other explanations but it is for this reason that my research is more focused on that part of the Fairfield District Hollis clan.

Of course, there might be a Hollis male that left no traces.  I have found several Hollis men that no one has yet identified so I am sure there are also Hollis men that left no paper trail whatsoever.  These were the frontier days of rugged individuals who lived in remote areas and tended to be self reliant with few dealings with others.   

Rather than post a lot of speculation here, my research continues almost on a daily basis and I will update once I have definitive proof or somewhat certain circumstantial evidence. 

Senator John Hollis Bankhead, 2nd great grandson of Moses Hollis and Rosannah Hagen
(Alabama State Archives)

At this point my Hollis family tree looks like this:

(Click on highlighted text to go to the page)

John Hollis+Esther Canterbury (6th ggparents)
Fairfax, VA

Unknown - Likely Moses Hollis+Rosannah Hagen (5th ggparents)

Fairfax, VA & Fairfield District, SC

Unknown - Probably Sgt. Elijah V. Hollis+Alsey Knighton (4th ggparents)
Fairfield District, SC

Unknown - Possibly Reuben Hollis+unknown wife (3rd ggparents)
Fairfield District, SC

Rufus Hollis+Martha Powell (2nd ggparents)
South Carolina, Union County, AR & Union Parish, LA

John William Hollis+Josephine Davis (ggparents)
Union Parish, LA & Douglas County, GA

Thomas Pierce Hollis+Zettie Jackson (gparents)
Douglas County, GA

William Jackson Hollis, Sr.+Martha Blair (parents)
Douglas & DeKalb Counties in GA

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[1]The mtDNA (Ancestry.com) results have helped me to prove that Rufus Hollis is my 2nd great grandfather due to having several close matches with present day individuals (male & female) with proven ancestry to Rufus and more importantly, these present day individuals can only be related to me due to the limited geographical area where they lived (Northern Louisiana). One has to be careful when examining the mtDNA matches with individuals on Ancestry.com.  While the DNA results do prove that you are related to a particular person, the results do not tell you which surname you match with them.  In my own case, I am related to a LOT of people in the south so I may match on one or several different surnames.  One can narrow down the match by looking at the geography of where their ancestors lived but if you have numerous ancestors from SC or GA as I have, the mtDNA results may not be conclusive and/or definitive especially when one considers that Ancestry.com relies on the family trees supplied by their users and those trees may not be complete and/or accurate.

[2] I have found the DNA results to be ambiguous: I have a perfect yDNA match at 25 markers to a proven male descendant of Elijah V. Hollis, Jr.; However, at 37 and 64 markers, this match is not as close and their are other Hollis males that now are closer that were not close at 25 markers.  I also personally provided a supposedly proven male descendant of Rufus Hollis with a yDNA test kit but his results indicated that we were not even remotely related yet there are other descendants of Rufus that are a fairly close match.  This individual also supposedly took an mtDNA test and he again did not appear to be remotely related.  (I personally did not witness the sample being taken from this male descendant so the results cannot be relied upon.)  

In addition to the many yDNA matches that I have to men with the Hollis surname, there are several yDNA matches to men with the Going/Goins/Goyen/Gowin, Keith and Wallace surnames which indicates that there was an adoption that took place either in the early 1700s or earlier.  If one looks at the early censuses for Fairfield District, there are a few men with the Going surname listed living close to the Hollises possibly indicating a close relationship that is likely due to being related at some level and may have even moved together from VA to SC.  Visit this website for more on the Going/Goins/Goyen family.

(This page was updated 12/11/2022)