Children of Jacob Hollingsworth (1775 – 1848) and Wife Sarah Martin of Franklin County, Georgia, Monroe County, Alabama, and Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Amanda Melvina Hollingsworth, photo uploaded by Ancestry user Msmtmactx to her McGuir-1 family tree at Ancestry

Or, Subtitled: “My love to All inquiring friends. what you can’t read you must gess at”

Jacob Hollingsworth and Sarah Martin, who were discussed in this previous posting, had the following children:

Children of Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822) — Jacob Hollingsworth (1775 – 1848) and Wife Sarah Martin

26 October 1806 request of Jeptha Harrington to Georgia governor for permission to pass through Creek lands, at Georgia Archives, available in digital form at the Virtual Vault of the Archives online

Or, Subtitled: From Georgia to Alabama to Louisiana — Westward Migration of a Plantation Family

As has been noted in a previous posting, though J. Adger Stewart and Alpheus Harlan both indicate, in their histories of the Hollingsworth and Harlan families respectively, that Jacob Hollingsworth and Mary Brooks’s son Jacob was born in 1773, a transcription of his tombstone record indicates that the tombstone has a birthdate of 11 August 1775 and a death date death of 16 December 1848.[1] The posting I’ve just linked discusses a transcription of the tombstones found in the Hollingsworth family cemetery at Preston, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, done by Virginia Pearce Packer in July 2008, which contains these dates of birth and death for Jacob Hollingsworth Jr.[2]

Children of Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822) — Mary Hollingsworth (1770/5 – 1830/1840) and Husband Benjamin J. Wofford

William Tatum Wofford, grandson of Mary Hollingsworth and Benjamin J. Wofford, from Library of Congress, Prints and Photographic Division

Or, Subtitled: Further Connections of the Hollingsworth and Wofford Families in Burke County, North Carolina, and Franklin County, Georgia

As noted previously, Jacob Hollingsworth and Mary Brooks’s daughter Mary appears to have been born between 1770 and 1775. Sadie Greening Sparks assigns 1773 as her year of birth.[1] A tombstone marking the grave of her husband Benjamin J. Wofford in Bartow County, Georgia, which was apparently placed there some years following his death, gives his year of birth as 1767.[2] Sadie Greening Sparks indicates that there’s a marriage bond in Randolph County, North Carolina, showing Mary’s intent to marry Daniel Brown, but the couple did not marry and Mary’s sister Hannah married Daniel Brown instead.[3] Mary Hollingsworth and Benjamin J. Wofford had married by 1790, it seems, since he appears on the 1790 federal census in Burke County, North Carolina, next to Jacob Hollingsworth, with a male over 16 in his household and one female.[4] Both Jacob and Benjamin are near Benjamin J. Wofford’s father William Wofford on this census.

Children of Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822) — Samuel Hollingsworth (1768/1770 – 1802) and Wife Mary Garner

8 August 1802 letters of administration to Mary Hollingsworth and Jacob Hollingsworth for estate of Samuel Hollingsworth, Franklin County, Georgia, Court of Ordinary Minutes Bk. 1801-1804, p. 24

Or, Subtitled: A Family with Quaker Roots in the Middle Colonies Continues Heading West

As I’ve noted previously, Samuel Hollingsworth appears to have been born about 1768-1770, probably in Guilford County, North Carolina, and he died before 8 August 1802 in Franklin County, Georgia. He was, I think, either the second or third child of Jacob Hollingsworth and Mary Brooks. According to Sadie Greening Sparks, a marriage bond in Randolph County, North Carolina, shows that Samuel married Mary Garner there in 1788.[1] I have searched for this bond but have not found it — though I do not doubt Sparks’s word about it; she did meticulous research, documenting sources carefully. The 1768-1770 birthdate for Samuel is based on his 1788 marriage to Mary Garner.[2]

Note: Correction of Mistakes, Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822)

Good grief. I’ve re-read my posting several days ago about Mary Brooks and husband Jacob Hollingsworth, and find I made a mess of things when I spoke about the date of his death (1822) and of his will (15 May 1815). I had typed 1821 several times when I meant 1815, and in one instance, had said that Jacob died in 1821 instead of 1822.

I apologize for those errors, and have now corrected them. When it comes to typing numbers, I sometimes have a kind of dyslexia (not a clinical diagnosis, just my term for how my brain and fingers work on the keyboard), and end up garbling numbers. Anytime any reader spots a mistake of any kind in what I post here, I surely do welcome corrections.

Children of Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822) — Sarah Hollingsworth (abt. 1770 – 10 Sept. 1808/15 May 1821) and Husband James Garner

Charles Christopher Sheats (1839-1904), from Joseph W. Danielson, “Christopher Sheats,” Encyclopedia of Alabama; photo courtesy of Reita Jones

Or, Subtitled: Difficulties of Tracing Women’s Lines, Especially When Women Die Young

About the second child of Jacob Hollingsworth and Mary Brooks, their daughter Sarah and her husband James Garner, I have scant information. As noted previously, Sarah was born 1770-1, probably in Guilford County, North Carolina, and predeceased her father Jacob Hollingsworth. His will, made 15 May 1815 in Franklin County, Georgia, states that Sarah had died and makes a bequest to her son Jacob Garner.[1] As has also been noted, Sarah’s son Jacob Garner married Mary Hunter, daughter of Evan Todhunter, whose son John T. Hunter moved to Lawrence County, Alabama, where his family intermarried with the Lindsey and Brooks families. I find no evidence that James and Sarah Hollingsworth Garner had more children than their son Jacob, and he and wife Mary Hunter seem to have had a single child, a daughter Mary Elizabeth, so there is not much possibility of biographical information about James and Sarah passing down multiple family lines that followed them.

Children of Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822) — Hannah Hollingsworth (1769-1841) and Husband Daniel Brown

Captain John Seawell Brown (1814-1893) from his Find a Grave memorial page, Pleasant Gardens cemetery, Burke County, North Carolina; created by Richard Brown, photo uploaded by rkl

Or, Subtitled: “A Rich Jeffersonian History … Self-Sustaining Farmers of Multiple Children”

As my last posting states, I have not done exhaustive research on the family of Jacob Hollingsworth (1742-1822) and Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – after 15 May 1815). That posting also ends by telling you that, in subsequent postings, I’ll share the bits and pieces of information I have about the children of Jacob and Mary Brooks Hollingsworth. Since I have not researched the descendants of Jacob and Mary in any systematic way, it might be best to regard what I’m going to share about them in a series of postings as a guide to further research rather than a comprehensive account of these families and records about them.

Children of Mary Brooks (1745/1750 – aft. 15 May 1815) and Jacob Hollingsworth (1742 – 1822)

Tombstone of Hannah Hollingsworth Brown from her Find a Grave memorial page, Nacoochee Methodist cemetery, Sautee, White County, Georgia — see n. 3, infra

As we saw in the previous posting, the will that Jacob Hollingsworth made in Franklin County, Georgia, on 15 May 1815 names his children, noting that his son Samuel and daughter Sarah (Garner) had both predeceased him.[1]Before I start telling you what I know about Jacob’s children, a proviso: I haven’t done exhaustive research on them. What I’m sharing now are bits and pieces I’ve gathered through desultory research. Some researchers have done much more work than I have on some of these children — e.g., Sadie Greenings Spark on Samuel, James, and Benjamin[2] — and I’ll point you to that research as I discuss the children of Jacob Hollingsworth and wife Mary Brooks, who were as follows: