Although I have not posted any items during the past year, I have managed to find some time to pursue my genealogical interests. A visit to the National Archives branch in Philadelphia last fall led to the discovery that my Irish immigrant ancestor, John Conroy, was born in County Lough, north of Dublin. A recent trip to the Mississippi Valley gave me a chance to learn more about Zacharias Holladay’s brother John Holladay and his descendants and to visit some of the areas where they lived in Mississippi.
I also enjoyed meeting many Newcomb cousins at a birthday party and family celebration in January, and I met many of my Holladay cousins from Boone County, Kentucky, at an impromptu reunion in April.
At the beginning of this year I became co-administrator for the US part of the Halliday/Holladay Y-DNA Surname Project at FTDNA. This project includes all variants of the Halliday surname, including Holladay, Holliday, and many others. Through this effort I hope to learn more about the ancestors of Zacharias Holladay and their relationship to other early Holladay immigrants to Virginia. More about this work in future posts.
For the moment my genealogy efforts compete for time with volunteer support at the Southern California Genealogical Society. With the successful conclusion of our recent Genealogy Jamboree I’m hoping to find more time for serious genealogy work and for posting to this blog.
Jay's Genealogy Blog 
July 21, 2011 at 5:57 pm |
Hi Jay – I’m a decendant of William Holladay and Jane Tong of Fredericktown Missouri. I’m trying to find his parents. I suspect his father was Thomas Holladay. William H. was born February 5th 1814 in Tennessee & married Jane Tong in 1835 in Fredericktown. If you have any information of Missouri line of Holladays I’d appeciate hearing from you. Thanks
July 21, 2011 at 8:07 pm |
Hi David – Good to hear from you. I’ve been planning to get this blog going again and to expand its scope. There are several lines of Holladays in Missouri.. Two from my line, descended from Zacharias Holladay of Adair County, KY, moved to Carroll County, MO. I need to know as much as you can tell me about your William H. Holladay and also about the Thomas Holladay who you suspect was his father. I will try to match you up with one of the Holladay lines in Alvis Holladay’s book, “The Holladay Family”. Please send me an email and we can carry on this conversation.
February 15, 2012 at 12:59 pm |
I’m a descendant of John Holladay, Glen Holladay, Doug Holladay, is my father. How ever i’m can’t be certain that it is the same John that you speak of in your blogs all I have are Family story’s to go off of. I am very interested in the Holladay Family history though. My grandpa Glen has a green Holladay family book of names and journals from John who freed his slaves and joined the LDS church, and then settled Holladay Utah along with many other Mormon settlements in places like Colorado. Other than this its pretty sad to me that my heritage is somewhat of a mystery to me. I do know a descent amount but there are wholes and conflicts of information in what I know. Witch only make me want to learn more.
February 16, 2012 at 8:53 am
Hi, Lee, thanks for your response. No, your ancestor John Holladay is not the one I am referring to. However, if you are descended from the Holladay that joined the LDS church and settled Holladay Utah, there is a good deal of information available about your background and heritage.
I suspect the green book you refer to about the Holladay family is “The Holladay Family”, by Alvis Milton Holladay, Sr. I can provide more information on that book, if you wish.
Let’s continue this conversation by email and I will make further posts about this line as time permits. You can reach me at jholladay(at)ca.rr.com
February 17, 2012 at 6:14 pm |
Hi Jay – let me know what other info you need from me & my Missouri line. I’m fairly confident William H. was born in TN as stated above (Feb 5th 1814) & circumstantial evidence (MO land records & 1830 census) points to his father being Thomas. I’ve spend many hours looking over the Avis Milton Holladay book but unable to make a connection to anyone in it. For the record. I live in St. Louis, my grandfather was Grover Cleveland Holladay, born in 1887 in Greenville, MO, lived in Festus, MO most of his life. He was the youngest of nine. His father was George Wesley Holladay born in 1842 in Fredericktown, MO. He was the 5th of 9 children of William Holladay & Jane Tong.
February 18, 2012 at 6:08 pm |
Hi David – Thanks for the additional information on your Missouri line. Do you have documentation about the marriage of William Holladay and Jane Tong in 1835? I have some other questions a s well which I will put into an email. You line may not be among those documented in the Alvis Holladay book. There were quite a few different Holladay/Holliday lines in Missouri during that time frame.
February 19, 2012 at 5:33 pm
yes – I’ve got a copy of their marriage cert (1833 actually) . Would you like me to forward it? Yeah I’ve hit a dead end – any help is appreciated.
February 23, 2012 at 10:37 am |
David, Yes, please send me a copy of their marriage certificate. I have a few other questions which I will send you in a email.
March 18, 2012 at 3:44 pm |
Hello there, My maiden name is Lizbeth Lynn Holladay,My father was Raymond Rhinehart Holladay , I believe he was related to Ben Holladay . My whole family was from Kansas City Missouri, except me . I was born in Bremerton Washington
March 19, 2012 at 6:15 am |
Hi, Lizbeth, and thanks for your interest in the blog and in Holladay family history. How much do you know about your Holladay line and the connection to Ben Holladay, the Stage Coach King? I’ll email you with some followup questions.
May 30, 2013 at 1:37 pm |
Hi Jay,
I’m a descendant of William Holladay and Jane Tong but I only know this from the DNA sample I just did with Ancestry.com. My name is Lori Holstad Barone. I don’t know anything about any of the names of my 4th cousins. Thank you.