Sion Holley (1830-1909) and Family

Sion is on the bottom row, left. My grandfather, James Madison (Uncle Matt) is on the top row, right. Two of Sion’s children are not in this photo – which was taken about 1900. There really isn't a circle around Bernice Carolyn -- a combination of clothing gives that appearance.

Sion Holley, as we spell it today, was born in Alabama in May of 1830. The month and year come from census records. While we have his Bible with birth dates for his children, his birth date is not given.

Sion was the oldest of seven surviving children born to John and Elizabeth Holly / Holley. He was born in South Carolina about 1797 and she in North Carolina about 1804. Again, the dates are from census records. We know they were in Tuscaloosa county, Alabama by 1832. John filed patents on land no less than three times. (Huntsville 15S, 8W, 35, 80.75 – 1832; 15S, 8W, 34, 40.37 – 1834; 17S, 9W, 3, 79.915 -- 1839.)

Sion is listed with his parents in the Tuscaloosa county 1850 census. He married Sarah Ann Gowen on 19 October 1853 in Lowndes county, Mississippi, on the Alabama / Mississippi border, just a county away from Tuscaloosa. We couldn’t find the family in the 1860 census, but find where Private S. Holly, 32, Mt. Enterprise, enlisted in Captain Harvey A. Wallace's Co. H 19th TX Infantry organized between May 4 - July 28, 1862. It also lists R. Holly, Sion’s brother and R Gowen, his brother-in-law.

"Report of Indigent Soldier's Families & Dependents in Rusk County - 1864-1865" Shows "Holly, Sivin" with two dependents 23 Feb 1864. Sarah and three older children died of “a fever” prior to this date. There are several unmarked graves in the Holleman cemetery outside Mount Enterprise in Rusk county, Texas. It would be conjecture, but they are possibly buried there. We do know that G. W. Holleman served in the same Co. H 19th Texas Infantry Sion, his brother Richard and Green Wilson Holleman returned to Rusk county. Robert Gowen died in Rondo, Arkansas in 1862.

For a while, Sion’s surviving children, Susan Frances and Benjamin L., were cared for by G W Holleman’s second daughter, Mary Elizabeth. Mary was twenty-four years younger than Sion, born 20 September 1854 in McNairy county, Tennessee, and only fourteen when she married him on 28 April 1867 in Rusk county, Texas.

We don’t find them in the 1870 census – but find his parents John and Elizabeth with his son Benjamin in the Rusk county census. Family tradition says that when Sarah and the three children died, Sion was given leave from the army, picked up Susan and Benjamin, and took them by horseback to his parents in Alabama. That would have to be before 1864. Before 1870, the family moved to Rusk county.

Sion and Mary remained near Mt. Enterprise for ten years. Their fifth child, James Madison, was born in Polk county, Arkansas, where Sion and Mary lived for the rest of their lives. Mary Elizabeth died 27 February 1899 and is buried in the Witherspoon Cemetery at Vandervoort, Polk county, Arkansas.

In the 1900 census Sion is listed under Samuel Witherspoon's family, as Father-in-law, White, Male born May 1830, age 70, Widowed, born in Alabama. Sion died 3 September, 1909 and is also buried in the Witherspoon Cemetery.

Sion and Sarah Ann Gowen had the following children:

Elsbury, born 11 Oct 1854
Monroe, born 22 July 1856
Elizabeth, born 15 May 1858
Susan Frances, born 11 Oct 1860 – married Samuel Witherspoon
Benjamin, born 24 May 1861 – married Jimmie Adeline Etchison

Sion and Mary Elizabeth Holleman had the following children:

William Lonzo, born 23 Aug 1868 -- married Julie McBride; Frances Moore
John Wilson, born 24 Feb 1870 – married Josetta Merchant
Nancy Jane, born 21 Feb 1873 – married James Monroe (Bud) Minyard
Mary Catherine (Cassie), born 1 Jan 1875 – married H. Perry Stanford
James Madison, bornr 1 Nov 1877 – married Lydia Jane Walden
Martha Esibell, born 1 Feb 1880 – married Frank M. Attebery
David Jerdin, born 15 Oct 1881 – married Ada McCoy; Mary Jane Scott
Bernice Carolyn, born 4 Feb 1884 – married Samuel H. Stevenson; Rumsey E. Byrd; Carl Higgins
George Edward, born 14 April 1888 – never married
Mike Treece, born 12 Nov 1890 – married Annie Dupree
Lulu Holley, born 9 Aug 1893 – married Ed Tyler