The Name and Family of HOLLOWAY

The Name of HOLLOWAY is said to be of ancient Saxon origin and to have been taken by its first bearers because of their residence at a place so called at the time of the adoption of surnames in England. Its meaning is "the hollow or hole way". The name is found on ancient English and early American records in the various forms of Holeweye, Holleweye, Holewey, Hollewey, Holewaye, Holeway, Hollway, Holway, Holwaye, Halloway, Haloway, Holliway, Holiway, Hollaway, Holaway, Hallaway, Halaway, Holoway, Holloway, and numerous other, of which the last spelling mentioned is that most generally used in America today.

Families of this name were to be found at early dates in the English Counties of Wilts, Werwick, Berks, Oxford, Somerset, and Middlesex, as well as in the city and vicinity of London; and one branch of the family was early settled in Ireland. These families were, for the most part, of the landed gentry and yeomanry of Great Britain.

Among the earliest records of the Holloways are found those of Johannes or John de Holeweye, of Wiltshire, in the year 1273 A.D.; those of Richard Holeway, John Holeweye, and Hugh Holeway, of London, about the year 1280; those of William De Holeweye, of Warwickshire, about the same time; those of Ralph, son of Hugh de Hollaweye, of London, in 1285; those of Grevese Holeway of 1299; those of Henry of Holeway in 1300; those of Abbott Holeway and Richard Holeweye of 1319; those of Robert Holeweye of 1327; those of William Holeweye, of Somersetshire, during the reign of King Edward the Third of England, 1327-1377; and those of Sibill Holloway of London at a later date.

John Holloway of Southamptonshire in the latter part of the sixteenth century was the father by his wife Alice, daughter of Miles Lee, of Richard, John William, Francis, Elizabeth, Mary and Alice. Of these, John was the father by his wifeSusan, daughter of Dr. Anyan, of Sir Richard Holloway, of Oxford, John, William, Thomas and Susan: and William was the father of John, William, Charles and Robert.

Charles Holloway, who is called by some authorities the son of John Holloway and Alice daughter of "Myles Leigh", resided in Oxfordshire and had issue by his wife Alice, daughter of Walter Dayrell or Darrell, of Charles, Alice, Frances, and Mary or Sarah.

While it is not definitely known from which of the many lines of the family in England the first American emigrants of the name were descended, all the Holloways are believed to derive from a common ancestor of a remote period.

Among the first of the name who emigrated to America in the 17th century were:
John Holloway of Boston, Mass. and Hartford, Conn. about 1635;
Peter Holloway of Charles City County, Va. in 1635;
Joseph Holloway of Lynn, Mass. as early as 1636, who will be mentioned again later;
Thomas Holloway of Duxbury, Mass. in 1637;
John Holloway of Virginia in 1639;
William Holloway of Taunton, Mass. about 1639, who will be mentioned again later;
Timothy Holloway of Taunton, Mass. about 1643;
Oliver Holloway of Lower Norfolk County, Va. in 1648;
John Holloway of Northumberland County, Va. in 1655;
Henry Holloway of Dover, N.H. in 1662;
Samuel Holloway of Taunton before 1666, who will be mentioned again later;
and Malachi Holloway of Taunton in 1668.

The before-mentioned Joseph Holloway, who came to Lynn, Mass. about 1636 from London, England, removed to Sandwich in the following year but is believed to have returned to Lynn. Either he or his son of the same name had issue of four children; Joseph, Edward, Mary and Samuel, in that town.

The before-mentioned William Holloway of Taunton, Mass. in 1639, may have been the brother of Timothy Holloway of Taunton, whose records are not clear. William removed to Boston about 1650 and by his wife, Mary, had issue of Mary, Benjamin, Hannah and probably of others.

The before-mentioned Samuel Holloway of Taunton, Mass. is believed to have been related to the last two immigrants mentioned. In 1666 he married Jane Brayman, who gave him at least four children; Hannah, Samuel, Nathaniel and John.

James Holoway or Holloway settled in York County, Va. before 1675 and was father of at least one son, named David.

One John Holloway was living in Calvert County, Md., prior to the year 1697 and is said to have had issue by a wife named Mathew of five children; John, James, Eliza, Riggell and Mary.

William Holloway of Taunton, Mass., before 1702, who is sometimes called the son of Malachi, was married in that year to Elizabeth Holyday, by whom he was the father of William and others.

John Holloway, a prominent lawyer, came from England to Virginia about 1770 and settled in King and Queen County, whence he later removed to Williamsburg. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. William Cooke, but left no issue.

Among the other early bearers of the name who came to America in the eighteenth century was Tobias Holloway, who came from Bristol, Somersetshire, England, in 1714 and made his home in New Jersey. By his first wife, the Widow Deborah (nee Gabadis) Griscom, he had two children, John and Deborah, of whom the first died young. In 1732 he married a second wife, the Widow Mary (nee Medbalf or Metcalf ) Ladd, who gave him further issue of Mary, Abigail, Sarah and perhaps Malachi and others.

At any rate, one Malachi of Morris County, N.J., in the early eighteenth century was the father, by his wife Elizabeth, of Elkenah, Elijah, Patience, Judeth, Elizabeth, Malachi and Jonathan.

John Holloway, possibly a brother of Tobias, was living in N.J. in 1716, or before, and is believed to have been the son of Thomas and Gartery Holloway, of Bristol, England. In 1706 he married Mary Pharo, their children were Avis, George, John and James.

Of these, George married Ruth Wood, but his records are not complete; John married Mary Smith in 1733 and had issue by her of John, George, Joseph, Ann, Mary, Peter, Samuel and James; and James married Rebecca Kirby, but his records are also incomplete.

Another John Holloway came, with his brother George and his sister Clara, from England to Culpeper County, Va., in the early 18th century. By his wife, Elizabeth Hudson, the immigrant John was the father of five sons and two daughters, among whom was a son named Thomas, who married Caroline Schooler of Kentucky, and later removed to Missouri, where the name was generally spelled Holliway.

The descendants of the various branches of the family in America have spread to practically every state of the Union and have aided as much in the rise of the nation as their forbears did in its founding. They have been characterized on the whole by resourcefulness, tact, initiative and in some cases artistic ability.

Among those of the Holloway family who served as officers
in the War of the Revolution were:
Captain Holloway (Christian name unknown) of Virginia;
Lieutenant James Holloway of Virginia;
Corporal John of Massachusetts; and
Captain Joseph Holloway of Rhode Island.
There were also many others of the name in the ranks from the various New England and southern states including Barnes, Charles, George, John, Joseph, Martin, Thomas and William of Virginia; and Abner, Calvin, Charles, Daniel, Elijah, Henry Jonathan, Joseph, Josiah, Nathaniel, Peter, Samuel, Wibon, William and Zephaniah of Massachusetts.

John, William, Samuel, Joseph, Thomas, James, George, Richard, Robert, Charles and Henry are some of the Christian names most favored by the Holloway family in America for its male progeny.

A few of the many members of the family who have distinguished themselves in America in more recent times are:

David P. Holloway (1809 - 1883) of Ohio, journalist, State senator and Congressman.

One of the most ancient and frequently used of the coats of arms of the English family of Holloway is that described as follows (Burke, General Armory, 1884);

Arms. --	"Gules, a fess between three crescents argent, a canton ermine."
Crest. --	" A goat's head erased and horned argent, collared and lined gules, on the collar three crescents of first."

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Savage. Genealogical Dictionary of New England. 1860
Greer. Early Virginia Immigrants. 1912
Munsell. American Ancestry. Vol. 9, 1894
Tyler. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Vol. 1, 1915
O.E. Holloway. Genealogy of the Holloway Family. 1927
Carrington. Mary Holloway Carrington. 1935
McIlhany. Some Virginia Families. 1903
Van Meter. Genealogies of Some Old Families
Burgess. Virginia Soldiers of 1776. 1927
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Virginia Revolutionary Soldiers. 1912
Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. 1901
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