Family:William Holmes and Elizabeth Bybee (1)

William Holmes b. 20 Apr 1819 Kentucky, United States d. 13 Sep 1881 Callaway, Missouri, United States

Parents: William Bybee and Alice Hays Elizabeth Bybee b. 4 Nov 1828 Kentucky, United States d. 5 Nov 1881 Fulton, Callaway, Missouri, United States

m. 16 Oct 1847 Green, Kentucky, United States

William Holmes and his father-in-law, William Bybee are this researcher’s two greatest brick walls! Any help and collaboration is greatly appreciated.

William Holmes moves to Green County, Kentucky

The oldest record for William Holmes[1] is found in the Green County, Kentucky tax rolls in 1847. He paid tax on a horse. Often the ownership of a horse in these days indicates that he was traveling. William had paid no taxes on any farm or occupational items indicating that he had just moved into Green County, Kentucky in 1847. But where did he travel from? In any case, perhaps that horse impressed my Great Grandmother or Elizabeth Bybee impressed William enough for him to settle down a short while in Green County. William married Elizabeth Bybee[2] in Green County, Kentucky on October 16, 1847. Elizabeth's brother, Pleasant Bybee, swears in her Marriage Bond that she is 21 years old. Other sources,such as her cemetery marker and the US census of 1880, indicate that she was only 18 years old at the time of her marriage. The fact that her brother, Pleasant, signed the bond indicates that their father was dead. This concurs with other information indicating that her father, William Bybee, had already died about 1838 or 1843 at the latest.

Green County, Kentucky to Crawford County, Missouri

It wasn’t long before William was back traveling. There are no known records of their travel from Green County, Kentucky to Crawford county, Missouri but William and Elizabeth had their first child, Adolphis Allen Holmes, on March 28, 1850 and had moved to Crawford County Missouri by the time of the 1850 census in June. Note that some Index of the 1850 Census list “Wm. and E. Homes”. Given the seasonal aspects of moving some 400 miles to a new location in the West, this would seem to indicate that their move was most likely between the Spring of 1848 and the Spring of 1849. Given that Geeen County, Kentucky is 80 miles south of Louisville on the Ohio River, and that Crawford County, Missouri is only 80 miles southwest of St. Louis on the Mississippi River, their travel may have been down the Ohio and up the Mississippi either by boat or nearby trail.

William and Elizabeth Holmes’ first four children, Adolphis Allen, John Crawford, Alcy Ann "Nan", and Charity Alla Holmes, were born in Crawford County, Missouri.

Crawford County, Missouri to Callaway County, Missouri

After six or seven years William was back traveling. There are no known records of their travel from Crawford County, Missouri to Callaway County Missouri, but William and Elizabeth had their fifth child, Virginia Ellen Holmes, on February 2, 1856 in Callaway County Missouri. So sometime between May 1854 and winter 1855, the family moved the 110 miles on West to Callaway County, Missouri. The remainder of the 11 children were also born in Callaway County: Saul Washington, Fannie E., James Burygard, William Harrison, Alvin Edgar, and Jackson Tramel Holmes. The 1880 US Census locates William and Elizabeth Holmes, and their four youngest children living in the South Fulton district of Callaway County.

The family remained in Callaway County the rest of their lives and most all are buried there in Guthrie or Fulton[3].

William Holmes is buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri. His cemetery marker is shown on the Find-A-Grave website[4]. Elizabeth Bybee Holmes is also in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri. Her cemetery marker is shown on the Find-A-Grave website[5].