Person:Elizabeth Bybee (1)

Elizabeth Bybee's husband, William Holmes, and her father William Bybee are this researcher’s two greatest brick walls! Any help and collaboration is greatly appreciated.

Elizabeth Bybee

Elizabeth Bybee, daughter of William Bybee, was born on November 4, 1828 in Kentucky. A family Bible indicates that she was born in Boone, Kentucky. There is a Boone County, Kentucky but little evidence that a Bybee family lived in that area of the state. A very large concentration of Bybee families lived in Barren County and Green County where Elizabeth’s family lived when she married in 1847.

William Holmes moves to Green County, Kentucky and meets Elizabeth Bybee

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 indicate that she was only 18 year old. Her brother, Pleasant's action on the bond also concurs with other sources indicating that her father, William Bybee, had already died in about 1838.

Green County, Kentucky to Crawford County, Missouri

It wasn’t long before William and Elizabeth were back traveling. There are no know 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

In six or seven years William was back traveling. There are no know 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 and had moved to 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].

Elizabeth Bybee Holmes is buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri. A memorial page with a photo of her cemetery marker is shown on the Find-A-Grave website.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Elizabeth Bybee Holmes, in Find A Grave.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Callaway, Missouri, United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   South Fulton, Callaway county, ED 30, Sheet 559B, Pg 10, Dwelling 85, Family 87, Lines 16-21, NARA microfilm publication T9, Roll 677

3. ↑ Knox, Missouri, United States. 1870 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   Fabius township, Knox county, Pg 21, Dwelling 176, Family 153, Lines 35-38, NARA microfilm publication M593