HOLMES, Col Joseph

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Deputy-Commissioner General of Prisoners
• Census: 1782, Frederick Co, VA

Notes:

From Frederica Trapnell notes on John Macky from 1968:

There is little authenticated information about Joseph Holmes prior to his coming to Winchester, Virginia.  He is reputed to have been born at Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, on August 22, 1746. (Ballykelly is East of Londonderry on the road to Limavaddy and close to Lough Foyle.) His father, Hugh Holmes, is said to have owned an estate of 400 acres there. Many of the books about Winchester in its early days mention Joseph Holmes.  Cartmell, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants, list the Vestrymen of Frederick Paris in 1764, among them being Edward Snickers and Joseph Holmes (p. 181) and refers to the latter as “the Deputy-Commissioner General of Prisoners,” (p. 271). “The November Court 1784, Joseph Holmes produced his commission as Lieutenant Colonel and at the May Court 1785 was sworn as Sheriff,” (p. 90). “Upon the petition of Joseph Holmes, Gent. and others, merchants in the Borough of Winchester, that they may have a portion of public ground assigned them for the purpose of building a Tobacca Warehouse, ordered that…Robert Mackey…be appointed to lay off on the public lot adjoining Water Street, 100 feet square for the purpose aforesaid, and that said land is vested in Joseph Holmes…Trustees for the purpose aforesaid…” (p. 140). Water Street is now called Boscawen Street.  It got its original name because the Town Run frequently overflowed it and made it impassable (The Streets of Winchester, Garland R. Quarles, p. 18).

Birth:
He is reputed to have been born at Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, on August 22, 1746. (Ballykelly is East of Londonderry on the road to Limavaddy and close to Lough Foyle.)

Joseph married HUNTER, Rebecca in 1767 in Frederick Co, VA. Rebecca (daughter of HUNTER, David and MCILHENNY, Martha) was born on 8 Nov 1749 in York, PA; died about Oct 1806 in Frederick County, VA, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. HOLMES, Nancy was born in UNKNOWN; died on 20 Jul 1819.
2. HOLMES, Hugh was born on 8 Nov 1768 in Mary Ann Furnace, York Co, PA.
3. HOLMES, David was born on 10 Mar 1769; died on 20 Aug 1832.
4. HOLMES, Margaret was born on 16 Dec 1771 in “Red House” near Martinsburg, Berkeley, WV USA; died in 1803.
5. HOLMES, Elizabeth was born on 24 May 1777 in Frederick Co, VA; died on 28 Mar 1828.
6. HOLMES, Rebecca was born on 26 Mar 1779 in “Stockholm Farms”.
7. HOLMES, Gertrude was born in 1788; died on 24 Aug 1827.
8. HOLMES, Joseph was born in 1789; died in 1810.
9. HOLMES, Andrew Hunter was born in 1792; died in 1812 in Mackinac Island, Mackinac, MI USA.
10. HOLMES, Joseph was born before 1789.
11. HOLMES, Joseph was born before 1789.