Holly Tomlinson

Holly Tomlinson sounds like the name of an insurance broker who was born in 1985, hits the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, holds a seat on the PTA, drives a Honda Accord, collects antique pie plates and loves to make casseroles.

Actually, she is my newest discovery, an 

ancestor who died around 1835. 

I've been all up in my Faulkner line lately, also seen as Falkner, Fortner and Falconer.  In fact, the surname originated with the art of Falconry, someone skilled in the training of birds of prey. 

I couldn't dig into the Falkners, or my third Great Grandfather, John Faulkner, without touching on the family of his wife, Susan Webster Faulkner.

I had discovered about three years ago that Susan was the daughter of a Nancy Webster, who had children with a man named Erasmus Preslar, son of Elias Preslar, Sr.  Nancy's son, Calvin, had migrated to Mississippi and Nancy would too, arriving with her sister Mary " Polly" Webster Preslar, who had married Elias Preslar Jr. Nancy would marry a man named Enoch Perrit in Mississippi and in the 1850 census the two families are living next to each other.

The Mississippi Preslars had connected the Webster sisters to a very early Scott County pioneer named John Jesse Webster. Additional research has discovered he hailed from Franklin County, Virginia. 

J. J. Webster had not made a straight line from Virginia to Mississippi. He had made a pitstop in North Carolina along the Pee Dee River. 

This research comes from a group of people with whom I share DNA, so I have not verified it myself, but from what I have seen, it adds up.  I've not quoted anyone because they didn't want their names shared, however I can use the general information, most of which I already knew. 

All of the research from myself to Nancy is my own.  As far as I can tell, no one had ever matched the Nancy Webster in the 1830 census of Anson County with the Nancy Webster who married Enoch Perrit. These, instead, are off of Mary 'Polly' 'Webster Preslar and her husband, Elias Preslar Jr.

Understand, the children of Elias Preslar Jr and Polly Webster Preslar and those of Nancy Webster and Erasmus Preslar were double first cousins. The amount of DNA shared by their children would rival that of siblings, coming up in present generations, a generation closer in matches. 

The Tomlinsons lived in Montgomery County, adjoining Anson, possibly in the part that is now Stanly.  Somewhere in the 1820's, John Jesse Webster met and married a Holly Tomlinson.  Together they had at least 3 daughters, Polly, Nancy and Sarah, who married Robin Broadway. Holly died a young woman and Jesse left his children in Anson County and left for Mississippi. Maybe he left them with family.

Both Polly and Nancy had daughters with "Holly" in their names. Polly's daughter was Mary Minnie Holly Presley (as some Preslars would evolve into) Helms, (1825-1870) who married Blackman Helms and remained in North Carolina.

Name:	Holly Helms
Age in 1870:	46
Birth Date:	abt 1824
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Dwelling Number:	196
Home in 1870:	Sandy Ridge, Union, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Post Office:	Wolfsville
Occupation:	Keeping House
Cannot Write:	Yes
Inferred Spouse:	Blackman Helms
Inferred Children:	Emely HelmsJohn A HelmsBitha Helms
Household Members Age Blackman Helms 46 Holly Helms 46 Emely Helms 9 John A Helms 7 Bitha Helms 4

Nancy had Malissa Holly Catherine Webster (1820-1872). Other than this extraneous coincidence, I haven't found any concrete information that Holly is indeed my ancestor, other than the information out there that she existed and that she was. I would like to know who was the first person who found evidence of Holly's existence and where did they find it? 

Finding female ancestors is much more difficult than finding male ancestors. Unless they were named in wills, deeds, family bibles, marriage documents or an occasional  baptism record, they arene't mentioned by name before 1850. While they didn't serve in the military, sometimes one can find an application for a pension based on a husbands service for a widow. 

Holly was supposedly the daughter of a Thomas Tomlinson Sr., born in Albemarle Parish, Surry County, Virginia in 1747 and who died between 1824 and 1830, in Montgomery County, NC and his wife, Olive Hines Tomlinson (1755-1820) daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Hines of Sussex County, Virginia.

Thomas Tomlinson Sr., from there, is supposedly the son of Richard Tomlinson, Jr. of Prince George County, Va and wife Mary Adkins, daughter of Thomas Adkins Jr and wife Grace. Mary Adkins Tomlinson married William Hunter after his death.

Richard Tomlinson Jr. was the son of Richard Tomlinson Sr. (1693-1751) Surry County, VA, who married Eleanor Nance Walpole, (1698-1747) daugther of John and Sarah Nance and widow of Richard Walpole