Semiquincentennial - - Revolutionary War - - Moses Hollis

 - A series of posts about our family's Revolutionary War soldiers -

250 Years; 1776 - 2026

Our Family was there, from the Beginning

Moses' sons, Elijah, John & William also served in the South Carolina Militia.

Moses Hollis

1728 Fairfax, VA – c 1794 South Carolina

Son of John & Esther (Canterbury) Hollis; Husband of Rosannah Berry Hagan

My 6th great grandfather

 

Lieutenant in the South Carolina Militia

Moses Hollis lived in the American colonies. Both Moses and his wife, Rosannah (Hagan) Hollis,[i] were born in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was born in 1728[ii]^,[iii] and she was born in 1735.[iv]

On 26 March 1751 Moses witnessed an indenture between Henry Fitzhugh and John Gray. Moses’ father, John Hollis, was a tenant of Henry Fitzhugh.[v] John Hollis grew tobacco and operated a tavern in Fairfax County.[vi]

Moses and Rosannah moved to South Carolina where they could obtain land of their own. Land records prove Moses’ residence in Craven County, South Carolina. On 29 April 1768 Moses Hollis received a Colonial Land Grant of 300 acres on the Wateree River (also seen as Wateree Creek).[vii] In February 1771 he purchased an additional 200 acres on Wateree Creek. His land was described as “bounded on all sides by vacant land.”[viii] In 1772 another 200 acres were granted to Moses in Craven County.[ix]

While their property expanded their family grew. They had at least four children: Jemimah (Hollis) Smith, John Hollis, Elijah Hollis, Nancy (Hollis) Gladden and Berry Hollis.[x] Families were the “social foundations” for life in the Colonial South.[xi]

 

Because formal institutions were often weak in the colonial South, family and kin assumed many more responsibilities than families do today including subsistence, education, vocational training, social welfare, religious instruction, and elderly care. Family life both shaped and was altered by colonialism.[xii]

 

Colonial southerners spent their days laboring to feed, house and clothe themselves. They also wanted to produce goods for exchange. After 1700 “rice became Carolina’s gold.” It is likely Moses grew rice, wheat, indigo or tobacco to sell to Europe.[xiii] “He was a “typical successful farmer.”[xiv]

In August 1767 Moses was in the newspaper. The paper printed a list of men whose horses were missing, either stolen or strays.

 

By Moses Hollis, a bay mare, 13 hands high, a natural pacer, branded on each buttock, judged to be 8 years old.[xv]

 

The Revolutionary War began. Moses served as a Lieutenant for 30 days in 1780 in the Cheraws District Regiment of the South Carolina Militia. He later requested compensation for a “Gun [that] was Taken.” Moses served again in late 1782 – 1783 in the Turkey Creek Regiment under Captain Charles Lewis.[xvi]

The oldest sons of Moses and Rosannah served in the South Carolina Militia, with John and Elijah as Captains and William as a Private. In an affidavit, Elijah said he was too young to serve initially but towards the end of the war he served with his brother, John, both under Colonel Lacey in two tours of duty.[xvii]

In 1780 Moses served on a Grand Jury.[xviii] In 1790 his name appears in the records of the first United States census in Fairfield, South Carolina.[xix] The 1790 US Census for Fairfield included these Hollis names: Elijah, James, John, Moses and William.[xx] Moses Hollis wrote his will on 9 April 1793. It is from this document we have the name of his wife and some of his children. He died circa 1794.[xxi]

 

1789 Signature of Moses Hollis

From Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution, SC Dept. of Archives & History

<https://www.archivesindex.sc.gov>

Revolutionary War Series:

#1  William Stark Kelly, Private in the North Carolina Militia

#2 Captain John Kennington, Camden District Regiment, South Carolina Militia 

#3 Sergeant John Brumfield, Patriot & Spy South Carolina Militia 

#4 Charles Brumfield, Gave Patriotic Service

#5 Captain Johannes Ritter, Sr., Northampton Co., PA Militia  

 

 

Read more about our family's pioneers & patriots.

This is my newest book, published in late 2024. It includes chapters on these families:

Alford, Ashely, Brown, Brumfield,

Fortenberry, Hollis, Kelly, Kennington,

Lawrence, Ott, Smith & Spurlock

Buy from me: Price: $95.00 + $10 shipping & packaging. No credit cards.

OR: use credit card & purchase through Troy Book Makers.

 

 

---

[i] US and International Marriage Records, 1560 – 1900; digital record, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020)

Moses Hollis & Rosanna.

[ii] Daughters of the American Revolution, Ancestor Record, Ancestor #A206608, Moses Hollis; digital record (dar.org:

accessed Sept. 2020).

[iii] Gurr, Cindy Brock and Dennis Ray Gurr. The Ties That Bind US Together, Volume 5 (privately printed, 2006)

Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed Sept. 2020) 230 – 249.

[iv] Gurr, Cindy Brock and Dennis Ray Gurr. The Ties That Bind US Together, Volume 5 (privately printed, 2006)

Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed Sept. 2020) 230 – 249.

[v] Sparacio, Ruth and Sam, Fairfax County, Virginia Orders, 1768 – 1769 (VA: Antient Press) 111.

[vi] Mitchell, Beth, Fairfax County, Virginia in 1760 an Interpretive Historical Map (Fairfax Co., VA: Office of Comprehensive Planning, 1987) 99.

[vii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Land Grant, Series S213019, Volume 16, Page 367; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, 1768, on Wataree River.

[viii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Plat Books, Series S213184, Volume 17, Page 39, Item

2; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, 1771, Craven County.

[ix] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Land Grant, Series S213019, Volume 27, Page 455; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, Craven County.

[x] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. South Carolina Will Transcripts, Series S108093, Reel 11, Frame

100; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, Fairfield Co

[xi] Schlotterbeck, John T. Daily Life in the Colonial South (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2020) 85.

[xii] Schlotterbeck, John T. Daily Life in the Colonial South (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2020) 85.

[xiii] Schlotterbeck, John T. Daily Life in the Colonial South (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2020) 37 – 38.

[xiv] Tidwell, W. A. A History of the Tidwell Family; Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed Sept. 2020) 98 – 99.

[xv] Strays (Charleston, SC: The South Carolina and American General Gazette, 7 August 1767) 4; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed Sept. 2020.

[xvi] Graves, Willia. Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters; ,revwarapps.org; accessed March 2026) Moses Hollis.

[xvii] Graves, Willia. Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters; ,revwarapps.org; accessed March 2026) John Hollis.

[xviii] US Census Reconstructed Records, 1660 – 1829, SC, Camden District; digital record, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept 2020) Moses Hollis, 1780.

[xix] 1790 US Census, SC, Fairfield; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis.

[xx] Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790; South Carolina (Baltimore, MD:

Clearfield Co., Inc., 2004) 19 – 20.

[xxi] Daughters of the American Revolution, Ancestor Record, Ancestor #A206608, Moses Hollis; digital record (dar.org:

accessed Sept. 2020).