Richard has some really good advice for all of us in this posting and I hope all of you will enjoy it as much as I have. If Stephen Compton Hollis' first marriage was in Scott Co. (as seems likely to me, too) it probably occurred between 1880 when he was listed single on the census and the courthouse fire of 22 May 1882, which destroyed the marriage records (among other records.) Delaine >From: RHollis132 <RHollis132@aol.com> >Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 13:00:49 EST >To: delaine@ipa.net >Subject: Re: Hollis, Brick Wall Ancestors > >In a message dated 98-03-14 13:20:34 EST, you write: > ><< one > worst "brick wall" you've hit in trying to learn about a Scott County > ancestor. What is the one record or bit of information you'd most like to > find concerning this person? >> > >I'll answer your question in two parts, my current brick wall and the first >brick wall in Scott County I had and how it turned out. > >My current brick wall is finding the name of the first wife (supposedly an >Indian, according to family legend) of Stephen Compton Hollis who is the >mother of my grandfather James Cornelius Hollis and died giving birth to him >according to family tradition. I know a bit about his second wife (Sarah A. >Sessions) and their family but have found no record of this first marriage. It >likely would have taken place in Arkansas, probably Scott County. I found >record of Stephen Compton Hollis unmarried at the age of 21 in the household >of W. A. Hollis (William Allen Hollis) in the 1880 Scott County Census. My >grandfather was born 2 December 1882, so the marriage should have taken place >between these dates. >I would most like to learn her name to find more about her family. > >My first brick wall in Scott County was Stephen Compton Hollis himself. In a >1993 interview with my last surviving uncle he had told me his grandfather was >S.C. Hollis born in Arkansas of an Indian mother who died in child birth. >Supposedly S.C.'s parents came over from Ireland about a year before he was >born. My uncle also told me of an aunt and uncle by the name of Hammock who >last lived in Hunt County, Texas. >This was all I had to start with. I did not find S. C. Hollis in the 1880 >soundex and was stuck for about 3 years. My first success with this name was >when I looked back in my notes and decided to look for a Hollis connection to >the Hammock name in Hunt County, Texas. I found Frank Henry Hammock and >noticed that his kids were born in Arkansas, upon looking him up in the 1880 >Census in Scott County I found W. A. Hollis and son Stephen C. Hollis age 21 >right next door. After finding William A. Hollis in the 1850 Stoddard County, >Missouri Census I was then able to locate other researchers of the descendants >of James Hollis and was able to get back to the early 1800's on the Hollis >line. >Moral of this story is: Write all information from an interview even if you >don't think it is important at the time. If I had not written down the Hammock >name I would still be stuck. Review your notes, sometimes you may pickup >something you did not see before. Don't just look for the obvious. Don't take >family legends for gospel, use them as starting points and see if they can be >proven. Stephen's parents did not immigrate from Ireland, William Allen Hollis >was born in Tennessee, but they could have come from Stoddard County Missouri >to Arkansas when S. C. was about 1 year of age. I still have not found them in >the 1860 Census for Missouri or Arkansas. W. A. Hollis was not listed in the >1880 soundex because he did not have a child under the age of 21 in his >household, so don't give up if you don't find someone in the Soundex. >Good luck to all. >Richard Hollis > >