Long before Davie County existed, families were carving farms and communities from the North Carolina backcountry. Roads were few, settlements were scattered, and the land that would eventually become Davie County was still part of sprawling Rowan County.
Among those early settlers was Isaac Holeman, whose surname also appears in records as Holman. He established his family in the northwestern portion of present-day Davie County, acquired considerable property, raised a large family, and supported the Patriot cause during the American Revolution. Generations of Holemans would remain connected to this area long after his death.
His story also reminds us that history is rarely simple. Isaac was a Patriot and an early settler, but he was also an enslaver. The records he left behind allow us to glimpse not only his family, but some of the people whose lives were bound to his.
From Virginia to the North Carolina Backcountry
Another one of my ancestors who supported the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War was Isaac Holeman, Sr., or Holman, spelled both ways.
He was born around 1725 in Shenandoah County, Colony of Virginia, Son of Daniel and Rachel Johnson Holeman. They and their other 9 children eventually moved to what is now Rowan County.
Isaac married Mary Benton Hardy in 1749 in what is now Wilkes County, NC. They had 14 children, of whom 13 survived to the time of his death and were mentioned in his will. Isaac’s will names ten sons—Daniel, William, Isaac, Reuben, James, Thomas, John, Absalom, Jacob and David—and three daughters, Elizabeth Johnson, Patience Dean and Mary Neely.
A Patriot During the Revolution
Family tradition has long connected Isaac Holeman Sr. with the American Revolution, and the Daughters of the American Revolution recognizes him for Patriotic Service in North Carolina.
It is important, however, to distinguish him from his son Isaac Holeman Jr., who actually served as a soldier. The younger Isaac served in the North Carolina forces and later recalled his Revolutionary War service, including the campaigns around Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse.
Father and son therefore represent two different ways colonists supported the Revolution—one through patriotic service and the other through military service.
Land, Family and Bear Creek
Isaac became a substantial landowner in Rowan County. Records show that in 1761 he received a large tract of land from the Earl Granville land office and bought and sold additional property during the following decades. Both Isaac and Mary signed the deed when they sold property in 1782, but she was apparently deceased by the time he bought more land in 1798.
The Holeman family settled in the extreme northwestern portion of what is now Davie County, in an area around Bear Creek and Dutchman’s Creek.
Isaac and Mary were also associated with Bear Creek Baptist Church. Their names appear in early church history connected with the congregation and with the road once known as Holeman Road.
Bear Creek Baptist Church remains part of Davie County today, and its surviving records provide a remarkable window into the lives of the people who worshipped there. The church’s early minute book begins in 1792 and includes membership rolls for white male and female members as well as African American members.
The People Named in Isaac’s Will
In my work as a volunteer with the Davie County Public Library’s People, Not Property project, I have found mentions of enslaved people in Isaac’s records.
One of them was a man named Charles.
Isaac’s 1807 will refers to Charles and describes his service in unusually complimentary terms. Although the record reminds us that Isaac was prosperous, it also allows us to recover the name of a man who otherwise might have disappeared from the historical record.
That is one of the reasons projects such as People, Not Property are so important. Wills, deeds, inventories, and other documents written to record property can also preserve the names and traces of people who were denied control over their own lives.
Isaac Holeman was both a Patriot and an enslaver. Remembering both is necessary if we want to understand the world in which he lived.
The Holeman Family Cemetery
He died on August 15, 1807, at his plantation in Rowan County (now Davie) and is buried in the Holeman Family Cemetery on Ratledge Road. In one article I read for this story, I found a reference to the old graveyard. It is located on the former Pinchback land that I mentioned on Ratledge Road.
The writer described the site as being in very sad shape, with “the old tombstones…huddled together under a small grove of trees.”
Photos by Roger Carpenter.
Today, there is a fence along the road, so people cannot simply go up the road to the cemetery.
Old accounts say that the Holeman homestead and family burying ground remained together when the property passed to Isaac’s son David. The cemetery is one of the few physical reminders remaining of a family whose presence in this part of Rowan County began before the American Revolution.
From the Holemans to Holman’s Crossroads
The Holeman name remained prominent in the area for generations.
Isaac’s son Jacob married Lydia Pinchback in Rowan County in 1795. Their son, another Isaac Holman, was born in 1800 and later became associated with the community known as Holman’s Crossroads, about five miles northwest of Mocksville.
Local histories say the crossroads developed where the old Mocksville-to-Wilkesboro Road crossed the Salem-to-Statesville Road. Over time, there were a store, a post office, a school, and other activities in the little community.
Although the name Holman’s Crossroads has largely faded from modern use, the name recalls a family whose history in this part of Davie County stretches back more than 250 years.
My Connection to Isaac Holeman
My relationship to Isaac comes through his son Jacob, who married Lydia Pinchback. Their daughter, Mary Holeman, married my third-great-grandfather, Ashley Dwiggins. That makes this more than simply the story of an early settler for me. It is part of my own family’s story.
From my research, it seems that many people in those days—our ancestors—risked life, property, and security for the cause of liberty.
The stories of our ancestors can be inspiring, complicated and sometimes uncomfortable. But perhaps that is why they are worth telling. The more records we uncover, the more complete the story of the people who lived here before us becomes.