How We Got the Name “Holliday”
Simsbury CT- our ancestor Israel Ellsworth was born on the first of April, 1755 to Samuel Ellsworth II and Aimee Anna Hallada. He was the 5th born of 7. The colonies were still under British rule and unrest was growing even as he was a young boy. When he was 10, British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which played a major role in the resistance that led to the Revolutionary War in 1775.
But during this time, another fight was brewing. New Hampshire had granted land to many settlers in what is now Vermont. Originally called the New Hampshire Land Grants or the Hampshire Grants, Vermont soil was under dispute. The Governor of New York decreed that the Hampshire Grants were a part of New York soil and therefore was calling for payment for the land that the settlers had already paid for, not only with their money but their hard work and sweat as they improved their land for farming.
Many of the men in this area on the eastern shores of Lake Champlain formed a militia and called themselves the Green Mountain Boys. They called for Ethan Allen to be their leader and threatened to fight anyone who tried to force them off of their land. As the Revolutionary War began the Green Mountain Boys reached a sort of truce with New York: England was their common foe and they would set aside their quarrel for the time being and join the Continental Army.
Israel Ellsworth is listed as serving in Warren’s 15th Regt. of the Vermont Militia (The Green Mountain Boys) in a document dated 8 Nov 1778, but we know that he was involved much earlier due to documents that prove that he was present when the Green Mountain Boys, under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, took Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. Ticonderoga had been in a growing state of disrepair since the Battle of Carillon (the original name of the fort) in 1758. In spite of the condition of the fort, there were several cannons that could be used elsewhere against the British.
Before sunrise on May 10, Ethan Allen and his men crossed Lake Champlain and entered a breach in the wall of the fort. The British were not expecting the raid and the fort was taken without a shot fired. Some records do not list Israel Ellsworth as one of the men who took the fort that morning, but according to one document I have found based on Ellsworth’s testimony, he was. It could be that he was one of the many who wasn’t able to cross the lake in time for the attack due to the fact that they weren’t able to round up enough boats for the crossing. Either way, he was there.
After the capture of Ticonderoga and other area forts including Crown Point which is several miles north of Fort Ti, Israel and his fellow militiamen were ordered to load up every cannon from the forts and assist in moving them by oxen and sled 200 miles to Boston where George Washington would once again surprise the occupying British forces by placing the cannon on Dorchester Heights, above Boston Harbor on 4 Mar 1776. Ultimately, the British evacuated on 17 Mar 1776 along with many loyalists.
Israel also described being captured for a time and held at Crown Point until he was exchanged with other Colonial troops for captured British troops.
Ellsworth would go on to fight with the Green Mt. Boys (later called the Green Mountain Rangers) throughout the entire war, including such bloody battles as Hubbardton and Bennington.
In 1779, Israel married Hopestill Stevens from Nine Partners, New York (now called Millbrook) and they moved to Pittsford, Vermont. Vermont was now a sovereign state, so the Hampshire land grant controversy was over. There they would have 2 sons Benjamin and Israel Jr. Daughters Sylvannus and Susanna would be born after they moved to Wyalusing, PA. Sometime before 1789, Israel disappeared and was not seen or heard from by his family for a very long time. I will let Israel’s nephew, Gen. Caleb Hendee Jr. tell the story:
“My uncle was a very good natured man, but his wife [Hopestill Stevens] was said to be a very bad woman. He moved into the State of Penn or the South Western part of New York. While there disappeared strangely. His wife came back here said her husband in a fit of insanity, went into the woods and never was seen afterwards. Many years afterwards I heard my uncle Samuel say that he had heard from him that he was living in some part of Virginia; whether it was he or not I cannot say for a certainty. Many hearsay stories were told and suspicions entertained. His wife [Hopestill] married again to a Mr Patterson with whom she lived some years, and then he left her. After this she married a Mr Willard Seaton with whom she lived some years. They were pretty well matched, both bad enough. He at length left her. She afterwards went into Upper Canada and there married for the fourth time, but has now been dead for some years. Her son, Benjamin Ellsworth, went to Upper Canada, town of Bostand, [may be “Bastard,” where some of his family had
moved] twenty or thirty years ago, where he now lives. Of his property, I know nothing.”
With no official divorce, Israel had gone to Berkely, Virginia (now WV) and changed his name to Israel Holliday (taking on his mother’s maiden name). There, he married Annie Bennett, our Holliday family matriarch. Their wedding day was 23 Apr 1789. Annie was born in 1768, so Israel was 13 years her senior.
They would call Fairfax VA their home. There they would have Israel Ellsworth Holliday Jr. who would father Abel Holliday, father of Jacob Holliday, father of Harry, Ivaloo, Eva, Homer, Willie, J, Theodore, Blanche, and June.
Israel died in 1834 at the age of 79. Jack Holliday tells me that he believes Israel is buried at the Drainsville Virginia Methodist church cemetery, but there is no headstone and we can’t find any records on it.
About 2 years before he died, Israel applied for his pension for his service in the Revolutionary War on 15 Oct 1832. This was a very good thing for us. I am not sure we could have found the connection to our original bloodline the Ellsworth family had he not come forward, causing his “second life” to be documented with his first.
The Ellsworth family line is rich with much early American history. One Ellsworth of note is a second cousin of Israel’s father, Oliver Ellsworth, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States. But that’s a story for another day. So if you are descended from a Holliday, you can also think of yourself as an Ellsworth.
I wonder does this liniage lead to John Henry Holliday aka “Doc” Holliday we also have two other famous people listed on the family tree Crawford W Long whom is the father of ether. And Margaret Mitchell whom wrote “Gone with the Wind.”
As far as I have been able to check, there is no familial connection between this Holliday family and Doc Holliday. But I’m always hopeful and very well may have missed it.
I didn’t know about Crawford Long. I’ll have to give that a look. Thanks!
Really interesting! Thanks for compiling this information.
I come from his first set of kids with Hopestill. She sounds like she was a real piece of work, haha.
Glad to share the info with you. It really is an interesting story.
Hi!
I ran across your blog while doing research on my ancestor Israel Ellsworth Holliday. I’m working on joining the Daughters of the American Revolution and am busy doing research. My paternal grandmother was a Holliday. She was born in Beckley, WV in 1924. My line goes from Israel to Israel Jr. to George to William David to Ira Osenton (my great grandfather) to Ialeene (My grandmother). Thank you for sharing this wonderful story about Israel!
Lydia Roper
My pleasure! Israel is my 4th GG:
Israel, Israel Jr., Abel, Jacob, Eva Grace Holliday (my paternal grandmother). Good luck on your research!
It may interest you that the Oliver Ellsworth Homestead in Windsor, CT is owned by the Connecticut Daughters of American Revolution. CTDAR hosts events there during the year.