About Trying to Link the Names Holyfield and Holderfield (and all other spelling variations):

I am always looking for evidence that the two are the same.  I have come up with instances that prove to me that many of those who were written down as Holyfield, etc. were really named Holderfield, but that the name was misheard by those who were writing the name down in a record.

In books I found at my library there were records of Johnston County Courts (NC) and of abstracts of land grants for Johnston county:
1)Deed of sale from William Hollifield to Jean Hollyfield in July 1762.
2)Deed of sale from William Hollifield and Jean his wife to Richard Masey in July 1762.
3)Deed of sale from William Holifield and his wife to John Smith in Oct 1762.
4)Jan. 1, 1763, land grant to a Nathaniel Kimbrough of 431 acres in Johnston Co on the north side of Crab Tree Creek on the head of Sycamore Creek, joining William Holifield and Kimbroughs line...
5)Deed from William Hollifield and wife   to Wm Humphrys July 1764.
6)Deed from Wm Humphries to Valentine Holifield Tues. July 3, 1766.

Then:
May 22, 1770...court ordered that William Holderfield be overseer of the
road on the north side of Crabbtree from Orange line to Hair Snipe Creek (this was for a road being laid out....Orange may refer to Orange
County)
May 10, 1770 court ordered that William Holderfield and Ralph Holderfield be on a "jury" to lay out a road and that William Holderfield be overseer of said road...road was to be from the county line that divides Johnston county and Orange on Bryer Creek and thence the best and most Convenient way into the Main Road that crosses Neuse River at the Sand Barr.

This is part of an email I sent to another researcher on 10 Sep 2000:

Everything before Valentine and Susannah is a guess right now......Valentine joined the Revolution in Wake county and he and Susannah were married in Wake county.  So we can think that his parents were there somewhere. If you go back to my notes on my page entitled The Name Game, I have some things I found in there that show that there were Holderfield's around Orange and Johnston Counties back before the Revolution.  Ralph was one of these and there was a William too.  They helped build roads in that area of NC in 1770.  Wake County was formed in 1770 from Cumberland, Johnston and Orange Counties.  Valentine and Susannah were married in 1774
in Wake county.  Personally, I think he was related to either Ralph or William, the road builders.

What we need is proof.
 

I have a copy of Valentine Holyfield's will from NC Archives... On the will itself the spelling is Holifield, but on the copy of the cover of the will that came with it, the name is Holderfield. This is the Valentine whose wife was Susannah (I have the Rev. War pension papers). They lived in Surry County NC...they were married in Wake county in 1774...sooo, does that mean that William or Ralph Holderfield from Johnston County, NC could have been Valentine's (/ Susannah) father????

On a tax list for 1782 Surry co NC we find listed Valentine Holifield and Wm Holefield  (Could this be his brother William that we've heard about?)..On the 1790 census we find Valentine Holyfield in Surry co NC Salisbury district p.185 but no William. In 1790 a William Holyfield was living in Chester Co, SC before moving to Rutherford Co, NC in the 1790s. Was this Valentine's brother?

In 1770 Wake county was formed from parts of Johnston, Orange and  Cumberland counties.  Ralph Holderfield is listed in 1790 in Wake co NC on pp103 and 104; William is gone but an Elizabeth Holderfield is listed in Wake on pp103 and 104 (could she be William's widow?)...Then there is a 1790 Wake county will for Ralph Hollifield(don't know exact date; guess I should send for it)

Then I have the Valentine/Susannah's children who can be found under both names in various places.  The application paper for the DAR which I sent for, lists John and Watson as Holifield marrying the same wives as a list from a  marriage CD which spells their name Holderfield.

Rutherford County, NC

From The Heritage of Rutherford County,  North Carolina,Vol. I, 1984.
 p. 264
Cordell Tatum Hollifield, 1858-1936, was the son of John Hollifield and Sarah C. Hollifield, a descendant of Peyton Hollifield who came to Philadelphia from England in the late 17th century.  Family members migrated to Virginia and later to what is now Rutherford county, North Carolina. (I'm guessing that they mean that John was the descendant of Peyton.  And if you think about the years involved, there would be a number of generations between them.) So in the late 1600s there was a Peyton Hollifield who came here from England.  He probably just did it to complicate all of our research.

Chesterfield County, VA

A Valentine Holderfield married Esther Williams in Chesterfield Co VA 12 Jan 1795. This is from a marriage CD.
Hester Holderfield is on Roll #67 page 61 in the 1810 federal census for VA in Chesterfield County (which is near Richmond).  I believe that the Esther above and the Hester in this census could be the same person.

There is listed at the Library of Virginia a John Holderfield who is on the Muster Rolls for the War of 1812 on page 503 in the Index to the War of 1812 Pay Rolls & Muster Rolls on microfilm.
Here is the site address for this record on John:
http://eagle.vsla.edu/cgi-bin/war1812.gateway?authority=0014-04880
I sent to the National Archives to see if he got a bounty land warrant, but they said they had no record of that.  Guess I should try pension records. I thought he might be related to the Chesterfield County family.
 
 

Another Early Hollifield

In a Book "To Maryland from Overseas" by Harry Wright Newman...Joseph
Hollyfield, Prince George Co., Feb 4, 1763, "Give and bequeath unto my eldest son Joseph Hollyfield all my real and personal estate purchased by my grandfather Thomas Hollyfield lying and being in Warwickshire in Great Britain in the town of Birmingham." Ref: Wills, Liber 32, folio 334..........Now who do you suppose this is and does he tie in somehow??
 

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