Dies at Capitola Extended Care
Cremated Sep. 11, 1978
He was borned a Holder but changed his name to his step-father's name of Andrews.
Sometime in his adult life he changed his name back to Holder.
Possible that he was born on an Indian reservation in or around Evergreen, AL.
Mary Strickland on 21 Dec 2020
RE: Agyness Holder
Hi Butch!
Your wife is my cousin! I am happy to share what info I have.
As I am sure you know, Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews was the son of James "Jim" Andrews and Maggie Holder. As a child, he was known as Agee -which of course was simply his initials A. G. turned into a nickname. His biography on Find A Grave states he was born near Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama possibly on an Indian reservation but that is incorrect! He was actually born on September 12, 1894 in McWilliams, Wilcox County, Alabama. As far as I know he had no Indian heritage unless somehow it came from the Holder side, which I very much doubt. The Andrews side is purely English, Scottish, and Irish.
Let me start with a little family genealogy. The first Andrews in our family tree to come to America was Thomas Andrews (March 29, 1663 - 1731). He came from Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, England in 1685! He came alone at the age of 22 and arrived in Colonial Virginia aboard the brigatine ship "RICHARD AND ELIZABETH". He worked as an indentured servant for 4 years. He was an educated man who could read and write. He came from a long line of Thomas Andrews before him who were merchants. After his indenture was over, he went on to become a wealthy man in Virginia. He was granted 396 acres of land along the Appomattox River after paying passage for 8 more immigrants from England. Thomas Andrews married Elizabeth Jane Thomas in 1691 and they had 8 children. Generation 2: Their son Richard Andrews(1697-1752) married Mary Nusom and they had 5 children. Generation 3: Their son Henry Andrews (1729-1795) married Lucy Ann Clanton. Henry Andrews served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War! Henry and Lucy Andrews had 11 children. Generation 4: Their son Robert Andrews (1768-1812) married Rhoda Drewry in 1792. Robert, his wife Rhoda and his brother George left Virginia to settle in Sumter District, South Carolina near the town of Statesburg. Robert had a small farm and also a successful business as a wagon and carriage builder. He and Rhoda had 11 children. In late 1812 or early 1813, Robert died at age 44. Fortunately, his business had generated enough income for Rhoda to comfortably live and care for their children. GENERATION 5: Their son James N. Andrews (1802-1855) decided to move the family to the wild frontier that was then Conecuh County, Alabama. His uncle, George Andrews, was one of the very first settlers to Conecuh County in 1819 when Alabama became a state. In 1826, James N. Andrews, his wife Ann Bonds, his mother and most of his brothers and sisters came with him to Alabama. They settled first in Conecuh County and then spread out into Wilcox and Monroe Counties as well. There are many Andrews relatives still living in the area. This finally brings us to Generation 6 and Jim Andrews, the father of Agyness Gennis Andrews!
James N. Andrews and Ann Bonds had 9 children. Ann died in childbirth in 1840 at the age of 30. In 1841, James N. Andrews married Elizabeth Anne Owens. They had 8 more children together, including James "Jim" Andrews born August 9, 1849. James N. Andrews died in December 1855 when Jim was only 6 years old. His mother Elizabeth Anne Owens Andrews died about December 1860 when Jim was only 11 years old. His 16 year old sister Mary Jane Andrews took on the responsibility of raising her 5 younger brothers and sisters. The youngest was only 5 years old. The Civil War had begun and it was a difficult time. Jim was too young to serve as a soldier like his 2 older brothers but he was a member of the Alabama Home Guard! In 1869, Jim Andrews married the girl next door, Minerva (also spelled Manerva) Collins. They had 5 children together: Ella Ann, John William, James Robert (who was called Bob), Joseph William (my great grandfather) and Ida. In 1885, Minerva discovered that Jim was having an affair with Margaret Jane "Maggie" Holder, who was pregnant with Jim's baby. Minerva kicked Jim out of the house!
Maggie Holder was born in 1865. She was the daughter of James Madison Holder and Althea Grantham and the youngest of 6 children. Her father, who was called Matt or Mattie Holder, had been a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. He lost a leg from being wounded in battle while being held in a prisoner of war camp. Mattie Holder died in 1870 as the result of an explosion at the lumber mill where he worked.
After Minerva kicked him out, he went to live with Maggie Holder for the next 13 years. They were never married, possibly because he had not divorced 1st wife Minerva. Jim Andrews was a cotton planter and also had several other businesses. He and Maggie had 5 children together: Roberson Crusoe, Bud James, Clarence, Annie Lee and Agyness Gennis. Maggie Holder died about 1898. There is no record of why she died, date of death, or where she is buried. In 1898, almost immediately after Maggie died, Jim Andrews (who finally obtained a divorce from Minerva) married 18 year old Alabama "Bama" Williamson. He was 49 years old. They would go on to have 2 children together, Burgess and Alabama Emily. Oddly, on the 1900 Federal Census, Maggie Holder's 4 younger children were listed as adopted. This is probably because stepmother Bama considered herself as having " adopted" Jim's 4 younger illegitimate children. Poor Roberson, who was only 5 years younger than his stepmother, was listed under his mother's last name of Holder and considered a servant in his father's house!
On December 17, 1904 Jim and Bama Andrews both came to die tragic deaths. Jim Andrews had begun drinking heavily and began to believe Bama was seeing other men. He had publicly stated he would kill her. The week before, he had chased Bama out of their house in McWilliams while she was dressed only in her nightgown. Jim was taken to jail, bound hand and foot, to sleep it off. When he got out of jail the next day, he moved the Bama and the children to a community nearby called Schuester Station. The house was located very close to the train station. On the evening of Dec. 17, Jim sent word to his 2 oldest sons, John and Bob Andrews, to come at once. According to testimony at the criminal trials to come later, some witnesses testified John and Bob were angry with their father over some property that he had forced their mother to sign over to him and that Jim was going to give it to Bama. The brothers testified that their father had asked them to kill Bama for him but they had refused! Whatever the truth, by the end of the evening both Jim and Bama were dead. Bama was stabbed repeatedly, a large clump of hair pulled from her head, shot in the back and her throat was cut. Jim died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. 10 year old Agyness and his 14 year old sister Annie witnessed the deaths!
During the murder trials, Annie and Agyness had to testify several times. These 2 children had to be extremely traumatized! In modern times they would have received a lot of psychological support to help them deal with this terrible event. Not only had they had to deal with seeing the deaths of father Jim and stepmother Bama but also their mother's death just a few years before. Now they were orphans! They were both placed in the care of Jim's sister, Martha Andrews. Now Martha Andrews was known as a very strong-willed, tough woman. She had 4 grown children of her own but had never married! She was very, very angry with John and Bob over the death of her brother Jim. During the early trials, Agyness and Annie testified that the children had been told to leave the house when the adults started to argue. Annie was caring for the 4 month old baby Alabama Emily in a different room. Agyness had snuck back to see what was happening. He said he saw Bob kill Bama and John kill his father Jim. On the other hand, John and Bob testified that they were taking the children to the train station to get them away from the fighting between Jim and Bama. When they heard the gunshot and screaming they ran back to help. Bob went to check on Bama while John tried to take the gun from Jim. According to them, Jim had murdered Bama and in the struggle to get the gun from Jim it went off and killed Jim. Their was a mistrial where John and Bob were tried together. In 1906, they were tried separately and both were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Bob was granted another trial in a new location in 1908 due to irregularities in the jury selection at his previous trial. At this new trial, the testimonies of Agyness and Annie changed. Martha Andrews was accused of coaching the children and forcing them to blame the murders on John and Bob. The children had been coached and cross examined as witnesses so many times that their accounts of what happened were no longer considered valid. Their memories of the event had been contaminated by time and the interference of adults. They were probably not sure of what they had witnessed themselves that terrible night 4 years ago. The jury in the new trial found Bob not guilty on all counts. John Andrews was not granted a new trial, however on December 23, 1909 he was granted parole from prison by Alabama Governor B. B. Comer. Although he never received a full pardon for the murder, John's full citizenship rights were restored by Gov. Comer in January, 1911.
As far as Agyness, I know on the 1910 Census when he was 16 years old he was working as a farm laborer in Midway, Monroe County, Alabama. In 1917, he married Annie Corrine McLemore and was working as a lumberman in Calcasieu County, Louisiana. On his 1917 WWI Draft Card he is described as tall, slender with brown hair and blue eyes. He signed the draft card with the name Agee Andrews. I'll send you a copy of the draft card. They had a daughter, Lillian Idell Andrews, in 1920. By 1922, Agyness and Annie were divorced and he had married Bertie Diane Stokes. They had 2 children I am aware of : Opal Alice born in 1923 and Ruby born in 1925. From what I can tell, Agyness and Bertie were divorced by 1927. The next record I have of Agyness is his 1940 WWII draft card. In 1940 he is living in Crittenden, Arkansas and he has changed his last name to Holder. I don't know if he had a falling out with the Andrews family and decided to go back to his mother's last name or if the childhood trauma had caught up with him and he was trying to distance himself from those terrible memories by changing his name. I suppose it's even possible that the draft board forced him to change his name to Holder because he was illegitimate and couldn't legally prove his father was Jim Andrews. As far as I know, he went by the last name Holder for the rest of his life.
So that is all I know about Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews! If you have any info about his life that is different from mine or you can fill in the gaps I would love to have it. Also any pictures you have of Agyness, his brothers and sisters, or any other family members!! I don't have any pictures of Maggie Holder's children at all. Also, if you are aware of any family stories about Maggie or her children I would love to hear about them. I am hoping to one day locate her grave. I hope this info is what you were hoping for. Please contact me if you have any questions or want more family history.
Your cousin,
Mary Strickland
Cremated Sep. 11, 1978
He was borned a Holder but changed his name to his step-father's name of Andrews.
Sometime in his adult life he changed his name back to Holder.
Possible that he was born on an Indian reservation in or around Evergreen, AL.
Mary Strickland on 21 Dec 2020
RE: Agyness Holder
Hi Butch!
Your wife is my cousin! I am happy to share what info I have.
As I am sure you know, Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews was the son of James "Jim" Andrews and Maggie Holder. As a child, he was known as Agee -which of course was simply his initials A. G. turned into a nickname. His biography on Find A Grave states he was born near Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama possibly on an Indian reservation but that is incorrect! He was actually born on September 12, 1894 in McWilliams, Wilcox County, Alabama. As far as I know he had no Indian heritage unless somehow it came from the Holder side, which I very much doubt. The Andrews side is purely English, Scottish, and Irish.
Let me start with a little family genealogy. The first Andrews in our family tree to come to America was Thomas Andrews (March 29, 1663 - 1731). He came from Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, England in 1685! He came alone at the age of 22 and arrived in Colonial Virginia aboard the brigatine ship "RICHARD AND ELIZABETH". He worked as an indentured servant for 4 years. He was an educated man who could read and write. He came from a long line of Thomas Andrews before him who were merchants. After his indenture was over, he went on to become a wealthy man in Virginia. He was granted 396 acres of land along the Appomattox River after paying passage for 8 more immigrants from England. Thomas Andrews married Elizabeth Jane Thomas in 1691 and they had 8 children. Generation 2: Their son Richard Andrews(1697-1752) married Mary Nusom and they had 5 children. Generation 3: Their son Henry Andrews (1729-1795) married Lucy Ann Clanton. Henry Andrews served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War! Henry and Lucy Andrews had 11 children. Generation 4: Their son Robert Andrews (1768-1812) married Rhoda Drewry in 1792. Robert, his wife Rhoda and his brother George left Virginia to settle in Sumter District, South Carolina near the town of Statesburg. Robert had a small farm and also a successful business as a wagon and carriage builder. He and Rhoda had 11 children. In late 1812 or early 1813, Robert died at age 44. Fortunately, his business had generated enough income for Rhoda to comfortably live and care for their children. GENERATION 5: Their son James N. Andrews (1802-1855) decided to move the family to the wild frontier that was then Conecuh County, Alabama. His uncle, George Andrews, was one of the very first settlers to Conecuh County in 1819 when Alabama became a state. In 1826, James N. Andrews, his wife Ann Bonds, his mother and most of his brothers and sisters came with him to Alabama. They settled first in Conecuh County and then spread out into Wilcox and Monroe Counties as well. There are many Andrews relatives still living in the area. This finally brings us to Generation 6 and Jim Andrews, the father of Agyness Gennis Andrews!
James N. Andrews and Ann Bonds had 9 children. Ann died in childbirth in 1840 at the age of 30. In 1841, James N. Andrews married Elizabeth Anne Owens. They had 8 more children together, including James "Jim" Andrews born August 9, 1849. James N. Andrews died in December 1855 when Jim was only 6 years old. His mother Elizabeth Anne Owens Andrews died about December 1860 when Jim was only 11 years old. His 16 year old sister Mary Jane Andrews took on the responsibility of raising her 5 younger brothers and sisters. The youngest was only 5 years old. The Civil War had begun and it was a difficult time. Jim was too young to serve as a soldier like his 2 older brothers but he was a member of the Alabama Home Guard! In 1869, Jim Andrews married the girl next door, Minerva (also spelled Manerva) Collins. They had 5 children together: Ella Ann, John William, James Robert (who was called Bob), Joseph William (my great grandfather) and Ida. In 1885, Minerva discovered that Jim was having an affair with Margaret Jane "Maggie" Holder, who was pregnant with Jim's baby. Minerva kicked Jim out of the house!
Maggie Holder was born in 1865. She was the daughter of James Madison Holder and Althea Grantham and the youngest of 6 children. Her father, who was called Matt or Mattie Holder, had been a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. He lost a leg from being wounded in battle while being held in a prisoner of war camp. Mattie Holder died in 1870 as the result of an explosion at the lumber mill where he worked.
After Minerva kicked him out, he went to live with Maggie Holder for the next 13 years. They were never married, possibly because he had not divorced 1st wife Minerva. Jim Andrews was a cotton planter and also had several other businesses. He and Maggie had 5 children together: Roberson Crusoe, Bud James, Clarence, Annie Lee and Agyness Gennis. Maggie Holder died about 1898. There is no record of why she died, date of death, or where she is buried. In 1898, almost immediately after Maggie died, Jim Andrews (who finally obtained a divorce from Minerva) married 18 year old Alabama "Bama" Williamson. He was 49 years old. They would go on to have 2 children together, Burgess and Alabama Emily. Oddly, on the 1900 Federal Census, Maggie Holder's 4 younger children were listed as adopted. This is probably because stepmother Bama considered herself as having " adopted" Jim's 4 younger illegitimate children. Poor Roberson, who was only 5 years younger than his stepmother, was listed under his mother's last name of Holder and considered a servant in his father's house!
On December 17, 1904 Jim and Bama Andrews both came to die tragic deaths. Jim Andrews had begun drinking heavily and began to believe Bama was seeing other men. He had publicly stated he would kill her. The week before, he had chased Bama out of their house in McWilliams while she was dressed only in her nightgown. Jim was taken to jail, bound hand and foot, to sleep it off. When he got out of jail the next day, he moved the Bama and the children to a community nearby called Schuester Station. The house was located very close to the train station. On the evening of Dec. 17, Jim sent word to his 2 oldest sons, John and Bob Andrews, to come at once. According to testimony at the criminal trials to come later, some witnesses testified John and Bob were angry with their father over some property that he had forced their mother to sign over to him and that Jim was going to give it to Bama. The brothers testified that their father had asked them to kill Bama for him but they had refused! Whatever the truth, by the end of the evening both Jim and Bama were dead. Bama was stabbed repeatedly, a large clump of hair pulled from her head, shot in the back and her throat was cut. Jim died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. 10 year old Agyness and his 14 year old sister Annie witnessed the deaths!
During the murder trials, Annie and Agyness had to testify several times. These 2 children had to be extremely traumatized! In modern times they would have received a lot of psychological support to help them deal with this terrible event. Not only had they had to deal with seeing the deaths of father Jim and stepmother Bama but also their mother's death just a few years before. Now they were orphans! They were both placed in the care of Jim's sister, Martha Andrews. Now Martha Andrews was known as a very strong-willed, tough woman. She had 4 grown children of her own but had never married! She was very, very angry with John and Bob over the death of her brother Jim. During the early trials, Agyness and Annie testified that the children had been told to leave the house when the adults started to argue. Annie was caring for the 4 month old baby Alabama Emily in a different room. Agyness had snuck back to see what was happening. He said he saw Bob kill Bama and John kill his father Jim. On the other hand, John and Bob testified that they were taking the children to the train station to get them away from the fighting between Jim and Bama. When they heard the gunshot and screaming they ran back to help. Bob went to check on Bama while John tried to take the gun from Jim. According to them, Jim had murdered Bama and in the struggle to get the gun from Jim it went off and killed Jim. Their was a mistrial where John and Bob were tried together. In 1906, they were tried separately and both were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Bob was granted another trial in a new location in 1908 due to irregularities in the jury selection at his previous trial. At this new trial, the testimonies of Agyness and Annie changed. Martha Andrews was accused of coaching the children and forcing them to blame the murders on John and Bob. The children had been coached and cross examined as witnesses so many times that their accounts of what happened were no longer considered valid. Their memories of the event had been contaminated by time and the interference of adults. They were probably not sure of what they had witnessed themselves that terrible night 4 years ago. The jury in the new trial found Bob not guilty on all counts. John Andrews was not granted a new trial, however on December 23, 1909 he was granted parole from prison by Alabama Governor B. B. Comer. Although he never received a full pardon for the murder, John's full citizenship rights were restored by Gov. Comer in January, 1911.
As far as Agyness, I know on the 1910 Census when he was 16 years old he was working as a farm laborer in Midway, Monroe County, Alabama. In 1917, he married Annie Corrine McLemore and was working as a lumberman in Calcasieu County, Louisiana. On his 1917 WWI Draft Card he is described as tall, slender with brown hair and blue eyes. He signed the draft card with the name Agee Andrews. I'll send you a copy of the draft card. They had a daughter, Lillian Idell Andrews, in 1920. By 1922, Agyness and Annie were divorced and he had married Bertie Diane Stokes. They had 2 children I am aware of : Opal Alice born in 1923 and Ruby born in 1925. From what I can tell, Agyness and Bertie were divorced by 1927. The next record I have of Agyness is his 1940 WWII draft card. In 1940 he is living in Crittenden, Arkansas and he has changed his last name to Holder. I don't know if he had a falling out with the Andrews family and decided to go back to his mother's last name or if the childhood trauma had caught up with him and he was trying to distance himself from those terrible memories by changing his name. I suppose it's even possible that the draft board forced him to change his name to Holder because he was illegitimate and couldn't legally prove his father was Jim Andrews. As far as I know, he went by the last name Holder for the rest of his life.
So that is all I know about Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews! If you have any info about his life that is different from mine or you can fill in the gaps I would love to have it. Also any pictures you have of Agyness, his brothers and sisters, or any other family members!! I don't have any pictures of Maggie Holder's children at all. Also, if you are aware of any family stories about Maggie or her children I would love to hear about them. I am hoping to one day locate her grave. I hope this info is what you were hoping for. Please contact me if you have any questions or want more family history.
Your cousin,
Mary Strickland
Dies at Capitola Extended Care
Cremated Sep. 11, 1978
He was borned a Holder but changed his name to his step-father's name of Andrews.
Sometime in his adult life he changed his name back to Holder.
Possible that he was born on an Indian reservation in or around Evergreen, AL.
Mary Strickland on 21 Dec 2020
RE: Agyness Holder
Hi Butch!
Your wife is my cousin! I am happy to share what info I have.
As I am sure you know, Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews was the son of James "Jim" Andrews and Maggie Holder. As a child, he was known as Agee -which of course was simply his initials A. G. turned into a nickname. His biography on Find A Grave states he was born near Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama possibly on an Indian reservation but that is incorrect! He was actually born on September 12, 1894 in McWilliams, Wilcox County, Alabama. As far as I know he had no Indian heritage unless somehow it came from the Holder side, which I very much doubt. The Andrews side is purely English, Scottish, and Irish.
Let me start with a little family genealogy. The first Andrews in our family tree to come to America was Thomas Andrews (March 29, 1663 - 1731). He came from Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, England in 1685! He came alone at the age of 22 and arrived in Colonial Virginia aboard the brigatine ship "RICHARD AND ELIZABETH". He worked as an indentured servant for 4 years. He was an educated man who could read and write. He came from a long line of Thomas Andrews before him who were merchants. After his indenture was over, he went on to become a wealthy man in Virginia. He was granted 396 acres of land along the Appomattox River after paying passage for 8 more immigrants from England. Thomas Andrews married Elizabeth Jane Thomas in 1691 and they had 8 children. Generation 2: Their son Richard Andrews(1697-1752) married Mary Nusom and they had 5 children. Generation 3: Their son Henry Andrews (1729-1795) married Lucy Ann Clanton. Henry Andrews served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War! Henry and Lucy Andrews had 11 children. Generation 4: Their son Robert Andrews (1768-1812) married Rhoda Drewry in 1792. Robert, his wife Rhoda and his brother George left Virginia to settle in Sumter District, South Carolina near the town of Statesburg. Robert had a small farm and also a successful business as a wagon and carriage builder. He and Rhoda had 11 children. In late 1812 or early 1813, Robert died at age 44. Fortunately, his business had generated enough income for Rhoda to comfortably live and care for their children. GENERATION 5: Their son James N. Andrews (1802-1855) decided to move the family to the wild frontier that was then Conecuh County, Alabama. His uncle, George Andrews, was one of the very first settlers to Conecuh County in 1819 when Alabama became a state. In 1826, James N. Andrews, his wife Ann Bonds, his mother and most of his brothers and sisters came with him to Alabama. They settled first in Conecuh County and then spread out into Wilcox and Monroe Counties as well. There are many Andrews relatives still living in the area. This finally brings us to Generation 6 and Jim Andrews, the father of Agyness Gennis Andrews!
James N. Andrews and Ann Bonds had 9 children. Ann died in childbirth in 1840 at the age of 30. In 1841, James N. Andrews married Elizabeth Anne Owens. They had 8 more children together, including James "Jim" Andrews born August 9, 1849. James N. Andrews died in December 1855 when Jim was only 6 years old. His mother Elizabeth Anne Owens Andrews died about December 1860 when Jim was only 11 years old. His 16 year old sister Mary Jane Andrews took on the responsibility of raising her 5 younger brothers and sisters. The youngest was only 5 years old. The Civil War had begun and it was a difficult time. Jim was too young to serve as a soldier like his 2 older brothers but he was a member of the Alabama Home Guard! In 1869, Jim Andrews married the girl next door, Minerva (also spelled Manerva) Collins. They had 5 children together: Ella Ann, John William, James Robert (who was called Bob), Joseph William (my great grandfather) and Ida. In 1885, Minerva discovered that Jim was having an affair with Margaret Jane "Maggie" Holder, who was pregnant with Jim's baby. Minerva kicked Jim out of the house!
Maggie Holder was born in 1865. She was the daughter of James Madison Holder and Althea Grantham and the youngest of 6 children. Her father, who was called Matt or Mattie Holder, had been a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. He lost a leg from being wounded in battle while being held in a prisoner of war camp. Mattie Holder died in 1870 as the result of an explosion at the lumber mill where he worked.
After Minerva kicked him out, he went to live with Maggie Holder for the next 13 years. They were never married, possibly because he had not divorced 1st wife Minerva. Jim Andrews was a cotton planter and also had several other businesses. He and Maggie had 5 children together: Roberson Crusoe, Bud James, Clarence, Annie Lee and Agyness Gennis. Maggie Holder died about 1898. There is no record of why she died, date of death, or where she is buried. In 1898, almost immediately after Maggie died, Jim Andrews (who finally obtained a divorce from Minerva) married 18 year old Alabama "Bama" Williamson. He was 49 years old. They would go on to have 2 children together, Burgess and Alabama Emily. Oddly, on the 1900 Federal Census, Maggie Holder's 4 younger children were listed as adopted. This is probably because stepmother Bama considered herself as having " adopted" Jim's 4 younger illegitimate children. Poor Roberson, who was only 5 years younger than his stepmother, was listed under his mother's last name of Holder and considered a servant in his father's house!
On December 17, 1904 Jim and Bama Andrews both came to die tragic deaths. Jim Andrews had begun drinking heavily and began to believe Bama was seeing other men. He had publicly stated he would kill her. The week before, he had chased Bama out of their house in McWilliams while she was dressed only in her nightgown. Jim was taken to jail, bound hand and foot, to sleep it off. When he got out of jail the next day, he moved the Bama and the children to a community nearby called Schuester Station. The house was located very close to the train station. On the evening of Dec. 17, Jim sent word to his 2 oldest sons, John and Bob Andrews, to come at once. According to testimony at the criminal trials to come later, some witnesses testified John and Bob were angry with their father over some property that he had forced their mother to sign over to him and that Jim was going to give it to Bama. The brothers testified that their father had asked them to kill Bama for him but they had refused! Whatever the truth, by the end of the evening both Jim and Bama were dead. Bama was stabbed repeatedly, a large clump of hair pulled from her head, shot in the back and her throat was cut. Jim died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. 10 year old Agyness and his 14 year old sister Annie witnessed the deaths!
During the murder trials, Annie and Agyness had to testify several times. These 2 children had to be extremely traumatized! In modern times they would have received a lot of psychological support to help them deal with this terrible event. Not only had they had to deal with seeing the deaths of father Jim and stepmother Bama but also their mother's death just a few years before. Now they were orphans! They were both placed in the care of Jim's sister, Martha Andrews. Now Martha Andrews was known as a very strong-willed, tough woman. She had 4 grown children of her own but had never married! She was very, very angry with John and Bob over the death of her brother Jim. During the early trials, Agyness and Annie testified that the children had been told to leave the house when the adults started to argue. Annie was caring for the 4 month old baby Alabama Emily in a different room. Agyness had snuck back to see what was happening. He said he saw Bob kill Bama and John kill his father Jim. On the other hand, John and Bob testified that they were taking the children to the train station to get them away from the fighting between Jim and Bama. When they heard the gunshot and screaming they ran back to help. Bob went to check on Bama while John tried to take the gun from Jim. According to them, Jim had murdered Bama and in the struggle to get the gun from Jim it went off and killed Jim. Their was a mistrial where John and Bob were tried together. In 1906, they were tried separately and both were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Bob was granted another trial in a new location in 1908 due to irregularities in the jury selection at his previous trial. At this new trial, the testimonies of Agyness and Annie changed. Martha Andrews was accused of coaching the children and forcing them to blame the murders on John and Bob. The children had been coached and cross examined as witnesses so many times that their accounts of what happened were no longer considered valid. Their memories of the event had been contaminated by time and the interference of adults. They were probably not sure of what they had witnessed themselves that terrible night 4 years ago. The jury in the new trial found Bob not guilty on all counts. John Andrews was not granted a new trial, however on December 23, 1909 he was granted parole from prison by Alabama Governor B. B. Comer. Although he never received a full pardon for the murder, John's full citizenship rights were restored by Gov. Comer in January, 1911.
As far as Agyness, I know on the 1910 Census when he was 16 years old he was working as a farm laborer in Midway, Monroe County, Alabama. In 1917, he married Annie Corrine McLemore and was working as a lumberman in Calcasieu County, Louisiana. On his 1917 WWI Draft Card he is described as tall, slender with brown hair and blue eyes. He signed the draft card with the name Agee Andrews. I'll send you a copy of the draft card. They had a daughter, Lillian Idell Andrews, in 1920. By 1922, Agyness and Annie were divorced and he had married Bertie Diane Stokes. They had 2 children I am aware of : Opal Alice born in 1923 and Ruby born in 1925. From what I can tell, Agyness and Bertie were divorced by 1927. The next record I have of Agyness is his 1940 WWII draft card. In 1940 he is living in Crittenden, Arkansas and he has changed his last name to Holder. I don't know if he had a falling out with the Andrews family and decided to go back to his mother's last name or if the childhood trauma had caught up with him and he was trying to distance himself from those terrible memories by changing his name. I suppose it's even possible that the draft board forced him to change his name to Holder because he was illegitimate and couldn't legally prove his father was Jim Andrews. As far as I know, he went by the last name Holder for the rest of his life.
So that is all I know about Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews! If you have any info about his life that is different from mine or you can fill in the gaps I would love to have it. Also any pictures you have of Agyness, his brothers and sisters, or any other family members!! I don't have any pictures of Maggie Holder's children at all. Also, if you are aware of any family stories about Maggie or her children I would love to hear about them. I am hoping to one day locate her grave. I hope this info is what you were hoping for. Please contact me if you have any questions or want more family history.
Your cousin,
Mary Strickland
Cremated Sep. 11, 1978
He was borned a Holder but changed his name to his step-father's name of Andrews.
Sometime in his adult life he changed his name back to Holder.
Possible that he was born on an Indian reservation in or around Evergreen, AL.
Mary Strickland on 21 Dec 2020
RE: Agyness Holder
Hi Butch!
Your wife is my cousin! I am happy to share what info I have.
As I am sure you know, Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews was the son of James "Jim" Andrews and Maggie Holder. As a child, he was known as Agee -which of course was simply his initials A. G. turned into a nickname. His biography on Find A Grave states he was born near Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama possibly on an Indian reservation but that is incorrect! He was actually born on September 12, 1894 in McWilliams, Wilcox County, Alabama. As far as I know he had no Indian heritage unless somehow it came from the Holder side, which I very much doubt. The Andrews side is purely English, Scottish, and Irish.
Let me start with a little family genealogy. The first Andrews in our family tree to come to America was Thomas Andrews (March 29, 1663 - 1731). He came from Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, England in 1685! He came alone at the age of 22 and arrived in Colonial Virginia aboard the brigatine ship "RICHARD AND ELIZABETH". He worked as an indentured servant for 4 years. He was an educated man who could read and write. He came from a long line of Thomas Andrews before him who were merchants. After his indenture was over, he went on to become a wealthy man in Virginia. He was granted 396 acres of land along the Appomattox River after paying passage for 8 more immigrants from England. Thomas Andrews married Elizabeth Jane Thomas in 1691 and they had 8 children. Generation 2: Their son Richard Andrews(1697-1752) married Mary Nusom and they had 5 children. Generation 3: Their son Henry Andrews (1729-1795) married Lucy Ann Clanton. Henry Andrews served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War! Henry and Lucy Andrews had 11 children. Generation 4: Their son Robert Andrews (1768-1812) married Rhoda Drewry in 1792. Robert, his wife Rhoda and his brother George left Virginia to settle in Sumter District, South Carolina near the town of Statesburg. Robert had a small farm and also a successful business as a wagon and carriage builder. He and Rhoda had 11 children. In late 1812 or early 1813, Robert died at age 44. Fortunately, his business had generated enough income for Rhoda to comfortably live and care for their children. GENERATION 5: Their son James N. Andrews (1802-1855) decided to move the family to the wild frontier that was then Conecuh County, Alabama. His uncle, George Andrews, was one of the very first settlers to Conecuh County in 1819 when Alabama became a state. In 1826, James N. Andrews, his wife Ann Bonds, his mother and most of his brothers and sisters came with him to Alabama. They settled first in Conecuh County and then spread out into Wilcox and Monroe Counties as well. There are many Andrews relatives still living in the area. This finally brings us to Generation 6 and Jim Andrews, the father of Agyness Gennis Andrews!
James N. Andrews and Ann Bonds had 9 children. Ann died in childbirth in 1840 at the age of 30. In 1841, James N. Andrews married Elizabeth Anne Owens. They had 8 more children together, including James "Jim" Andrews born August 9, 1849. James N. Andrews died in December 1855 when Jim was only 6 years old. His mother Elizabeth Anne Owens Andrews died about December 1860 when Jim was only 11 years old. His 16 year old sister Mary Jane Andrews took on the responsibility of raising her 5 younger brothers and sisters. The youngest was only 5 years old. The Civil War had begun and it was a difficult time. Jim was too young to serve as a soldier like his 2 older brothers but he was a member of the Alabama Home Guard! In 1869, Jim Andrews married the girl next door, Minerva (also spelled Manerva) Collins. They had 5 children together: Ella Ann, John William, James Robert (who was called Bob), Joseph William (my great grandfather) and Ida. In 1885, Minerva discovered that Jim was having an affair with Margaret Jane "Maggie" Holder, who was pregnant with Jim's baby. Minerva kicked Jim out of the house!
Maggie Holder was born in 1865. She was the daughter of James Madison Holder and Althea Grantham and the youngest of 6 children. Her father, who was called Matt or Mattie Holder, had been a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. He lost a leg from being wounded in battle while being held in a prisoner of war camp. Mattie Holder died in 1870 as the result of an explosion at the lumber mill where he worked.
After Minerva kicked him out, he went to live with Maggie Holder for the next 13 years. They were never married, possibly because he had not divorced 1st wife Minerva. Jim Andrews was a cotton planter and also had several other businesses. He and Maggie had 5 children together: Roberson Crusoe, Bud James, Clarence, Annie Lee and Agyness Gennis. Maggie Holder died about 1898. There is no record of why she died, date of death, or where she is buried. In 1898, almost immediately after Maggie died, Jim Andrews (who finally obtained a divorce from Minerva) married 18 year old Alabama "Bama" Williamson. He was 49 years old. They would go on to have 2 children together, Burgess and Alabama Emily. Oddly, on the 1900 Federal Census, Maggie Holder's 4 younger children were listed as adopted. This is probably because stepmother Bama considered herself as having " adopted" Jim's 4 younger illegitimate children. Poor Roberson, who was only 5 years younger than his stepmother, was listed under his mother's last name of Holder and considered a servant in his father's house!
On December 17, 1904 Jim and Bama Andrews both came to die tragic deaths. Jim Andrews had begun drinking heavily and began to believe Bama was seeing other men. He had publicly stated he would kill her. The week before, he had chased Bama out of their house in McWilliams while she was dressed only in her nightgown. Jim was taken to jail, bound hand and foot, to sleep it off. When he got out of jail the next day, he moved the Bama and the children to a community nearby called Schuester Station. The house was located very close to the train station. On the evening of Dec. 17, Jim sent word to his 2 oldest sons, John and Bob Andrews, to come at once. According to testimony at the criminal trials to come later, some witnesses testified John and Bob were angry with their father over some property that he had forced their mother to sign over to him and that Jim was going to give it to Bama. The brothers testified that their father had asked them to kill Bama for him but they had refused! Whatever the truth, by the end of the evening both Jim and Bama were dead. Bama was stabbed repeatedly, a large clump of hair pulled from her head, shot in the back and her throat was cut. Jim died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. 10 year old Agyness and his 14 year old sister Annie witnessed the deaths!
During the murder trials, Annie and Agyness had to testify several times. These 2 children had to be extremely traumatized! In modern times they would have received a lot of psychological support to help them deal with this terrible event. Not only had they had to deal with seeing the deaths of father Jim and stepmother Bama but also their mother's death just a few years before. Now they were orphans! They were both placed in the care of Jim's sister, Martha Andrews. Now Martha Andrews was known as a very strong-willed, tough woman. She had 4 grown children of her own but had never married! She was very, very angry with John and Bob over the death of her brother Jim. During the early trials, Agyness and Annie testified that the children had been told to leave the house when the adults started to argue. Annie was caring for the 4 month old baby Alabama Emily in a different room. Agyness had snuck back to see what was happening. He said he saw Bob kill Bama and John kill his father Jim. On the other hand, John and Bob testified that they were taking the children to the train station to get them away from the fighting between Jim and Bama. When they heard the gunshot and screaming they ran back to help. Bob went to check on Bama while John tried to take the gun from Jim. According to them, Jim had murdered Bama and in the struggle to get the gun from Jim it went off and killed Jim. Their was a mistrial where John and Bob were tried together. In 1906, they were tried separately and both were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Bob was granted another trial in a new location in 1908 due to irregularities in the jury selection at his previous trial. At this new trial, the testimonies of Agyness and Annie changed. Martha Andrews was accused of coaching the children and forcing them to blame the murders on John and Bob. The children had been coached and cross examined as witnesses so many times that their accounts of what happened were no longer considered valid. Their memories of the event had been contaminated by time and the interference of adults. They were probably not sure of what they had witnessed themselves that terrible night 4 years ago. The jury in the new trial found Bob not guilty on all counts. John Andrews was not granted a new trial, however on December 23, 1909 he was granted parole from prison by Alabama Governor B. B. Comer. Although he never received a full pardon for the murder, John's full citizenship rights were restored by Gov. Comer in January, 1911.
As far as Agyness, I know on the 1910 Census when he was 16 years old he was working as a farm laborer in Midway, Monroe County, Alabama. In 1917, he married Annie Corrine McLemore and was working as a lumberman in Calcasieu County, Louisiana. On his 1917 WWI Draft Card he is described as tall, slender with brown hair and blue eyes. He signed the draft card with the name Agee Andrews. I'll send you a copy of the draft card. They had a daughter, Lillian Idell Andrews, in 1920. By 1922, Agyness and Annie were divorced and he had married Bertie Diane Stokes. They had 2 children I am aware of : Opal Alice born in 1923 and Ruby born in 1925. From what I can tell, Agyness and Bertie were divorced by 1927. The next record I have of Agyness is his 1940 WWII draft card. In 1940 he is living in Crittenden, Arkansas and he has changed his last name to Holder. I don't know if he had a falling out with the Andrews family and decided to go back to his mother's last name or if the childhood trauma had caught up with him and he was trying to distance himself from those terrible memories by changing his name. I suppose it's even possible that the draft board forced him to change his name to Holder because he was illegitimate and couldn't legally prove his father was Jim Andrews. As far as I know, he went by the last name Holder for the rest of his life.
So that is all I know about Agyness Gennis Holder Andrews! If you have any info about his life that is different from mine or you can fill in the gaps I would love to have it. Also any pictures you have of Agyness, his brothers and sisters, or any other family members!! I don't have any pictures of Maggie Holder's children at all. Also, if you are aware of any family stories about Maggie or her children I would love to hear about them. I am hoping to one day locate her grave. I hope this info is what you were hoping for. Please contact me if you have any questions or want more family history.
Your cousin,
Mary Strickland
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