Joshua Hollis was the fifth of five children born to Samuel Hollis (1739-1812) and his wife Abigail Drew (1738/39-1819) of Kingston, Plymouth Co., MA. According to the 1850 US Census and the 1855 New York State Census, he was born around 1776, probably in Kingston.
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Among those who thus followed the lead of the Pilgrim Fathers were the ancestors of Joshua Hollis, who came to Orwell in 1807.
It is not known when the first who bore the name of Hollis landed upon the American shore, but it was in time to give their name to one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts. The immediate ancestors of the family settled in historic Plymouth, and the father of Joshua Hollis, whose name was Samuel, served seven years in the Revolutionary war. His children were Samuel, Joshua, Bathsheba and Ruth, and two daughters whose names are not known.
At the age of 18 his son, Joshua, went to the town of Colerain [Colrain] in Massachusetts, not far from Shelburne Falls. There he married Betsey Adams in 1799. In September, 1805, they, with their two children, David and Lucy, set out for New York, coming by way of the State road through Redfield. They came with one ox team; after about five days travel they reached Redfield and staid over night at Johnston's tavern. The next day they turned off from the travelled highway and followed the rude woods-road westward. The wild forest was all around them. Here and there, fallen trees lay across their path, and must be but away before the patient oxen could resume their plodding course.
For many years it was unsafe to set out over the rough roads, even for a few miles journey, without carrying an axe for possible emergencies. At nightfall, they had only reached what is now called Stillwater. There they halted and spent the night in a deserted woodsman's shanty. They had brought fire with them from Redfield in an iron tea kettle. In those days lucifer matches were not, and fire was guarded as sacredly as in the ancient temples. So they had warmth and a cheerful blaze in the old cabin, and after supper, spreading their blankets, they laid down and slept as only the weary can. It was a wild, eerie place for slumber--no other human beings within miles, the strange forest creatures around them, and the thick curtain of darkness over all; but many such experiences fell to the lot of the early settlers in the woods of Oswego. The next morning they hopefully resumed their journey, and slowly proceeded westward by way of the old stone quarry, coming out on the present road close by where Ira Pratt now lives, in the precincts of the village. The grading of the old highway is still visible upon the hill back of his house.
A little ways back they passed a house then occupied by Capt. George Noyes, and remembered by many of the present inhabitants as the old "Beaman house." Passing through the Finster farm and crossing the creek just south of the Castor Mill site, they drove slowly on by the present Parish place, until they struck the Ridge Road. They spent that night with one John Darling. who lived on what was afterwards known as the "Baker place."
The next day they reached the end of their wanderings, at the foot of Wheat Hill, in what is now known as Sandy Creek. That farm adjoins the one now owned by their son John. They remained there two years and in 1807 removed to Orwell and settled upon the farm now occupied by his son William.
Joshua Hollis died May 2, 1858, in the 84th year of his age, and his wife died Apr. 13, 1843. He was a man of sincere and deep piety. He was a member of the M. E. church, and whenever there was a meeting within a radius of six or eight miles, he was sure to be found among the worshippers. His chief aim for himself and his children seemed to be to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."
[Hugh F. Murray, comp., History of the Town of Orwell from 1806 to 1887 (Pulaski, NY: L. R. Muzzy, 1887), 12-14.]
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Joshua and Betsey Hollis raised seven children, the first two born in Colrain, the remaining five in Orwell: David (b. 1801), Lucy (b. 1803), Asenath (b.1806), John Adams (b. 1809), Samuel (b. 1812), William Howard (b. 1815), and Gilbert (b. ca. 1818).
Joshua Hollis's date of death is in dispute. Hugh T. Murray in his History of Orwell (above) states that Hollis died on May 2, 1858. However, the mortality schedule attached to the 1860 Federal Census notes that Hollis died in November 1859. It is further noted that he died of heart failure ("Dropsy of the heart") after an illness of 2-1/2 years.
Joshua Hollis was the fifth of five children born to Samuel Hollis (1739-1812) and his wife Abigail Drew (1738/39-1819) of Kingston, Plymouth Co., MA. According to the 1850 US Census and the 1855 New York State Census, he was born around 1776, probably in Kingston.
_______________________________________
Among those who thus followed the lead of the Pilgrim Fathers were the ancestors of Joshua Hollis, who came to Orwell in 1807.
It is not known when the first who bore the name of Hollis landed upon the American shore, but it was in time to give their name to one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts. The immediate ancestors of the family settled in historic Plymouth, and the father of Joshua Hollis, whose name was Samuel, served seven years in the Revolutionary war. His children were Samuel, Joshua, Bathsheba and Ruth, and two daughters whose names are not known.
At the age of 18 his son, Joshua, went to the town of Colerain [Colrain] in Massachusetts, not far from Shelburne Falls. There he married Betsey Adams in 1799. In September, 1805, they, with their two children, David and Lucy, set out for New York, coming by way of the State road through Redfield. They came with one ox team; after about five days travel they reached Redfield and staid over night at Johnston's tavern. The next day they turned off from the travelled highway and followed the rude woods-road westward. The wild forest was all around them. Here and there, fallen trees lay across their path, and must be but away before the patient oxen could resume their plodding course.
For many years it was unsafe to set out over the rough roads, even for a few miles journey, without carrying an axe for possible emergencies. At nightfall, they had only reached what is now called Stillwater. There they halted and spent the night in a deserted woodsman's shanty. They had brought fire with them from Redfield in an iron tea kettle. In those days lucifer matches were not, and fire was guarded as sacredly as in the ancient temples. So they had warmth and a cheerful blaze in the old cabin, and after supper, spreading their blankets, they laid down and slept as only the weary can. It was a wild, eerie place for slumber--no other human beings within miles, the strange forest creatures around them, and the thick curtain of darkness over all; but many such experiences fell to the lot of the early settlers in the woods of Oswego. The next morning they hopefully resumed their journey, and slowly proceeded westward by way of the old stone quarry, coming out on the present road close by where Ira Pratt now lives, in the precincts of the village. The grading of the old highway is still visible upon the hill back of his house.
A little ways back they passed a house then occupied by Capt. George Noyes, and remembered by many of the present inhabitants as the old "Beaman house." Passing through the Finster farm and crossing the creek just south of the Castor Mill site, they drove slowly on by the present Parish place, until they struck the Ridge Road. They spent that night with one John Darling. who lived on what was afterwards known as the "Baker place."
The next day they reached the end of their wanderings, at the foot of Wheat Hill, in what is now known as Sandy Creek. That farm adjoins the one now owned by their son John. They remained there two years and in 1807 removed to Orwell and settled upon the farm now occupied by his son William.
Joshua Hollis died May 2, 1858, in the 84th year of his age, and his wife died Apr. 13, 1843. He was a man of sincere and deep piety. He was a member of the M. E. church, and whenever there was a meeting within a radius of six or eight miles, he was sure to be found among the worshippers. His chief aim for himself and his children seemed to be to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."
[Hugh F. Murray, comp., History of the Town of Orwell from 1806 to 1887 (Pulaski, NY: L. R. Muzzy, 1887), 12-14.]
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Joshua and Betsey Hollis raised seven children, the first two born in Colrain, the remaining five in Orwell: David (b. 1801), Lucy (b. 1803), Asenath (b.1806), John Adams (b. 1809), Samuel (b. 1812), William Howard (b. 1815), and Gilbert (b. ca. 1818).
Joshua Hollis's date of death is in dispute. Hugh T. Murray in his History of Orwell (above) states that Hollis died on May 2, 1858. However, the mortality schedule attached to the 1860 Federal Census notes that Hollis died in November 1859. It is further noted that he died of heart failure ("Dropsy of the heart") after an illness of 2-1/2 years.
Gravesite Details
The original grave marker for Joshua Hollis is no longer extant. The present marker was dedicated in 2015, displays birth and death dates that are probably incorrect (see Bio above).
Family Members
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