Was Selah Averitt the mother of Betsy Holmes (wife of Dennis Wiggins) and William Holmes (husband of Alpha Morris)? What do you think?

I’ll put my cards on the table right now. No. I don’t think Betsy Holmes or William Holmes are the children of Selah Averitt.

I come from Selah Averitt twice.

First, she’s on my direct maternal line. My maternal grandmother is the daughter of Ethel Morris. Ethel Morris was the daughter of Serenia Edwards and William Rowland Morris and they were first cousins — their mothers were sisters, Jane and Sallie Holmes. (Jane Holmes was married to Harvey Edwards and Sallie Holmes was married to Levi Morris.) Jane and Sallie Holmes were two of the three daughters of John Holmes Jr. and Selah Averitt. The third daughter was Sophia Holmes.

So why don’t I think Selah Averitt was the mother of John Holmes’ first two children, Betsy and William?

Several reasons.

1. William Holmes was born about 1817 and Betsy Holmes was born about 1820, both in Beaufort County.
2. In 1820, Selah Averitt appears to be still living in the home of her father David Averitt in Craven County, and on the 1820 census, there are no small children in her father’s household.
3. Meanwhile, in 1820, John Holmes does appear on the census in a Beaufort County household where he is in the 26-44 age group, there is a female of 16-25, two girls under 10 and 1 male under 1.
4. In 1823, Selah appears for the first time in Craven County records by her birth name, Selah Averitt, in a bastardy bond in which she refuses to name the father. The first bondsman who steps forward is Zachariah Williams. The second bondsman who steps forward is Frederick Butler, the brother of Selah’s father’s new wife, Sally Butler. (Three years later, Selah’s father David Averitt is bondsman for his brother-in-law Frederick Butler in a bastardy bond for a child he conceived with Prudence Hollis.)
5. In 1825, Selah Averitt has another bastardy bond in Craven County. This time she names the father as Thomas Hardy and the child is named Stephen Averitt. Her brother Enoch Averitt is a bondsman. The other bondsman is Joseph Hardy, either the father or brother of Thomas Hardy.
6. Selah Averitt may not have lived in John Holmes household until sometime in 1828. They have their first child together, my 3rd-great-grandmother, Jane Holmes, on 12 July 1829 (putting the conception timeframe around the first week in October 1828). Selah’s father, David, died in January 1828, leaving her with her stepmother as head of her father’s house and estate. I suspect Selah knew it was time to move on and take her little boy Stephen with her. (I think the daughter she had from her first bastardy bond was living in this household.)
7. The 1830 census has two boys aged 5 to 9 (William Holmes and Stephen Averitt), 1 girl under 5 (Jane Holmes), 1 girl 10-14 (Betsy Holmes), and a male and female both in the age 30-39 group (John and Selah).
8. Sallie Holmes is born about 1833. Sophia Holmes is born in 1838.

In other words, Selah Averitt is still living in Craven County in her father’s household, identifying herself as Selah Averitt through at least 1825 when she has her second bastardy bond. Meanwhile, John Holmes had a different wife on the 1820 census.

So who was the first wife of John Holmes Jr?

That’s the $64,000 question. I have yet to find any clues that even begin to suggest who John Holmes Jr’s first wife was.

There are a ton of people on Ancestry who have Selah Averitt listed as the mother of Betsy Holmes and William Holmes, but the actual evidence seems to work against that being likely.

Just think about it. If Selah was the mother of William and Betsy Holmes and she wasn’t married to John Holmes yet, why weren’t they in her father’s household in 1820 so she could look after her little ones? If she was married to John Holmes and they were her children, why is she still showing up as Selah Averitt in her father’s household in Craven County until at least 1825? William and Betsy were in their father, John Holmes’ household and there was a young lady old enough to be their mother living there with them.

You might think, “Well, isn’t it possible that the wife in John Holmes household in 1820 is Selah Averitt and that Betsy and William are hers?”

And then what? After having two little babies with John Holmes, you think she split, went back to her father’s house, resumed using her maiden name, and then went on to have two children out of wedlock with two different men? And then after all of that, she suddenly decided to go back to John Holmes again and have more babies? That doesn’t make any sense at all.

It would fly in the face of every social convention that was held in the 19th century about marriage, illegitimacy, divorce, and more. The 1800s in Craven and Beaufort Counties of North Carolina was not an area where they would just overlook a marriage and then a woman’s separation from her husband, leaving her small children behind, followed by two bastardy bonds from two different men for two different babies, and then a return back to the same husband as before. In Beaufort County, they were still charging co-habiting unmarried couples with fornication.

Do you descend from Betsy Holmes or William Holmes? If so, who do you think their mother is? I’m open to any suggestions? If you think I’m wrong, please tell me why in the comments below!