Rachel Holmes

Discussion

Sources & Notes

Rachel Holmes' lineage can be found in multiple renditions online. In some, one or more sisters are included. Birthplaces for Rachel and her sisters differ in the various pedigrees: Massachusetts, Barbados, Guatemala, London, and Yorkshire are mentioned. Most trees have a couple more generations on the Holmes side; one has Rachel’s line all the way back to the year 100.

What historical sources are there for the genealogy of Rachel Holmes?             A 1665 lawsuit noting that she was the wife of Humphrey Davenport demonstrates that she was heir to Major William Holmes, leader of the Plymouth colony’s 1637 war against the Pequots. “Mrs. Rachel Davenport, as attorney to her husband Mr. Humphrey Davenport and in her own right as heir of Major William Holmes....”

Tracing back, we see that in 1649, William Holmes wrote his will leaving his estate to “my loving kinswomen Margarett Homes & Mary Homes now residing at the Iland of Antigo and daughter of my deceased brother Thomas Homes,” to “my sister-in-law Margarett Webb alias Homes the late wife of my said brother Thomas Homes and to Rachell Homes and Bathsheba Homes two other daughters of my said brother all now living in London.” The will provided for "the maintenance & bringing up of the said Rachell & Bathsheba until they and either of them shall attain the age of sixteen years or be married."

Anderson, Robert C., The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, citing Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. and Pulsifer, David, eds., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England (Boston, 1855-1861), 7:126-27. (Online: NEHGS and Ancestry.com)

There are two manuscripts that present a Holmes genealogy claiming that the parents of Rachel and Barsheba Holmes, nieces of Major William Holmes of the Pequot war, were Thomas Holmes and Henriette Martin. The family histories state that the girls were born in 1615 and 1617; no other nieces are named. Although birthplaces are not given, earlier generations were from East Riding, Yorkshire. Sources for the family data are not included.

That is the earliest account of Rachel Holmes I could find. It appears that later histories of Rachel Holmes all drew on this material without question.

[no author] Representative men and old families of southeastern Massachusetts Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1912. vol 1 p. 394. (Online Ancestry.com)

(The Holmes histories in the two accounts are word-for-word the same.)

Having my curiosity roused, I went searching for evidence of Rachel's family in London. I found a listing of the inhabitants of London in 1638 which names a Thomas Holmes of St. Margaret Lothbury who paid rent of 6£.

An examination of the parish register of St. Margaret Lothbury yields these records:

Thomas Holmes and Margery Dice married 27 Jul 1632

William, son of Thomas Holmes, bap. 2 Sep 1633

Margaret, daughter of Thomas Holmes, bap. 20 Aug 1635

Mary, daughter of Thomas Holmes, bap. 31 Mar 1637

William, son of Thomas Holmes, d. 21 Oct 1638

Rachel, daughter of Thomas Holmes, bap. 8 Apr 1640

Tho. Holmes buried in the churchyard 14 Oct 1641

Betsheba, daughter of Thomas Holmes, bap. 3 Mar 1642 

This family corresponds exactly to the family described in William’s will:

Rachel Holmes, the wife of Humphrey Davenport of Barbados and the mother of William Davenport of Hartford, was born in London in 1640. She was the daughter of Thomas Holmes and Margaret Dice.

Additional Holmes Research