| Mother |
Barbara Galphin, b. abt. 1760, Silver Bluff, Aiken, South Carolina  , d. 1830, Silver Bluff, Aiken, South Carolina (Age ~ 70 years) |
| Notes |
- Nephew David Holmes and sons George, John (by wife Metawney of Coweta Town) and Thomas (by wife Rachel Dupre) assumed control of George Galphin's trading house upon his retirement in 1774 [Wright] [Braund]. It is not known if William Holmes was related to David.
There is a debate about the distaff line of Thomas Galphin Holmes and his siblings, as some family members have claimed Creek ancestry. (Galphin was not unusual among back-country traders in that he took Indian wives-- Nitechucky and Metawney.) However, court records frustrate the claim. In 1833 Thomas and the other legal heirs (Martha Lehiffe and Mary Bowers) were summoned to settle the estate of Barbara Holmes, the daughter and former slave of Galphin. Barnwell, South Carolina Court of Equity, bundle no. 53, package 5.
According to historian Mario de Valdes y Cocom, Barbara's mother Rose was an enslaved quadroon and the daughter of Moses Nunes, a Jewish back-country trader. "The Blurred Racial Lines of Famous Families", Frontline, Public Broadcast System. (Some confusion on this point is introduced by Nunes' 1785 will which identifies a "Mulatto Rose" as his wife and the mother of his children, James, Robert, Alexander and Frances.) Woodward has a somewhat similar account: Galphin "raised" a child, Barbary, with a slave named Mina; Mina was emancipated at his death; and Barbary married a Holmes, who "raised" Dr. Thomas G. Holmes, Pickett's informant. Woodward apparently would have obtained his information from Mina's brother, Ketch. Ketch was given to Woodward by Gen. David E. Twiggs (1790-1862) to care for in his old age. As he states, "I had a little mill on a creek near Tuskegee, where I kept Ketch and several other Indian negroes, and here I used to spend much time in listening to them tell over old occurrences of by-gone days." The 1775 deed of sale for Mina and Ketch confirms Galphin's ownership of these slaves. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Sec. of State, Misc. Records, R, pp. 287-290. However, Woodward's claims are not always above reproach and this may simply be the tale that grew with the telling. Galphin's will is explicit in identifying Barbara's mother as Rose. See, Bowers v. Newman, 2 McMul. 472, 27 S.C.L. 472, 1842 WL 2403 (S.C.Err., 1842).
Pickett, in his notes, interestingly describes Thomas Holmes as "a good looking intelligent very dark skinned old gentleman with a remarkable memory." (Emphasis supplied.) [1, 2, 3]
- http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scedgefi/pioneers/galphin-thomas.pdf
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Abt 1782 - 1845 (~ 63 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set