Holloway-Jones-Day House (Person County, NC)

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Holloway-Jones-Day House

So, how did the house come to be known as Holloway-Jones-Day?

The Holloway part is easy. The house probably was built for a James Holloway. His wife and three sons apparently inherited the property, with son David D. Holloway purchasing from his mother and brothers the acreage that included the house. Subsequently, in 1848, David D. Holloway sold the property to Moses Jones, thus providing the Jones part of the house name. A daughter of Moses Jones, Jane Jones, married John Bumpass Day in 1860, providing the Day part of the name.

Source: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 29 April 1988.

According to Person County tax records, the property is held in a trust, with the following person named as trustee:

Geraldine Howard
900 W. End Avenue, Apt 8D
New York, NY 10025-3562
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The Holloway-Jones-Day House was probably constructed for James Holloway, son of John Holloway. The elder Holloway settled in the late 1700s in the part of Caswell County later to become Person County. In his 1799 will John Holloway left to one of his children, James, the home plantation and 500 acres of land (Person County Will Book, page 166).

James Holloway married Nancy Dickson in 1809 (Person County Marriage Bonds). He was a farmer by occupation. From 1815 to 1832 he added some 2,314 acres of land to the legacy left him by his father. He sold around 1300 acres in 1835 and died intestate in 1840 (Person County Deeds).

He was survived by his wife, Nancy, and three sons, John A., William D., and David D. In October, 1840, Nancy Holloway was allotted 100 acres of land and the house for the duration of her lifetime. (Person County Deed Book 0, page 265). In 1842, James Holloway's land was divided among the heirs. Nancy, John A. and William D. sold 809 1/2 acres to David D. Holloway and in a second transaction, Nancy, William D. and David sold 234 acres to John A. Holloway (Person County Deed Book P, pages 19-20).

John A. died intestate in 1846 (Person County Estate Papers). It is clear from the subsequent settlement of the estate that the Holloway-Jones-Day House was not on the acreage acquired by John A. Holloway.

In 1848, David Holloway sold Moses Jones 150 acres (Person County Deed Book Q, page 398). We know from subsequent land transfers that this tract did include the dwelling now known as the Holloway-Jones-Day House. The 1850 Person County Census records head of household, David Holloway, age 38 and single living alone with his mother, Nancy (page 64).

We can only speculate on the construction date of the Holloway-Jones-Day House. One of the bricks on the east chimney is signed "D. A. Harris." This may refer to Drury A. Harris of Person County. Harris was born in 1806 (WPA Cemetery Records), married Catharine Lawson in 1833 (Person County Marriage Bonds), and died and was buried in Person County in 1874 (Person County Will Book 19, page 247; WPA Cemetery Records). The architectural evidence indicates a pre-1840 construction date, so Harris apparently erected these chimneys as a young adult.*

Moses Jones, who purchased the house in 1848, died around 1854. It is not known who occupied this house, since Moses apparently had another house nearby (Eaker, p.283). Moses and Joanna's daughter, Jane, married John Bumpass Day in 1860 and may have been given the house as a dowry (Person County Marriage Bonds). Family tradition recalls that John and Jane were living in the house during the civil War. The crossroads was known as Daysville by the 1870s. In 1883, Moses Jones, Jr. deeded the Holloway-Jones-Day House and 160 acres to John Bumpass Day and his sister, Jane, for $750 (Deed Book CC, page 464). They were living in the house at the time and according to the 1883 deed had been doing so for many years.

John Bumpass Day, born in 1830, served in Company E, 15th Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry and was wounded in 1864 (Confederate Service Records). After the war he returned to Person County. His house and the surrounding community, situated at a then major crossroads in the county became known as Daysville. A post office was operated out of Daysville from 1872 to 1892 (Postmaster List, page 286). Day was supposed to have managed a dry goods store during this time (Eaker, pages 219-220). Day and his brother-in-law, Moses Jones, Jr., deeded a tract of land in 1879 to the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church (Person County Deed Book W, page 375). The church had been constructed several years earlier and stills stands in good condition on SR 1322 100 yards west of the Holloway-Jones-Day House.

Daysville did not survive intact into the twentieth century; only John Bryce Day's house and the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church remain. However, Daysville should be remembered as one of the Person County's active rural communities in the late nineteenth century. John Bryce Day died in 1907. His house and the farm stayed in the Day family until recent years when the acreage was broken up. John Bryce Day'S greatgrandson, Donald G. Day, purchased the house and two acres in 1977 and 6.59 acres more between 1979 and 1984.
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* During the 1970s restoration of the downstairs fireplaces, soapstone lintels were removed from the segmental arches of the fireplaces. The initials "J. D." and "J. A. H." were carved in some of the soapstones. "J. D." could stand for John Bryce Day, a subsequent owner of the house; however, there were several John Days in the county during the mid-nineteenth century. "J. A. H." may refer to John A. Holloway, son of James Holloway the original owner of the house.

Source: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 29 April 1988.