James Anderson Hole was born on July 14, 1809. He is Walt’s great great grandfather. James is the furthest back we have been able to trace on the Hole/Hoel family line.
We are not completely sure where James was born. We have seen several different pieces of information about him. The 1850 census give his place of birth as Ohio. One of his son’s (James Bradford Hole) death certificate lists James Hole’s birthplace as Pennsylvania.
When we tried to find information about James’ parents, we found conflicting stories. Some records have him as the child of a doctor (a William Hole) and his wife in Cincinnati. Other records have him as the illegitimate child of a Sarah Hole. Some of those records say that he was adopted by her brother, one Jonathon Hole and his wife, and took the name out of gratitude. Other records make no mention of a mother but say he was adopted by Jonathon Hole.
James Anderson Hole married Maryann Swisher on October 31, 1883 in Darke County Ohio. They had 9 children and lived on a farm. I’ve covered several of their children in posts earlier. Their son Henry has an interesting history. Their daughter Rhoda was part of a two part series on clearing up question on her marriage (here and here). There have been several posts about Walt’s great grandfather, John Swisher Hole, and family as well.
James Anderson Hole died on January 19, 1866 and is buried in Mercer Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. You can see on his headstone that he is listed as James A.N. Hole.
Billie Hilbrands
Hi Michelle,
As far as I can see, James Anderson Hole was the son of Sarah Hole (Boltin), sister of Jonathan Hole. “Jamie Hole, son of my daughter Sarah” is one of the kids mentioned in his grandfather William’s will – which was contested. Also, when Sarah died, Ruth Boltin (James’ half-sister) petitioned the courts of Darke County to allow her to live with Jonathan Hole’s family. If I remember correctly – and there are so many Holes in the story – the doctor was an uncle.
Michelle
Billie, that certainly fits with some of what we had found. I was trying to find any official records about it. Supposedly at the time any adoptions had to be posted in the newspaper, but I haven’t found any records there either.