Isaac Walter Holler

ZACHARIAH HELLER/HOLLER/HOLLAR > JOHANNES HOLLAR > GEORGE ELAM HOLLAR m Lucy Robertson (who then married Nathan Poyner) > WESLEY HOLLAR > ISAAC WALTER HOLLAR

Click to enlarge chart

To have a good background on this story, read about Johannes Hollar, and the origins of the Midwest Hollars. You can read about the founding of  Poyner Township here. You can also read about David Owens and Sarah Holler and their families. You can read about Wesley Hollar's brother, John B. Hollar here.

Sarah Hollar was my 3rd great grandmother and married David Owens in Indiana, then came to Illinois and then Iowa with several family members, including her widowed mother, Lucy Robertson Hollar. Lucy's husband George Elam Hollar and she had at least five children, including Wesley, Sarah's brother.

Wesley's birth year is unknown, but he was most likely born in Washington County, Indiana along with the rest of the children. He married Martha "Patsy" Brown 09 Feb 1844 in Washington County.

The couple moved down to Muscatine County, Iowa, where they resided in Sweetland township. The 1852 Iowa census indicates that there were five residents of the household, with only one being a voter, so perhaps three children had been born to them. Two of them I know nothing about. The third, Isaac Walter Hollar, was born about 1850. His parents died when he was very young (and possibly to his siblings) in about 1852.

Isaac's grandmother, Lucy and her new second husband, Poyner township founder, Rev Nathan Poyner, adopted him.Nathan's first wife, Nancy Johnston, was the first person to die in Poyner Township in 1854. Nathan married Lucy a few months later. Isaac was raised in Poyner township in Black Hawk County, from that point.

Residing in the household in 1860 was Nathan, Lucy, Nathan's unmarried son, Thomas, and his adopted son, J. B. Edwards. Nathan died in 1867.

By 1870, grandson Isaac, JB Edwards, Thomas Poyner, Lucy Robertson Hollar Poyner, and two of David Owens' children, Enoch and Sarah were living in the household. In 1880, Lucy was living with her daughter Edna Wheeler and family and Thomas and JB Edwards were living in their own home. Lucy died 19 Aug 1889 of old age at 82.

Isaac was born on 27 Aug 1850. He married Elizabeth Lodica "Libbie" Preston on 30 Mar 1873 in Delaware County. He was farming in Poyner Township in 1880. 1900 found them in Delaware County where Isaac was a teamster.

Isaac & Libbie Hollar Family

In 1908, Isaac sued his adoptive nephew, J. B. Edwards for half the land J.B.'s father, Thomas Poyner left him. That would include land owned at one time by Isaac's adoptive father, Nathan Poyner. The outcome of that case is not known.

On 25 Jan 1910, his wife Libbie died of typhoid fever pneumonia There was a mini-outbreak in the city of Waterloo, Iowa, where they were living. Several people died in the outbreak, which was mostly restricted to a small area on the east side of Waterloo.

Isaac returned to Manchester eventually and died at the home of his daughter, Elsie Straub, on 02 Jul 1934.

The Hollar's had at least seven children including:

1. Elsie Elizabeth, born 16 Jan 1874 in Poyner Township. She married Edward Straub on 14 Feb 1900 in Delaware County. They had two children. Elsie died 07 Jun 1955 in Manchester.

2. Minnie Mabel born 16 Aug 1876, most likely in Poyner Township (some sources say Masonville). She married Emslie H. Frentress and they resided in Jo Davies County for many years. They had six children. Minnie died 06 Nov 1956 in Manchester.

3. William Hollar was born 06 Dec 1878, in Poyner Township. He married Sarah Zarr. They had seven children. They resided in Nashua for many years where Will was a mason and drainage tile contractor. William died 28 Jun 1969 in Charles City, Floyd County.

4. Eva was born 17 Feb 1881 in Poyner Township. She married Harry Duke, a very successful plumbing contractor in Waterloo. They had five children. Eva died 26 Jan 1970 in Cedar Falls.

5. Elzada was born 04 Aug 1885. She married Harry E Rogers and then Louis "Gus" Hill. She lived in Kansas and then in Oklahoma. Her date of death is unknown.

6. Elizabeth "Libbie" Marion was born 18 Sep 1888 in Manchester, Delaware County. She married Robert Earl Wallace and then Karl Eugene Henze Sr. They had three children and spent several years living in Texas. She died 30 Sep 1944 in Des Moines.

7. Bert was born 15 Dec 1890 in Manchester. He married Ethel Frost and they divorced. They had four children, one of whom died at age 3. Bert died 22 Sep 1970 in Waterloo.

The minister who adopted him was actually his grandmother
Lucy Robertson Hollar Poyner and her husband, founder
of Poyner Township, Rev Nathan Poyner.

A Little More on David Owens

I had a lot of fun working on the family of David Owens - check the tag list on the sidebar to see all
the posts related to him which cover his arrival in Iowa, move to Davison, South Dakota, and the lives of his children.

I also love that they keep adding newspapers over at NewspaperArchives.com, my favorite source of news articles. Recently, they added Iowa State Reporter, a small press that published from Waterloo.

Here are a few tidbits that look into the life of David Owens' life in Iowa. What I see is a good farmer, a wise man, a sometimes frustrated father, and a responsible, participating member of his community. It also nailed down the time of the arrival of the Owens' party in Poyner Township. And I had no idea he was a fruit grower primarily. He had some rough weather years here in Iowa. These take him all the way to just after his move to South Dakota:

PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that I have, this day, given my son, James D Owens, his time and that hereafter I will not be responsible for any debts or business engagements he may make. David Owens, Poyner Township, May 27, 1874
Iowa State Reporter May 27, 1874
===
Sheriff's Sale
State of Iowa, Black Hawk County > xx
Notice is hereby given, that on the 30th day of May AD 1874, at 10 o'clock am at the Court House, in the city of Waterloo, and county aforesaid will be sold at public auction to the highest bidder, for cash, the following described real estate, levied upon and taken by virtue of a general execution issued from the office of the clerk of the circuit court within and for the county of Black Hawk, State of Iowa, in favor of Rena Chapman and against the property of EE McStay, Charles B Case, and David Owens, to-wit:
Lot No four (4) in block No nine (9) in village of Raymond, Black Hawk County, State of Iowa, excepting the north forty-two feet (42) of said lot or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said writ of execution and all accruing costs. GW HAYZLETT, Sheriff of Black Hawk County, Dated at the Sheriff's office, Waterloo, April 30, 1874.
Iowa State Reporter May 27, 1874
===
David Owens, of Poyner township, tells us that his section the storm destroyed the fences and quite a few and quite a number of trees. Fifteen of his large fruit trees were either entirely destroyed or badly injured.
Iowa State Reporter June 10, 1874
===
David Owens, of  Poyner township, has sold to Thompson Bros., forty barrels of apples this year. They were mostly of the gros pommier variety and as handsome as any apples ever seen in this market. Mr Owens has been one of the most successful fruit growers in the county.
Iowa State Reporter October 21, 1874
===
...In 1855, L Doud, C Chamberlin, David Owens, William Wheeler, Albert Taylor, John Helton, John Hollar, Henry Kimble, John Linderman, IT Corwin, Martin Zimmerman and James Poyner settled in the southern part of the township.
Iowa State Reporter May 26, 1875
===
David Owens of Poyner Township came in on Monday with a big egg, expecting to beat the Lester township production furnished by Enos Wood. It was not quite large enough to do that, and Mr Owens has gone back to induce his hen to make another effort.
Iowa State Reporter August 18, 1875
===
...The reports in regard to corn are just as varied. David Owens, of Poyner Township, tells us his opinion, made up from actual observation, is that the crop will not be more than half the usual yield, taking the average into consideration. The weather recently has been too cool to make a crop, for the late planted. Oats are potatoes are generally good.
Iowa State Reporter August 18, 1875
===
David Owens of Poyner, exhibited twenty varieties of apples, making a very fine show.
Iowa State Reporter October 3, 1877
===
POYNER.
Justices - J. N. Marble, J. P. Keiffer.
Assessor - James K. Winsett.
Clerk- J. J. Hoxie.
Trustees- Ed. Marble, W. S. Deitrich, David Owens.
Constables- Joseph Barker, C. Miller
Iowa State Reporter October 16, 1878
===
David Owens of Poyner township says his apple crop will be about six hundred bushels of excellent fruit. He also tells us that for the last two years he has been getting all his fuel from groves of his own raising.
Iowa State Reporter September 24, 1879
===
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING, 17 Oct 1881
...The following bills were audited as follows viz:
ON THE POOR FUND
David Owens, vinegar and apples for poor house $2.37
Waterloo Courier October 26, 1881
===
David Owens, of Poyner, who has one of the large orchards of the county, informs us that the prospects now are that he will not have more than a quarter or a third of a crop. At first he expected an immense yield, but the last frost injured the fruit so that it has been dropping from the trees ever since. He also says his cherry crop will be light.
Iowa State Reporter June 28, 1882
===
The Mount Vernon, Dakota Gazette says that David Owens of this county has purchased a timber claim four miles southeast of that town.
Iowa State Reporter March 8, 1882
===
WG met David Owens of Poyner township the other day. He has for a good many years given much attention to fruit raising. he thinks the past winter killed about 70 per cent of his trees, notwithstanding a good many have budded and blossomed this spring. He says the wood is already turning black under the bark and by August will be dead. The trees that stood the winter best with him are the Haas, Duchess, Walbridge and the Perry Russett. The last he pronounces a poor thing in the way of fruit, but he has a good opinion of Walbridge, both as to fruit and tree.
Iowa State Reporter May 23, 1883
===
David Owens, formerly an old resident of Poyner township, came in Tuesday night from Dakota, where he is now living, near Mt Vernon. He has left at this office specimens of sod corn, wheat and American and Russian flax. He is loud in praise of the productiveness of the soil, and in his general surroundings, and the specimens we have from him certainly corroborates his enthusiasm. He will spend a couple of weeks among his old neighbors.
Iowa State Reporter October 16, 1884
===

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Carrie Elnora Owens

Early 1900s postcard for Mt Vernon, SD

DAVID OWENS m ANNA E BARKER  > CARRIE ELNORA OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. One little caveat discovered when working on
mother Anna: Barker may have been previously married to George Barker when they came to Black Hawk County. I don't know if George died or they divorced, but I'm fairly certain this is the Anna Eliza Barker David took as his third wife. I have not discovered Anna's earlier beginnings.

Carrie Elnora was born in Poyner Township, Black Hawk County in 1875 date according to her tombstone). She was the first daughter and third child of David and his third wife "Eliza." When the Owens' packed up and moved to near Mount Vernon, Davison County, South Dakota in April 1884, Carrie was nine years old. She married Thomas Benjamin Haynes in South Dakota in 1892. Thomas' parents had come from England and he was born in Wisconsin. Thomas was a farm implement dealer in Mount Vernon.

They resided in Mount Vernon their entire married lives, Thomas dying in 1949 and Carrie following him in 1950.

Owen Haynes

Their children were Hazel Lorraine, born 1896, who married James Earl Wells, Jr. James was an economist and analyst for the Department of Agriculture's Farm Board in Washington DC beginning in 1927. He was made secretary of the Commodity Credit Corp by Franklin Roosevelt and later was named second vice president and director, a post he held until 1936. He continued to work for the Federal government until at least 1940. After retirement, they lived in Minneapolis until their move to Tucson, Arizona in about 1966. James died in 1967 and Hazel in 1987.

Son Owen James Haynes, born in 1899,  was the first man in Mount Vernon to enter the service during World War I. He went on to Camp Cody, Demin, New Mexico and spent a year there before being sent to France, where he served with an ambulance company. When he returned, he left for Vermillion, where he attended the University of South Dakota. While there, he received his undergrad and law degrees. He practiced law in Belfourche, South Dakota before he joined Standard Oil Co in 1923. He rose to the rank of Vice President of California Explorations, a subsidiary of Standard Oil, that was in charge of lands, leases, and government relations. He died in 1971 in the wealthy enclave of Burlingame, California. His wife, Florence Nelson and daughter, Marilyn survived him.

The Founding Families of Poyner Township

Zachariah Holler > John Holler > George Holler married Lucy Robertson 

George Elam Holler was the son of Johannes "John" Holler and Margaret Low. He was born about 1803 in Rowan County, North Carolina and traveled west with his family; first to Ohio, then to the Washington County, Indiana area.

George married Lucy H. Robertson in Washington County, Indiana on 18 Feb 1823. Recently, a death record was located that says George died 02 Feb 1841. He had died prior to the death of his father and was referenced in his will. In about mid-1853, John and his mother, his sister Sarah and husband David Owens (David was also born in North Carolina), her brother John, and sister Edna and husband William Wheeler and their families left Indiana and moved to Black Hawk County, Iowa, stopping briefly in Illinois along the way.

Nancy, Lucy, and Nathan Poyner are
buried on a section of Nathan's property
now the Poyner Twshp Cemetery

Nathan Poyner, of North Carolina, was a Baptist traveling preacher who had preached to pioneer flocks all over the country under shade trees. In the early 1850s, he located, along with his oldest son Thomas, to Linn County, Iowa.

Thomas purchased 200 acres of land in southeast Black Hawk County in 1851 for $102. He purchased another 160 acres for $228 the following year. Horatio Sanford, a land speculator who had purchased the land from the government a short time before using land warrants, made both sales. The Poyner's settled in southeast Black Hawk County in 1853.

The pioneers to this area built log cabins and began clearing land. Poyner preached to its residents under old shade trees as he had before. Settlers trickled in and the township, named Poyner township in honor of Nathan, was organized by order of the county judge in 1854. Nathan's wife, Nancy Johnston, was the first death in the township. She died in 1853 and was buried on a portion of Poyner land. This location is now part of Poyner Township Cemetery.

Mrs Lucy Holler then married Nathan in the summer of 1854, joining together two of the founding families of the township. In 1856, Poyner son James also moved from Linn County and purchased land in the township.  Nathan Poyner died 16 May 1867. His wife Lucy died 19 Aug 1889.

Sarah Holler, daughter of George and Lucy Holler, married David Owens while in Indiana, an early pioneer who joined the original seven families in the area. David was born in North Carolina and had also resided in Indiana. They had nine children, the middle of whom was Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens. Sarah died 20 Feb 1864. David married Elizabeth Brown on 21 Aug 1864 and she died 09 Jun 1866 in Poyner Township. Lucy married Ira S Miller (my 2nd great grandparents) 04 Nov 1869 and they resided in Polk Township, Benton County, Iowa for the remainder of her life. David Owens remarried once more, moving to nearby Barclay Township to farm, and then moved on to Davison County, South Dakota where he died 18 Feb 1909.

Edna Holler, Sarah's younger sister, had married William M Wheeler in Washington County prior to 1850. William had two children by his first marriage who both died as young adults and were buried in Poyner Township. Edna gave birth to eight children: William H., Mary, Emma, Thomas Grant, Albert, Lucy Ann, Henrietta, and Sarah J. Edna cared for her mother Lucy in her declining years until her death. The Wheeler’s remained in Poyner Township for the remainder of their lives. William died 10 Jun 1896 and Edna on 09 Sep 1895.

John B Holler married Harriet in about 1857 in Indiana. They had four children: Eliza, Hattie, Granville, and Edward. They lived in Poyner Township for the remainder of their lives. John died

31 May 1918 and Hattie in 1917.

A little family drama:  Nathan and his first wife had help raise a ward in addition to their children. James B. Edwards, who was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, 11 Mar 1839. When a child, he came with his parents to Illinois where he was left an orphan at the age of 3 years.  Nathan and Lucy raised an additional ward, Isaac Walter Hollar, who was the orphaned son of Wesley Hollar (another son of Lucy & George Holler) of Indiana. It was reportedly Nathan's wish that the boys share equally in Thomas' land. Thomas, who never married, had a major hand in raising James who ended up farming Thomas' land after his death. After reaching his majority, Isaac struck out on his own in the Muscatine, Iowa area. In 1908, he brought suit in Iowa court over the land. Since no articles were found referencing the case after the suit, one might presume some sort of settlement was reached or the suit was dropped.

What isn't clear is what the original connections was between the Poyner and Holler families, which very well could extend for decades from their North Carolina origins, despite the serpentine nature of how all of them arrived in Poyner Township.