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

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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.

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.