- Sarah Hollowell daughter of the aforesd Thomas & Alice* borne the first of 11 month 1647.
- Thomas Hollowell, sonn of the aforesd Thomas & Alice* was borne the 22th of the first month 1649.
- Henry Hollowell, sonn of the aforesd Thomas & Alice*was borne the 18th of the 8th month 1652.
- John Hollowell, sonn of the aforesd Thomas & Alice* was borne the 22th of 4th month 1655, and departed this life, the 10th of the 3rd month 1671.
- Joseph Hollowell, sonn of the aforesd Thomas & Alice* was borne the 15th of the 6th month 1657.
- Benjamine Hollowell, sonn of the aforesd Thomas & Alice* was borne the 28th of 12 month 1659.
- Elizabeth Hollowell daughter of the aforesd Tho: & Alice* was borne the 9th of the 7th month 1662.
- Alise Hollowell, daughter of the aforesd Thomas & Alice*was borne the 16th of the 12 month 1664.
- Edmond Hollowell sonn of the aforesd Tho: & Alice* was born the 15th of the 9th month 1667.
- John Hollowell, sonn of the aforesd Tho: & Alice* was borne
the 5th of the 9th month 1672.
* Elizabeth has been erased and Alice substituted. (Early Quaker Records in Virginia, Miles White, Jr., pp. 36-37).
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Virginia law allowed any person paying the cost of passage for himself and/or another person to claim 50 acres of land in the right of the new settler. A voucher to prove "importation" was obtained, and could be transferred by the "importer" (assigned) to anyone else. The land claim did not have to be made promptly after the immigrant arrived. Some of these vouchers changed hands for years before they were ultimately redeemed for land. It should also be noted that by paying the cost of an immigrant's transportation, the "importer" became entitled not only to the headright land, but also to receive service, i.e., labor, from the immigrant for a specified time. If the immigrant was a minor, the time of service ran until the child became an adult, or later than that if the indenture contract so specified. Everyone assumes that Thomas Hollowell and his wife Alice came to Virginia in 1649 and their first two children, Sarah and Thomas, were born before they arrived in the Colony of Virginia. The reference for this assumption is the patent for 1150 acres of land Stephen Gill recorded 30 April 1649 in Yorke Co. for the transportation of 23 persons named in the patent, one of whom was Thos. Hollowell. Much speculation has been made and many theories expounded about how and where Thomas and Alice were married, her maiden name, and how/when the first two children arrived in the colonies. We may never know Alice's maiden name, but it is a certainty that all of the children were born in the colonies. It is definitely a fact that Alice and the two oldest children did not come at the same time as their father, but were not mentioned in the patent. Stephen Gill received 50 acres of land for each person he transported. If you multiply 23 x 50, it equals 1150 acres. Surely Mr. Gill would not have given a "freebie" ride to three persons and deprive himself of an additional 150 acres of land. The date given is when the deed was registered not necessarily the date the people arrived. It was often years later when deeds were actually registered, some having changed hands several times in the interim. Thomas Hollowell's name next appeared in a Quarter Court held at James Citty 30 Oct. about 1650 where he had 1 bill of 265 lbs. of tobacco. (Book B, Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, 2 November 1646-15 Januqry 1651/2). It would have been almost impossible in a little over a year for Thomas to have come into the colonies in 1649, work off his passage price, obtain land, plant and harvest a crop of tobacco large enough to have the 262 pounds of tobacco available to pay the bill mentioned above. The most logical explanation is that Thomas was here before 1649 when the deed was registered. It is also unfortunate that the records of Yorke and Nansemond Counties are no longer extant for they would certainly be able to shed some insight into solving the many mysteries surrounding the early settlers. It is a well-known and much documented fact that Thomas Hollowell and his wife, Alice, were members of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. On 12 November 1663, Thomas Hollowell and his wife were arrested by Thomas Lovell the Underschrieve for Lower Norfolk County where several people called "Quakers" were meeting unlawfully. This proves that Thomas and Alice were actively pursuing their religious beliefs. When George Fox, the Society of Friend's founder, visited the Colony of Virginia in 1672, he found followers firmly settled, and in his famous letter written to Friends in the area, suggests that a permanent meeting house be built and proposed Thomas Hollowell's house at Elizabeth River could be used until a permanent structure could be completed. George Fox mandated that a permanent record should be kept. The names and birth dates of Thomas and Alice Hollowell's children were inscribed as one of the first entries of the Chuckatuck Monthly Meeting, the oldest Quaker record in Virginia. On the first page of the old book [Register of the original Chuckatuck Quarterly Meeting] is found the following: "This book began with the Yeare 1672 by the motion or order of George Ffox the servant of God." It should be noted, however, that some of the data precedes this date by a number of years, the earliest date being 1647, which is the birth date of a child of Thomas and Alice Hollowell of Elizabeth River.(Hinshaw, Vol. 6, p. 21).
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As we know it, Thomas Hollowell, Sr. of the Western
Branch of Elizabeth River in Lower Norfolk, Colony of Virginia,
was our first Hollowell ancestor to arrive in the Colony of Virginia.
He first appears in public records as a "headright"
of Stephen Gill in 1649. Before proceeding further, I would like
to explain the "headright" system to dispel the misconceptions
about Thomas' entry into the Colonies.
 
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