Figure of the Week

John Holloway’s (1762-1834) ancestors were Quakers who seem to have come to Stafford to work at James Hunter’s Iron Works near Falmouth.  This facility was a major supplier of weapons and supplies to Continental troops during the American Revolution.  There were at least two waves of Quakers who came to Hunter’s from Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 1760s and 1770s.  Several of the Holloways were millers or millwrights  By about 1812 activities at Hunter’s had ended and most of the Quakers had moved west, but John remained in Stafford where he later died. He resided on Milton Christie’s old farm on Poplar Road (Route 616), just southeast of Poplar Grove, and owned what later became known as Kellogg’s Mill on Potomac Run.  Some of this family also owned land on Aquia Run in the northern part of Stafford.