When We Were English, Part XVI

by Glenn N. Holliman

Connecting Cuddington Holymans to Cholesbury Holymans and Tring Holymans

Note: Cousin Jeanette Stewart recently shared in a Holliman chat room information on the Holyman and Weedon (Wedon) families of Hertfordshire, England from the English Origins of New England Families. Before reviewing her excellent research, I had been preparing the article below which echoes and strengthens her findings. In future postings, I will attempt to weave her public work into the growing narrative of the Holymans in Tring and Cuddington, England in the 16th and 17th centuries. My thanks to Jeanette, Joe Parker and all for making available to the larger Holliman, Holleman, Hollimon, etc. families their increasing knowledge of our historic roots.

Last spring my cousin Maxine Wright, a relentless researcher in pursuit of Holliman origins, mailed me the following information of one Richard Wedon, who lived in Botley, a small village near Cholesbury and Tring. As one can read in the first paragraph of this p. 187 of The Register, published 1954, Richard had to pay a fine in 1567 for breaking the head on another man's servant. Hmmm....

Richard must have matured because nine years later, in 1576 he married Jayne Holyman in Cholesbury, near Tring. The information below states that this Jayne Holyman was from 'a yeoman family of good standing in Cuddington', descendents of Bishop John Holyman, whose life we have reviewed in previous blogs.

Several other items leap out at us. Richard and Jayne had a son named James who evidently immigrated to Rhode Island! Did James join a cousin named Ezekiel of Tring in Rhode Island?One remembers that Ezekiel Holyman, an Anabaptist, baptised Roger Williams the founder of Rhode Island!

Notice that Richard Wedon writes a will in 1618 (it is probated in 1624, presumably the year of his death). The will is witnessed by William Holyman. Double click to enlarge.

Now the issue grows more complicated. Above we have Jayne Holliman married to Richard Wedon. Below in another section of the Register, we have a John Holyman appearing in marriage in 1593 and dying a few years later. Goodbye to this John who had no children.

However, now William Holyman, the eldest son of another William Holyman, appears again (noticed who witnessed Richard Wedon's will), baptized June 1583 and his sister Priscilla February 1584/5. They have a brother named Ezekiel.

This Ezekiel according to many web sites and those who have researched Baptist Church history is the Ezekiel who sailed to Massachusetts and helped found Rhode Island!

Notice in the next paragraph an Ann Holyman married another Wedon May 1586, and is noted as a probable daughter of Leonard Holyman and a sister of Jane Holyman.

Confusing? Yes, but stay with me. In the next blog, we are going to examine Leonard Holyman and his offspring. In web sites, Leonard is listed as the father of Ezekiel Holyman.

So, two thoughts emerge:

1. Leonard Holyman and other Holymans of Tring and Cholesbury, including Ezekiel, are indeed descendants of Bishop John Holyman of Cuddington.

2. Bishop John Holyman, a devout Roman Catholic, therefore is probably a great or great great uncle or cousin of Ezekiel Holyman, who was religiously antithetical by 180 degrees, to his prominent descendant, an Anabaptist in America! For those interested in religious history this is an amazing journey for a family. One generation burns Protestants at the stake; another helps establish the Baptist Church in Rhode Island.

So are all these interesting Holymans our direct ancestors? Ancestors, most probably yes; direct, we still do not know.

The elusive John Holyman, who died in Virginia in 1650 and is named in various web sites as the father of Christopher Holliman, Sr. (whom we know is the father of the American Hollimans), still has not appeared in the Tring records many of us have researched.

More in the next posting on resolving this mystery. Is our Christopher Sr. really from Bedford, Bedfordshire, another 30 miles or so up the road from Tring? Stayed tuned for more research....

When We Were English, Part XV

Making Sense of Our Cloudy and Confusing English Past
by Glenn N. Holliman
This gargoyle on the parish church at Tring, Hertfordshire, England represents the challenges to discover our Holliman roots. The 'past', this gargoyle, seemingly does not wish to tell us what we long to hear....who are our ancestors? Photos by Barbara Holliman

Indeed, new research provided by cousins Maxine Wright and Joe Parker is moving the focus of our search from Tring to Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, approximately 35 miles to the north.

In the meantime, I continue to share some findings in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, about 25 to 30 miles northwest of London. Below is a map of the villages where Holymans lived in the 16th and early 17 centuries: Cuddington, Tring, Cholesbury, Berkhamstead and Aldbury. They are overshadowed in a yellow marker. Double click to make larger.

The gargoyle at the top of this posting is from the Tring parish in the photo below.

In the photo above, I stand in front of the Tring, Hertfordshire parish church, which has been reconstructed several times since its 11th century founding. The present structure was erected in 1470. In this sacred space in England some of our distant ancestors probably worshiped and their remains may linger in the ground behind me.

After visiting the Tring parish church a first time in 2005, my wife and I stepped down the block to visit a charity shop (seeking yet more royal coronation ware, a vice of mine). The kind clerk showed us the local telephone book. Yes, seven or eight Hollimans were listed in the local exchange. Hmm… Later we motored to a pub for roast lamb and red wine (and I remember little more that day!).

Next posting, we continue to explore the villages and paperwork that connects Holymans in Cuddington to Cholesbury and Cholesbury to Tring and Tring to Berkhamsted and Aldbury.

Some new insights published via email by cousins Jeanette, Joe, Maxine, Betty and others continue to add to the tapestry that is emerging concerning our English roots. My continuing thanks to them for sharing.

When We Were English, Part XIII

by Glenn N. Holliman

Leaving the Lovely Village of Cuddington

Below a photograph of sheep grazing on a Chiltern hillside near Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. This pastoral scene is typical of the landscape around Tring, Cholesbury, Aldbury and Berkhamstead where the name Holyman pops up in parish registers and legal documents in the 17th and 16th centuries.

The folk of Cuddington, including Peggy Cattell and Caroline Stonham, were kind and generous with their information on the Holyman family. Below is Nancy Cattell who showed us around the parish church and village. Notice the thatch cottage on the right. It dates to the 1500s. The last reproduction (bottom photo) gives some idea of what an English cottage looked like in the 1600s, something akin to how our ancestors were domiciled.




Next we try to connect some ancestral dots....

When We Were English, Part XII

The Holyman Farm of Cuddington has Secrets to Reveal

by Glenn N. Holliman

To the left is a typed family tree of the Holyman farm prepared by its present owner, Caroline Stonham.

Below is an 19th century description of the farm from the Buckinghamshire County Museum. In the 1800s a Mr. Scott owned the property. Double click to enlarge. Photos by Barb Holliman.

Below is a wing of the 1698 thatched cottage on the Holyman Farm.

Next post, we say good bye to our eventful visit to Cuddington....