Posts
This is the second in a series of a history of the Holliman family written by Walter O. Holliman in 1995 and edited in 1996.
In the 1995 document with which we begin below, Walt presents a 1990s interpretation of the Holyman family in England. As readers of this blog know, we now have evidence that the American Hollimans emerged from Bedford and Buckinghamshires in the 17th and 16th Centuries.
This first generation provided by Walt is curious, and he hesitated to include it in his work. I have hesitated also, but feel there may be some clues worth exploring now that we have the Internet. He quotes the late Dr. Charles Holliman of North Carolina for a considerable portion of his information of our family's early Virginia history.
Unfortunately Walt was not able to obtain original sources for much of Dr. Holliman's work. For example, information from my research in England does give a hint that Hollimans emerged from London, as early as the 1400s, but the name George Holliman is unknown to me. A Holliman as a member of the London Stock Company?! This startling statement certainly calls for more research.
Also, the Bermuda assertion is curious. There was an amazing amount of slave and tobacco trade between Bermuda and Virginia in the 1600s. While there is evidence of one Richard Holliman, a son of Christopher Holyman, Sr., transporting settlers to Virginia by ship, this writer has not seen as of yet, any evidence of Hollimans living in Bermuda.
The next page below requires careful review. Walt states Thomas Holliman is the son of George Hollyman, and was a stockholder in the London Company. Cavaliers and Pioneers, p. 30-31 is cited as the source. This requires investigation as this thesis is completely new to this writer.
In the next sentence, Walt records as have others, of one Thomas Holeman, acquiring land in Martin's Hundred in 1635 near Jamestown. The speculation on one Thomas Harvey is the first time I have seen such. Alas, Charles Holliman is quoted in several places but with no annotation.
Item 3 below merges several persons and events, and one cannot be sure if Christopher Holyman is born in Virginia or transported there with his sister. This writer does not accept this page's interpretation as accurate as much more evidence is available today than in the early 1990s. Again, I urge a careful reading of my earlier writings at this blog spot.
Below, with the next generation, Walt moves to surer ground. His first source is George A. Holleman's 1953 book and some speculation of our English roots. In paragraph 3, Walt again quotes Dr. Charles Holliman on Christopher Holyman's age and gives a Surry County deposition as the source. Hmmmm.... The rest of the page is a valuable listing of Christopher Holyman, Sr.'s legal and land records in Virginia. Here we see Walt produce his solid research with which he will be flooding us in future articles.
Notice person 18, iv. Samuel Holliman on the page below. This writer believes his descent from Christopher Holyman, Sr. is through Richard to Samuel to James Grantson Holliman. Walt accepts the Samuel thesis himself later in his manuscript.
So we tip our hat to both Dr. Charles Holliman and Walt O. Holliman for their work almost two decades or more ago. Now in the Internet age and with access to English archives, the early interpretations have changed considerably, but we still salute their efforts and recognize that genealogy is always a process that requires research and constant critique.
Next posting, we continue Walt's Holliman history....
No comments:
Post a Comment