When We Were English, Part XXXVIII

by Glenn N. Holliman


Questions Concerning Those English Ancestors...


In previous posts, I shared some startling information provided by the research of Bob Hollyman-Mawson of Wales that my generation's tenth great grandfather was quite possibly Thomas Holyman of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. 


This Thomas, whose will was probated in 1558 in Cuddington, is of the same family that produced two outstanding Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders in the 16th and 17th centuries.


So what additional must be done to drive even deeper into the Holyman past?  Being a Holliman, I made a list and here it is.

1. Learn more about Christopher Holyman who died in 1588, the suspected grandfather of our Christopher Holliman who died in 1691 in Virginia.

2. Study carefully the original will of Thomas Holyman (1558) of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.

3. Discover the name and details of this Thomas Holyman’s father and ancestors.

4. Ascertain how long the Holyman family had been in the Cuddington, Buckinghamshire area.  Additional information is now surfacing from another source, family genealogist Peter Smith of Bedfordshire, suggesting that the Holyman’s may have originated in London.  So it is back to the Buckinghamshire Archives I will be going, probably with the assistance of my good friend below.

Above, in the fall of 2011, family historian Peter Smith and his wife, Maureen, discuss English history with the writer at the Swan Inn, Swinbrook, England.  The photograph in the back ground is of the famous Mitford family that lived in Swinbrook in that lovely part of England called the Cotswolds. 


Peter believes the Hollyman families emerged from the London area before moving north and west to Buckinghamshire, Herfordshire, Worcestershire and Somerset during the late Middle Ages.


5. Discover how connected  Bob Hollyman-Mawson’s family, whose origins are in the Bristol and Somersetshire, England area of the middle 1600s, is to the Buckinghamshire Holymans.  Below, Fred Cooper, left, of Bristol, England, another Hollyman genealogist, discusses outside of his home November 2011 with this writer his thoughts on Somerset Hollymans.  Fred has written a 400 page tome (which I am holding) on his research into the family since the 1600s.  Soon, I will be sharing Fred's incredible research with readers.

But before exploring the probable Somerset and Buckinghamshire Holyman connections and Fred's excellent work, let’s continue our close look at the Holyman’s of Cuddington….