When We Were English, Part XIVL

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Hymn of Abbots Leigh

In 1942, England was fighting in the third year of World War II. The Americans had entered the war but had their own serious troubles in the Pacific.  The Soviets faced the bulk of Hitler's armies.  The British Army struggled with Rommel's African Corp, and Nazi U-Boats sank record numbers of ships off the U.S. coast and throughout the North Atlantic.  

After the 1940 Blitz, the British Broadcasting System had moved its wireless service from bombed out central London to Bristol, a long stone's throw from Abbots Leigh.  As Internet references state, the BBC needed a new melody for a popular inspirational hymn that up until then had been set to the same tune as  'Austria', a German speaking country then incorporated into the Third Reich.  Such just would not do during wartime.

 A BBC composer, Cyril Vincent Taylor, an occasional Precentor of Bristol Cathedral, lived near Abbots Leigh, and composed in those dark days of 1942 a new melody.  He  named it 'The Hymn of Abbots Leigh'.   Christians throughout the world know it best by the name "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken".  One likes to think that the Hollymans sleeping in the Holy Trinity Church grounds might in their slumber have heard echoes of this joyful anthem. Below, a Hollyman gravestone in Abbot Leigh.

 

The fields of Abbots Leigh have for hundreds of years provided excellent crop and grazing land.  The farm house below is where ancestors of Hollymans have lived, including Sheila Wallace Cooper, whose mother, Caroline, descended from the Hollymans.

Next the Hollymans of Clevedon....

When We were English, Part XIIIL

by Glenn N. Holliman

A Visit to Abbots Leigh, Somerset....

Fred Cooper on a showery day stands in front of The Church of the Holy Trinity, Abbots Leigh, where his wife and her ancestors rest.

In the late autumn of 2011, distant cousin Fred Cooper, who married into the Somerset, England Hollyman family, took my wife, Barb, and me on a tour of Hollyman sites west of the Cathedral city of Bristol, England.

Readers of this blog will remember that from 1554-1558, one John Holyman, served as Roman Catholic bishop of the Bristol diocese.  John Holyman as born in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, and after a dangerous career in the priesthood during Tudor times, held the Episcopate during the reign of Mary Tudor.

Fred pauses by a Hollyman family memory stone.  In honour of his beloved late wife, Sheila Wallace Cooper, whose mother was a Hollyman, Fred has gathered an impressive amount of genealogical data on her family.  At his passing, Fred intends that a copy of the massive work on Somerset Hollymans goes to the Bristol archives.

The village of Abbots Leigh  has a fascinating history.  While on the run after his disastrous defeat at Worcester in 1651, Charles II took refuge in the manor house in Abbots Leigh.  He rested for three days before moving on.  As several histories of the era state, the Norton family, who sheltered the disguised stranger, had no idea who he was until after he had left!

While staying at Abbots Leigh, Charles deflected suspicion by asking a soldier, who had been in the King's personal guard, to describe the young King's appearance and clothing at the recent battle.  The trooper looked at Charles and remarked, "The King was at least three inches taller than you."

Today the historic Monarch's Way footpath passes through the village.  Horse riders in 2011 take advantage of a modern roadway to find their own way through Abbots Leigh on a rainy day.

Next more Hollyman ancestors in Abbots Leigh....

When We were English, Part XIIL

A Visit to Fred Cooper of Bristol, England - a Hollyman Family Researcher Extraordinaire by Glenn N. Holliman 

As I have written on more than one occasion, meeting and visiting with cousins, near and far, is one of the delights of family history.  Thanks to a generous introduction by Bob Hollyman-Mawson, an English cousin who lives in Wales, my wife and I enjoyed a November 2011 day touring with Fred Cooper, a retired engineer, living in Bristol, England.

Although the showers flowed from the heavens during much of our expedition, we all three enjoyed a pub lunch and looked upon the many monuments of Hollymans in Somerset who have lived before us.

In 2011, Fred Cooper with an ubiquitous British umbrella led us on a fascinating tour of various cemeteries and parish churches where his wife's ancestors, Hollymans, are resting.  This photo was taken at the parish church in Abotts Leigh on a hill overlooking the Gordano Valley.

Fred's late beloved wife, Sheila Wallace Cooper, is a Hollyman, descended through her mother, Caroline Hollyman Wallace, late of Abbots Leigh, a small farming community west of Bristol, Somerset, England.


Right, Fred and Sheila on their wedding day in the 1952. It proved to be a most happy marriage producing two surviving sons. Sheila's grandfather was Alfred William Hollyman and great grandfather, John Hollyman.  All were farmers living in the community of Abbots Leigh in Somerset.   

Since the 1700s, this family of Hollymans have lived also in other Somerset villages such as Kenn, Clevedon and Clapton overlooking and in a picturesque valley known as Gordano.  Today the busy M-5 runs through the lush green valley south to Devon.

In the 1800s, part of the family crossed the Severn Estuary, and settled in Wales, ancestors of Peter Hollyman of Pwllheli, whose story and pictures were displayed in an early blog article.  (Go to the Archives feature of this blog and type in Peter's name to refresh one's memory.)

Below the map helps our understanding of places.  X marks the location of Abbots Leigh, just west of Bristol, England.  Further west and south is Clevedon, where another major Hollyman branch settled and thrived.  The body of water bordering Clevedon is the Severn Estuary which divides England from Wales.  Note the major motorway, the M5 running north and south through the Gordano Valley.

 Next post we continue to explore Hollyman sites in Somerset....

Maxine Wright makes available a Warren Holliman Family History

by Glenn N. Holliman

Holliman cousin, Maxine Wright, recently sent me a booklet prepared several decades ago by the late Mavis Williams and the late Chester Bullock, a Baptist minister.  Most of this 65 page manuscript highlights the life of Warren Holliman and his descendants in Arkansas.  Ms. Williams was a great granddaughter of Warren Holliman (1801-1876), one of the three Holliman brothers who left Lancaster County, South Carolina in 1836 to move their families to Alabama.

Warren was restless and after several years, left his brothers Charles and Cornelius in Alabama and moved his family and others by wagon train to Arkansas in 1840.  The brother, Charles Holliman, is Maxine's great great grandfather and brother Cornelius is this writer's great, great, great grandfather.

Maxine writes: "I started doing research back before computers, subscribed to genealogy magazines and wrote letters to different Hollimans. I posted queries in books and sent SASE along with family group sheets. Most always received a reply. There is a picture of Warren Holliman and his wife Barbara in a museum in Sheriden, Arkansas."

Thanks to Maxine this manuscript has now been scanned and with her permission is available by email to those who might be descendants of Warren Holliman or who wish to add to their family library. She writes that Mavis and Chester had wanted it shared with all.

Maxine is so kind to share of her collection of family history materials, and like the family of the late Walt O. Holliman, hopefully their example will encourage others to share research and memorabilia via the Internet.

For a copy of the manuscript on the life and family of Warren Holliman, please write me at glennhistory@gmail.com.  Since the last posting of this blog, several have requested manuscripts prepared by Walt O. Holliman, which I have been happy to oblige.