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Descendants of Christopher
Holyman (d 1691) who reside in Virginia to this Day.....
Recently in this space I
wrote of Isaac and Anne Gray Holliman, the anguished story
of two persons caught in the racial and cultural divides of 19th Century
Virginia. Seeking to know more of our
family heritage from Isle of Wight County, Virginia, I have been fortunate
enough to meet Holleman cousins of Virginia who have kindly shared family
stories, lineages and photographs. For
the next several articles, with their permission, I shall be writing a synopsis
of this research.
Recently Susan
Holleman Brewer and her father, Joseph
Howard Holleman, Jr., both of
Richmond, Virginia, kindly shared lunch (pictured
above). The conversation deepened my
understanding of the family branch that resided and still resides along the
Blackwater River near the Mill Swamp in Isle of Wight County and also in Surry
County, Virginia.
Susan opened several doors which led to visits with
Holleman cousins Caroline Holleman
Thomas and Sarah Barlow Wright
who both shared their family memorabilia and photographs. Their stories and that of other Hollemans
will be published in future articles.
To refresh memories, Christopher Holyman, the fore bearer of
most Hollimans in America today, arrived in Virginia in 1650 from Bedfordshire,
England, the son of a cordwainer and inn keeper, and by the time of his death in 1691, established a plantation
of 1,020 acres in Mill Swamp, Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
The farm was divided amongst his four sons - Christopher,
Jr., Thomas, William and Richard Holyman. Many of their descendants had by the
1800s scattered, for the most part, to the southern and southeastern parts of
the United States. The names were
altered into various spellings depending on one's literacy (and that of the
county register and census taker!) as the centuries progressed.
Susan and her father, Joseph Howard Holleman, Jr. are
descended from the oldest son, Christopher
Holyman, Jr. who inherited and/or purchased from his brothers a significant
portion of the original 1691 plantation.
Although now much reduced in acreage, the farm has remained in their
branch of the Holleman line for over 300 years.
Today the land and Federal period 1830 house are owned by William Joseph Holleman of Smithfield,
Virginia.
Joseph Howard Holleman, Jr. was born in 1923 on the original farm, then
owned by his uncle and aunt Josiah
(1851-1937) and Augusta Hannah White Holliman (1859-1941). Joseph Jr.'s father was Joseph Howard Holleman, Sr. (1897-1979) and his mother, Bessie Faircloth (1896-1986) of
Southampton County.
Below, Joseph Howard
Holleman, Sr. in his uniform as a Virginia Military Institute cadet in the
middle 1910s. This photograph and the one below it are courtesy of Sarah Barlow Wright.
.jpg)
Below, a photograph
taken during World War II. The girl is
Caroline Holleman Thomas, sister of Joseph, Jr. who is in the Army
uniform. Left and right are their
parents, Joseph Sr. and Bessie.
Joseph Sr.'s long time service in the House of Delegates
lead to a career opening for his son, Joseph, Jr. who became a decade's long
Clerk of the Virginia House. With his vast knowledge of the Virginia
legislature, Joseph Jr. wrote a definitive work entitled 'Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates 1776-1976'.
Joseph, Jr.'s daughter, Susan, pictured in the first
photograph, is a law professor at a Richmond college, and continues the
family's legacy of serving the legal needs of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!). Mrs. Peddie can assist also in any DNA research.
Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .
Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Write please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.
A seminar is to be held at the Rose House Inn, Fayette, Alabama, October 18 and 19, 2013 for more serious students of Holliman and related families. Just write me for more information. GNH
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