The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 9

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our 7th Stop
Cuddington, Buckinghamshire

May 19, 2019

Our coach arrived in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire at lunch time, and we soon overwhelmed the local pub, The Crown.  Standing outside, left is Jim Holliman from Alabama, USA, Rod and Andrew Holliman of England (brothers) and far right, Lindsay Holliman, now of Scotland.  The lassie is Kathleen Holliman, Jim's wife.

Below, The Crown, thatched roof and whitewashed, dates from the 17th Century, approximately the time Christopher Hollyman left Bedford for Virginia.  Christopher's grandfather, the first Christopher, probably left Cuddington for Sherington in the early 1580s if not before.

The pub management is not without humor.  The picture below reminds visitors that dogs on leash are welcome in English pubs, an arrangement that especially seems cozy on cold, long winter nights in the British Isles.

Below, we have a map of Cuddington, a village of perhaps 900 souls, similar in size for a millennium.  Bottom center, #17 is the pub.  We walked a block or so to St. Nicholas Parish Church, #1, where Holymans were baptized, married and buried for centuries. 

At the top of the map, the Holyman's farm is labeled, the home of the family for hundreds of years.  We walked there after the church visit and later back to the pub area as the streets were too narrow for our coach.

                                                   QUICK REMINDER FAMILY TREE BOX

John Holyman, d 1521 of Cuddington begat

John Holyman, d 1533 of Cuddington who begat

Thomas Holyman, d 1558 of Cuddington who

with Dorothy Clark begat

Christopher Holyman, d 1589 of Sherington who

with Margaret Lee begat

Thomas Hollyman, d ca. 1650 of Bedford who

with Helena Poynard begat

Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691 of Bedford

and Virginia who begat four sons and two daughters

Next, a visit to St. Nichol's were Holymans were interred not only in the grave yard but on occasion in the church itself, an honor reserved for a few.

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 8

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our 6th Stop

St. Peter and St. Paul, Church Hanborough
May 19, 2019

Rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we boarded our bus again at Moreton in Marsh, and in 30 minutes made our first stop on the outskirts of Woodstock, just north of Oxford in a community not far both the birthplace and grave of Winston S. Churchill, the great World War II prime minister of the United Kingdom.

In the village of Church Hanborough and the parish of St. Peter and St. Paul lay the remains of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, 1495-1558.  And there we visited the grave of a great uncle who lived and participated in the turbulent time of four Tudor monarchs!

Hanborough is listed in the 1086 Doomsday Book and church is it self at least a thousand years old.  Here from St. Peter and St. Paul, Brother John Holyman preached for twenty years after 1534.  That year John had proclaimed at St. Paul's Cross in London that Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn was invalid, that the King was still married to Queen Catherine, his first of six wives.

His reward was a bit of an exile to Church Hanborough, which must have not been too laborious as he lived near Oxford, his college, and Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, his birthplace.

I have written John's amazing story in early blogs.  Go to the left column, look at the names and click on Bishop John Holyman's name.

His father was either John Holyman, died 1521 or John Holyman, died 1533.  We do not know which, but John is a great uncle of the Hollymans of Haddenham and Cuddington. Or to put it another way, one of our great uncles.

Bishop of Bristol during the Counter Reformation of Queen Mary I, John died in 1558 and requested in his will to be buried in the chancel of St. Peter and St. Paul.  Recently genealogist Anne Holmes found in the Oxford register of St. John's College, 1555-1660, that one Dr. Alexander Belsyre (Belcher) requested at his death to be buried next to Bishop Holliman!

Now we could find the final resting place of Bishop Holyman (even though I had been to the parish twice before, I knew not where the grave was).  Anne told us to look for a black memorial to Belsyre on the north wall of the cancel and there below this tomb or behind it would lie Bishop Holyman.

So as if on a treasure hunt, we cousins began searching the church.

Above, Kimberly Holliman, left, one of the younger cousins, found the memorial and Marcia Holliman, right, began an etching. Below is the front of Belsyre's grave.  Note the macabre skeleton, typical of the era.  The plaque is dated 1567.  Our John Holyman may be buried either further in the wall or in the floor below.

Further information on Bishop Holyman, career, and the church can be found in several works at www.bholliman.com.  Go to Research page, and in the search box, type in Anne Holmes and find popping up "Anne-Holmes-2019-Hollyman-Ancestry-Quest-Packet" or just the name John Holyman.  His 1558 will is 'translated'.  Also one can google "Bishop John Holyman' and find several articles about him, including in Wikipedia.

 Above the chancery of St. Peters and St. Paul in Church Hanborough. 

 The crucifix is somewhat unusual in an Anglican Church (Episcopal in the USA) and perhaps reflects the strong Anglo-Catholic tradition that prevails in many English Anglican churches.  Roman Catholic Bishop John Holyman would be pleased.

QUICK REMINDER FAMILY TREE BOX

John Holyman, d 1521 of Cuddington begat

John Holyman, d 1533 of Cuddington who begat

Thomas Holyman, d 1558 of Cuddington who

with Dorothy Clark begat

Christopher Holyman, d 1589 of Sherington who

with Margaret Lee begat

Thomas Hollyman, d ca. 1650 of Bedford who

with Helena Poynard begat

Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691 of Bedford

and Virginia who begat four sons and two daughters

Next, we traveled to Cuddington, some 15 or so miles away, the birthplace of Bishop John Holyman and a number of our great grand fathers from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Reed Blakeney, a Remembrance

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Blakeneys, Bakers and Hollimans of Old Alabama....

Reed Blakeney of Social Circle, Georgia died this past July 4, 2019 after almost 91 years of living.  He left us a large legacy of remembrances on the complexity of the Old South.  Both Reed and I are Alabama born, although he is a generation ahead of me.  I got to know Reed through my closer cousin, Rhodes B. Holliman.

Reed and the late Rhodes Holliman (1928-2014) were close and shared numerous trips to Fayette County, Alabama cemeteries looking for graves of Blakeney, Baker, Holliman, and other kinfolks.

Rhodes was a biologist, a professor at Virginia.  Reed, a retired businessman, but had a wonderful way with the English language.

Picture is of Reed Blakeney and Glenn Holliman, 2013

If you look back to my August 4 and 18th, 2013 blogs, you will read of my visit with Reed, a gentleman of the New South, born in the segregationist age and leader into the increased human diversity age of the 21st Century.  I love his book Sipsey, named after the river that runs through Fayette County and borders the original Blakeney and Holliman farms of the first half of the 19th Century.

Living adjacent to each other and travelers from the same part of the Carolinas, the two families mixed and mingled and that's how, by marriage, I am related to Reed.

To find the Reed Blakeney articles or any other in this blog, look to the bottom left column of this page, and in alphabetical order of first names (not surnames), go down the list.  Or go to www.bholliman.com, click to the Records page and type in Blakeney in the search box.  Up  will come a myriad of Blakeney manuscripts and research.

Below, 1958, five generations. Sitting is Belzy Ann Blakeney, and left, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Baker Holliman, Cecil R. Holliman, his daughter, Cecile Holliman Youngblood, and grand daughter, Cecile Youngblood Brown.  Cecil R. Holliman is the father of  Rhodes B. Holliman and the grandfather of Dr. Jim Holliman.

To bring this story together, Dr. Jim Holliman presented me on July 20, 2019 with a cane he had inherited through his father (Rhodes) from his great grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Baker Holliman (1879-1975), wife of James Monroe Holliman (1878-1938), one of my great uncles.

The inscription reads  "This walking stick was owned and used by Anna Elizabeth Baker, wife of James Monroe Holliman, Birmingham, Alabama. She died September 1975."

Left, Jim Holliman, M.D., shows me the inscription while his wife, Karen, looks on.  Physician Jim advises me that with my chronic back problem, I am soon be using the cane!

Examine Blakeney, Baker and Holliman  relationships and one has many stories of Fayette and Jefferson County, Alabama families.  

Let's close with a picture of Reed and his second wife, Donna in 2013. 




Reed has left us stories and poems and we are richer for his work. - GNH

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 7

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our 5th Stop

 The Lathbury School of Thomas Hollyman

May 18, 2019

The day was getting long toward 5:00 pm when we arrived at Lathbury, a 16th and 17th Century school and church not far from Sherington.  We know from a history of Sherington that Thomas Holliman, the father of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, matriculated here in 1596, probably about 15 years of age.

The school closed a century later and the stones were used to restore the church and acquired by others in the village.  Today, a raised mound of dirt and a few markers occupy the space where my 8th great grand father would have studied the classics.

Below on the site, left to right, Kathleen Holliman, Dr. Jim Holliman, Rob Fenske, Mary Holliman Fenske, Becky Holliman Payne, Glenn Joiner with his wife, Kathy, behind him, and finally Susan G. White.

Murals from the Middle Ages still hold to the surface of the 13th Century church adjacent to the now vacant school site.  No doubt Thomas Hollyman worshiped here often and gazed at the then visible paintings.

The lane to Lathbury was narrow and our careful driver took some time to back up.  This photograph is from Sherington and one can see the size of the coach.  Many  English village streets such as in Lathbury are narrow, often only one lane.  This photograph shows a considerably wider street.

 It had been a long day and after a ride back to Moreton in Marsh, we dispersed, had supper and called it a day, because the Sunday would be filled with more stops and another step back in history!

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 6

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our Fourth Stop – St. Laud’s and the Old Rectory

 Sherington, Buckinghamshire

May 18, 2019

Fortified by lunch, our coach driver took us to Sherington, over the Bedfordshire line into Buckinghamshire.  This beautiful village is filled with lovely gardens and thatched cottages.  

It was here that by 1575, the grand parents of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, lived and raised a family including Thomas Hollyman of Bedford, Bedfordshire, the father of our Virginia immigrant Christopher.  

Alice Holliman Murphy reads about the parish's program of saving wild grass and flowers.  St. Laud's is in the back ground.

These grandparents were named Christopher, 1537-1589, (guess where our Virginia Christopher obtained his name?) and Margaret Lee Hollyman, born abt 1548, death date unknown.  We went through the lychgate (below) and inspected the interior of the church.

Kindly church wardens, below, greeted us and pointed out the interior of the facility where Christopher Hollyman, Sr. served as a warden himself.  We know this as our great grandfather and another church leader complained to the bishop about the indolence of the priest. 

   

   

Left Kathy Joiner (in black) and Dr. Jim Holliman, in glasses, in the chancel of St. Laud with other Hollymans.

                                    

Above genealogist Anne Holmes explained that Christopher and Margaret Lee were born in Cuddington and Dinton, Buckinghamshire and probably moved to Sherington to look after Lee family lands.  The Lees were moving up the English social and economic ladder and the Hollymans peaked also in the 16th Century. 

Probably because of Lee connections, Christopher was made a member of Queen Elizabeth's guard and wore a Tudor uniform similar to those worn by the yeomen at the Tower of London, shown in the photograph. Try to imagine our great grandfather dressed accordingly when mustering the local militia!

The church yard at Sherington most probably holds the remains of my 9th great grandfather, Christopher, named after his grandfather, Christopher Clark of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. 

Below, nine to eleven generations later the immediate descendants of Walter O. Holliman, 1927 - 2003, gather at St. Laud's on a chilly day in May 2019. 

Before we left Sherington, we stopped at the Old Rectory, no longer where the priest lives and now privately owed.  This 'Old Rectory' was constructed in 1711.  On this site in an earlier rectory, Christopher and Margaret raised Thomas Hollyman, the father of the Christopher who migrated to Virginia in 1650.  Evidently the Hollymans assumed possession of the rectory when the bishop dismissed the errant priest who Christopher, d 1589, had complained about.  Hmmmm.....

There was one more stop on May 18th, the school where Thomas Hollyman, abt. 1581 - abt 1650 attended.

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 5

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our travelogue of Hollyman ancestral sites continues....

Our Third Stop – The Swan Hotel

Bedford, Bedfordshire

May 18, 2019

On Saturday, May 18^th after visiting the former St. Mary’s church and the location of Thomas and his son Christopher’s home, we crossed back north over the River Ouse, observing the sculling boat as we walked to the historic Swan Hotel for lunch.

The above photo of the Swan Hotel, constructed in 1794, shows in the lower left corner a statue of a soldier from the Boer War, 1899-1902.  The hotel fronts the River Ouse.

A wedding reception was going on at one end of the restaurant, but we found tables and began chatting about what we had seen already.  Here are photographs of the lunch and some of our cousins, but not all, who were on the trip with us.  My apologies for the omissions as the camera failed to 'snap' everyone.

Allen Holleman of Raleigh, North Carolina shared a meal with new found cousins and friends, Di and Rod Holliman of Cheltenham, England.  Allen coordinated our 2016 Hollyman gathering in Isle of Wight, Virginia.

Right, Glenn Joiner, of Winter Garden, Florida, a descendant of Uriah Holliman, 1820-1862, of Alabama. To Glenn's left is Jim Holliman of Marion Junction, Alabama, a retired Auburn professor and cattleman.  Both these cousins share James Grantson Holliman, 1750-1836, as a common great grandfather.

  

Far left, cousin Mary Lippo from New Jersey joined a table of Texas cousins. Clockwise behind Mary is Marcia Holliman of San Antonio, Texas, founder of the city’s ballet company and Rob and Mary Ann Holliman Fenske also from Texas.  The young man is Marshall Cocke, formally of Oklahoma and now of San Antonio.  He is a grandson of Marcia.

Children and grandchildren of genealogist Walter O. Holliman, a descendant of James Grantson Holliman, shared a table.  Above, left to right, Paul and Teresa Holliman and their daughter Kimberly, from the Los Angeles area.  Far right is Ann Holliman Krueger, an international teacher now resident in Sicily. 

Below beginning left clockwise, Elisabeth Ahrens, Alison Marlowe, Matthew and Bryan Holliman (obscured).   In the back ground is a wedding reception.  Cousins on the right identified in the former photograph.

Above foreground is Dr. Jim Holliman and wife Karen of Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Jim is the son and grandson of genealogists Dr. Rhodes B. and Cecil Rhodes Holliman.  Background is Susan G. White (in a white sweater) and her friend Diane Gilkenson, traveling together exploring Gallier and Holliman ancestral venues.  The stories of Susan’s dynamic ancestral Virginia grandmothers have been published in the blog: http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com. 

Just to prove I was along on the trip, I include a picture of my sister, Becky of Tennessee, and moi from Newport, Pennsylvania.  Our father was Homer Bishop Holliman (1919-2018). He descended in order from Ulyss, John Thomas, Uriah, Cornelius, James Grantson, Samuel, Richard and finally Christopher (1618-1691) and his father Thomas of Sherington and Bedford.

Let’s close with a photograph of the English swans (all owned by the Queen) swimming in the River Ouse under a Horse Chestnut tree in bloom.

Next Article, we venture further back in time to Sherington, Buckingshire to learn more about Thomas and his father, the first Christopher Hollyman!