Family Lineages

My Holyman Ancestors

by Glenn N. Holliman
Updated August 2014

The name Holliman (or Holyman, Hollyman, Holleman, Holleman, etc) is English. While possibly of London or Kent origin, after surnames began to be used extensively in the 13^th Century, persons with the name of Holyman could be found by the 1400s and 1500s in records in Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The first Holyman name to appear in history from which I believe we are descended was one Richard Holiman, a member of Parliament from Buckinghamshire in 1386 during the reign of Richard II.  That was the decade in which Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales who also joined Parliament that session with Richard.  Our Parliamentarian ancestor was from Chipping Wycomb, now called High Wycombe.  The city is located at an M-40 exit some 30 miles from central London, a 20^th Century super highway that connects the capitol city with Birmingham.

The next Holyman so far discovered pops up several generations later in 1444.  His name is William,  probably a descendant of Richard’s family.   In that generation, the Kingdom was experiencing difficult times.  Attempts by King Henry V and others, after his premature death, to incorporate France into the realm of England were floundering.  The French Maid of Orleans was leading a counter-attack against English influence, armies and territory on the continent.

An English child king, regency intrigues, royal mental illness and rapacious appetite for family power were realities leading England into the generational strife known as the War of the Roses.  Two extended factions, one Yorkish and one Lancastrian, were fighting for royal power.  The conflict ended after thirty years in 1485 when the young Tudor King Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field. This founder of the Tudor line successfully passed along royal power to what became a series of dynamic offspring in the 16^th Century.

Somehow during this long English civil war of the middle to late 1400s, the Holyman family expanded its wealth and influence in a manor located in a small village, Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.  These, I believe, are our ancestors, the Holymans.  The family may have had Kentish origins as the land allotted to the family was from the Bishop of Rochester.

Popular Internet genealogical sites have stated that the village Tring, Hertfordshire, approximately 45 miles northwest of London, is our ancestral home.  My research and that of other genealogists tweaks this thesis and moves us ten or so miles to the west.  

We have a record of William Holyman (mentioned earlier) who lived near Tring involved in a court case concerning trespass.  Visits to the villages in and around Cuddington in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, still less than 1,000 in population, uncovered a wealth of information.  The remains of manor farm on the western edge of Cuddington are known to this day as The Holyman Farm.

Continuing research on this era continues and can be found on these pages and on my blog.  I am grateful to genealogists Anne Holmes and Peter Smith of England for their research and assistance.  Any errors are mine alone.

We begin the Holliman lineage during the 12th year of the reign of King Henry VIII...

John Holyman (d 1521), Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England

John Holyman (d 1533), Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England

Thomas Holyman (1500 ca - 1558), Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England
DNA testing in 2014 found a match between this writer and Lindsay Holliman, b. 1946 in England.  This Thomas Holyman is believed the last shared great grandfather before our branches parted.

Christopher Holyman ( - 1588), Sherington, Buckinghamshire, England

Thomas Holyman  (b aft 1572 - d bet 1646-1652) Probably born in Sherington, Buckinghamshire England in the early 1580s. Went to school in Lathbury in 1595.  Married Henea Poynard, October 23, 1609 at St. Mary's parish, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.)


Christopher Holliman, Sr. (b 1618, Bedford, England  – d 1691, Isle of Wight Co., Virginia) He had two wives - Anne and Mary Grey.  His four sons were probably by Anne.  His two girls may have been by Mary.  The evidence is uncertain. 

Richard Holliman (b abt 1665 - 1711), Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  Married Margaret Jordan House ca. 1700.

Samuel Holliman (b ca 1708 - 1787 ca), died Johnston County, North Carolina. Evidence indicates this is the probable father of James Grantson Holliman. Time, place and ruling out others focuses our attention on Samuel.

James Grantson Holliman (b 1750, Johnston Co., North Carolina – d 1836, Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina). Wife was Elizabeth Bryant.

Cornelius Holliman (b 1792, Anson Co., North Carolina - d 1862, Fayette Co., Alabama) First wife and mother of Uriah, Mary Elizabeth Plyler (1793-1835).

Uriah Holliman ( b 1817, Lancaster, Co., South Carolina - d 1862, Okolona, Mississippi after the Battle of Corinth). Wife was Mary Polly Lucas (1819-1913).

John Thomas Holliman (b 1844, Fayette Co., Alabama – d 1930, Fayetteville, Alabama). Of the marriage to Sarah Corbett, William Perry Holliman (1871-1941) was the surviving child. Of the marriage to Martha Jane Walker, five sons were born: Silas Green Holliman (1876-1943), James Monroe (1878-1938), Thomas Leland (1880-1970), Andrew Eckford (1882-1926) and Ulysses Selman Holliman (1884-1965).

Ulyss S. Holliman (1884 - 1965).  Married Pearl Caine in 1906 and had seven children:
Melton P. Holliman (1908 - 1958), Vena Holliman Daly Buckeit (1909 - 1990), Euhal A. Holliman (1912 - 1989), Loudelle Holliman Ferrell (1914 - 1998), Homer Bishop Holliman (b 1919), Virginia Holliman Cornelius (1922 - 2011) and William Ralph Holliman (b 1924).


The Grandfather and Father of Mary Polly Lucas Holliman

Source: Genealogy of the Dodson, Lucas, Pyles, Rochester and Allied Families
by S. Emmett Lucas, Jr. Privately printed 1959, Birmingham, Alabama.

There seems to be no information concerning the Lucas family prior to these great grandfathers. Emmett Lucas speculates the family may have been Welsh in origin and from Pennsylvania.

Charles Lucas, Sr. b before 1755; d ca 1805-1810. Wife: Dorcas, b before 1755; d ca. 1805-1819. Lived in Marlboro Co., SC, known as a tailor.

Charles Daniel Lucas, son of Charles Lucas, Sr., b 6/30/1771; d 5/31/1853. Wife Mary Hastings, b 9/10/1786; d 1/21/1867.



The Children of Uriah Holliman and Mary Polly Lucas Holliman

1. Mary Elizabeth Holliman, born Sept. 12th, 1837, died Oct. 9th, 1841.

2. James Franklin Holliman, born Jan. 28th, 1839, died 13 May, 1911. 1st Lt., Co. B, 58th Alabama Infantry Regt., captured at Missionary Ridge, TN, on Nov. 25th, 1863. Spent the remainder of the War in Johnson's Island Prison Camp for Confederate Officers, in Erie, Ohio. He was released on June 13th, 1865. He returned to Fayette County to become a teacher and farmer. He married Rebecca Utley Stewart on July 2nd, 1865. They had 4 children (3 boys and a girl). Rebecca died and JFH married one of his former students, Bertha Lee Powell. The had 5 children (3 boys and 2 girls). JFH and both wives are buried at the Holliman-Stewart Cemetery, Bluff, AL.

3, Sarah Jane Holliman, born Oct. 3, 1840 in Fayette County, died Oct. 15, 1915, buried at Cottonwood Cemetery, 6 miles east of Eustace, Texas. She married Charles Stephen Coppell in Fayette County on July 13th, 1864.

4. Charles Daniel Holliman, born May 6th, 1842, died May 12, 1862 of diseases mentioned above while in the Confederate Army. Burial probably in the Confederate Cemetery, Okolona, MS.

5. John Thomas Holliman, born April 23, 1844, died July 12th 1930 in Fayette County. Burial at Caine’s Ridge Cemetery, 4 miles south of Fayette, AL, on Route 159. Was known as "Hico John" to distinguish him from 2 others of the same name in the county. Married (1) Sarah Corbett: one child, William Perry. She died in childbirth. Married (2) Martha Jane Walker: 5 sons. JTH was a Pvt. in Company H. 41st Alabama Infantry Regr., CSA. He surrendered at Petersburg, VA, on Feb. 15th, 1865, near starvation. He took the oath and was paroled to a farmer in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he worked until the fall of 1865 and then walked home to Fayette County, AL.

6. Elijah Holliman, born April 16th, 1846, died July 10th, 1864, from typhoid while serving in the Confederate Army. He was a Pvt. in Company I of the 56th Alabama Partisan Rangers. He died in a Confederate Hospital near Lagrange, GA and his buried in Confederate Cemetery under gravestone that reads E. Holman.

7. Nancy Palestine Holliman, born April 7th, 1848, died Dec. 12th, 1923. Married John Pinion: no issue. She is buried near her mother, Mary Polly, in Springhill Cemetery near Bluff, AL.

8. Cornelius Holliman, born Dec. 16th, 1849, in Fayette County. Married Sarah Elizabeth Smith at Fayette. Moved to Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. Buried Texas Eagle Cemetery.

9. William Perry Holliman, born March 29th, 1852, in Fayette County. Married Sarah Holliman, a distant cousin and daughter of Warren C. Holliman and Mary Blakeney of Newtonville, AL. Moved to Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. Resided near Cameron, Texas.

10. Martha Ann Holliman, born June 27th, 1854, married Rufus Buckner. Resided near Alvord, Texas.

11. Rebecca Drucilla Holliman, born March 4th, 1856. Married John Thomas Holliman, cousin, and son of Warren C. Holliman and Mary Blakeney of Newtonville, AL. Moved to Ardmore, OK. He was called "Black John" due to the color of his hair and to distinguish him from two other John Ts living Fayette County at the same time.

12. Emily Frances Holliman, born March 14th, 1858 in Fayette Co. Married (1) Abner McClung in Fayette County. Moved to Eustace, Texas, where she had relatives and there married Joe Reynolds.

13. Joshua Warren Holliman, born Aug. 26th, 1860, died Jan. 6th, 1944. Married Martha Goulsby, resided in Vernon, Lamar County, AL, until his death. Buried in Vernon. His mother, Mary Polly Lucas Holliman, died at his home in 1913.

Where to Find the Family Tree

Several Hollimans have created a massive Hollyman/Holyman Ancestry.com tree of over 18,000 names.  For entrance, contact Jeanette Holiman Stewart at htreekeeper@outlook.com .