The Hollimans of England, Part 3

by Glenn N. Holliman

In a previous posting, Lindsay Holliman of England wrote of his Holyman ancestors who live on and near Cuddington Buckinghamshire, England.  By the late 18th century, a marriage took a great grandfather from Cuddington three miles away to the village of Long Crendon.   

We continue his story below....

First some maps - Long Crendon is located half way between Oxford and Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

In map 2, notice how close Cuddington and Long Crendon are to each other.  Holymans also lived in Haddenham and other villages in Buckinghamshire.  Christopher Holyman, d 1588, married into the Lee family of Dinton before moving to Sherington, Bucks. from Cuddington.

 

Below, a map of Cuddington.  Note the Holyman farm in the upper center of the community.  The Cuddington Mill in left center was owned by the Holymans at one time in the 16th Century. 

The Christopher Clark family, from which most America Hollimans are descended, would be the unnamed fields to the upper right of the vicarage.  Dorothy Clark married Thomas Holyman (d 1558) and her father's name began to be handed down in the Holyman family, culminating in the immigration of Christopher Holyman's migration to Virginia in 1650.  Lindsay Holliman adds: "The Clarkes still held Ridgebarn Farm until about 1861. William Clarke was farming Ridgebarn in 1841, 1851 and 1861. Staying with him was the widowed Elizabeth Hollyman (nee Boddington). By 1871 he was farming in Bledlow - where he was born."


A Preface by Lindsay Holliman

 Until the last decade of the 18^th century, my known ancestors had been born, raised and died in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. The family had been prominent in local life and had considerable land and property holdings – particularly in the 15^th, 16^th and early 17^th centuries. It seems that, by the latter parts of the 17^th century this had all been dissipated and my branch of the family tree were labouring. 


As indicated below, in about 1791, my family moved about 4 miles away to the larger village of Long Crendon.  Joyce Donald, in the preface to her 1979 book ‘The Letters of Thomas Hayton, Vicar of Long Crendon Buckinghamshire 1821 – 1887’  provides some insight into Long Crendon during the 18^th century. It is in this environment that the next few generations of my family lived and worked. 


'In 1824 there was enclosure of common fields. The rights of common grazing were extinguished and the large open fields were divided by neat hedges. The enclosure brought great social changes. As the land was now in blocks, it was now possible to build farm houses out in the country, and farmers could leave their old houses in the village. More land was sold for investment and then sub-let, and a new breed of farmer arrived in the village who had little concern for village people. As a result of this there were no landowners in the village.’

‘Much has been written about the idyllic 19^th century village, but Long Crendon and most other Buckinghamshire villages were plagued by appalling poverty. Population grew steadily during the first half of the century, but that of Long Crendon increased by 71% - much more than neighbouring villages.’ 


In 1847 the Bucks Advertiser wrote:  'There were no fewer than 400 people residing in the parish. They are chiefly agricultural workers who with their wives and children from want of habitation in their own parish have been drawn to Crendon to obtain a home.'


The main work in the village was on the farms but this was precarious as labourers were often laid off during the winter months. Village women had traditionally made fine lace as a cottage industry, but this was badly paid and also being squeeze by mechanically made lace from the Nottingham area. Unusually for a village, Long Crendon also had a needlemaking home industry which had been started about 1600.  There was no official school in the village until 1877. 

The above gives a flavour of life and changes in Long Crendon during the 18^th century when my family was there.

The 19th Century English Ancestors of Lindsay Holliman....by Lindsay Holliman

James Hollyman,  ca 1767 – 1853, my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather

James was born in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire in 1767 and baptized in the church of St Nicholas on 21 December 1767. He married Elizabeth Cook in the church of St Mary the Virgin in Long Crendon, a village three or so miles away, on 17 November 1791. They had 7 children (4 daughters and 3 sons), all of whom were born in Long Crendon. 

I suspect therefore that James moved from Cuddington to Long Crendon in 1791 when he married. Elizabeth died on 20 May 1807 and was buried in Long Crendon church. James then remarried six months later (no doubt to get help looking after all his many children!) on 30 November 1807 – to Elizabeth Wright. 

 James and the second Elizabeth then had 4 children – 3 sons and 1 daughter. In the 1841 census (the earliest English census to have survived) James was an agricultural labourer and I suspect that he had been such all his life. His second wife died on 6 January 1851 and by the time of the 1851 census three months later James was living with his son Richard. James died in 1853 and was buried at Long Crendon on 14 September 1853.

James Hollyman, 1797 – 1866, my Great, Great, Great Grandfather

James was the fourth child of the marriage of James and the first Elizabeth. He was born in late 1797 and was christened at Long Crendon on 12 January 1798. He too was an agricultural labourer who lived all his life in Long Crendon at various addresses. 

James married Sarah Hendry in about 1821 and they had 5 children – Thomas, Ann, Jane, Charles and John. James died on 20 May 1866 and was buried at St Mary the Virgin church two days later. James had been a widower for about 6 years. His surname was Hollyman in earlier years but was, on occasions, Holliman. 

Below, Long Crendon in the 1890s...the thatched cottages survive into the 21st Century.

Next more on Lindsay's ancestors and their participation in the growing affluence of English life in the 19th and 20th Centuries....


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!).

There is also a massive Ancestry.com Holyman and Associated Families Tree available for review.  For an invitation to this collection of over 18,000 individuals, please write glennhistory@gmail.com.

When We Were English, Part LI

by Glenn N. Holliman

Continuing the 1533 Will of John Holyman of Cuddington....and a Surprise Relative Listed!

Below two family historians, yours truly left and professional genealogist, Anne Holmes, right, examine the 16th Century wills of the Holyman family of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.  We are pictured in the Buckinghamshire archives in Aylesbury, England, November 2012.

 

 The 1533 Will of John Holyman continued....



 

As we continue to review John Holyman's will, one is struck by his meticulous descriptions and abundance of 16th Century wealth.

 

Line 56 - A cart geres hole according to Ms. Holmes is translated as 'cart gears whole', that is machinery connected with the carts, harnesses and such. 

 

Lines 58 to 62 - Here John leaves his wife his second best carts, including the dung cart (this is a farm).  The couples are probably pairs of oxen. The wife does receive the best mare or gelding.

 

Line 70 - An interesting term of which Ms. Holmes describes as follows: "The lords stock: this was probably animals that the tenant looked after for the lord of the manor at the tenant's own cost, perhaps part of the tenant's copyhold agreement.  It was common practice for tenants in the the medieval and early modern period to look after animals, at their own expenses for either the lord of the manor or the church.  In some areas in England this practice continued into the twentieth century."

 









Lines 73 - 84 - John continues to divide his abundance of worldly goods between his wife, son Thomas and God Children.  Notice he has lumber and timber to leave.  As John made a will and has much property to distribute, we know he was a relatively wealthy man of his time.  As Anne Holmes has written, the Holymans were a family on the rise in the 16th Century.

 

 

Lines 88 - 90 - Wife Elizabeth and son Thomas are appointed executors of the estate.

 

But look who is appointed overseer of the will!

 

Lines 93 - 95 - For those of us you have studied the relationship of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, Bishop of Bristol, 1554-1558, and prominent opponent of Henry VIII's divorce of Anne Bolyen, to the our lineage, these are important sentences.  I quote again from genealogist Anne Holmes:

 

 "John Holyman priste almost certainly refers to the John HOLYMAN who was to become Bishop of Bristol.  John is requesting the priest to be the overseer of is will.  There is no financial bequest other than that to cover any expenses incurred in the task of overseer.  John calls him 'brother' .  It is unlikely they were siblings.  It is possible the were cousins or kinsmen.  The other possibility is the testator John HOLYMAN had married the sister of the priest.  It was not illegal to marry a first cousin or other cousin at that time."

 

 

 

And so, John signs his will, signature above, a comprehensive document. In the next post, we will examine son Thomas' will, the off spring whom evidence indicates is probably my generation's 10th great grandfather.

 

Have questions about your 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 hopefully one of the dozens on the list will have an answer.

For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!)

When We Were English, Part L

by Glenn N. Holliman

A Continued Look at John Holyman's 1533 Will and What It Means....

With our last post, we began a review of the 1533 will of John Holyman of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire focusing on his bequests to St. Nicolas Roman Catholic Church.  In this article we continue our review of his estate plans and note a significant increase in family wealth when compared to his father's 1521 will.  As genealogist Anne Holmes (who transcribed these wills) observes, the Holymans in the 1500s were a family on the rise socially and economically.

Below Cuddington in the distance.  This photograph was taken on a small rise southwest of the village.  Undoubtedly some of this land was at one time in the Holyman family.  Note the sheep grazing just as they did five centuries ago.  November 2012

 

Below the next section of John Holyman's 1533 will

 

 

Line 21 - A cow is left to help maintain the Cuddington bridge over the River Thames, a tributary of the larger Thames.  No public works departments in the Tudor era!

 

Line 23 - A legacy is left to unnamed God Children.

 

Line 24 - Ten pounds is left for his daughter Agnes as a trust to be held by her brother Thomas or if she outlives him, another trusted friend.  In essence this is called a 'life estate' in the 21st Century legal terms. According to Anne Holmes, the equivalent value today would be approximately $5,000.  Agnes received the income as long as she lived.  This oversight by the elder son of his sister gives us an insight to the much more restricted rights women had in England at that time.

 

Line 30 - Various house hold items are left to son Thomas.  Metal pots and pans were valuable items during this era.

 

Line 33 - The heart of the will is the leaving of fee lands (lands held without conditions attached) to Thomas and his copy holds to his wife Elizabeth.  Through Line 52, John goes into great detail describing what must be done with any grain harvested.  The carefulness by which he articulates his farm activities gives us a clue to his organizational and management skills that must have been somewhat responsible for the increase affluence of this branch of the family.

 

Line 35 - 'A copy hold was a form of customary tenure by which a tenant held a copy of the entry in the roll of the manorial 'court baron', which recorded his or her possession of a holding on agreed terms.' - The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History (1996). Ms. Holmes states copy hold lands were subject to manorial custom and an obligation to undertake certain services for the Lord of the Manor e.g. military service.

 



Line 41 - Lammas Day was not a religious holiday, but prior to 1572 and the change in the English calendar, was August 1st.  The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, while recognizing some dispute about the matter, states it was a date that allowed for a second mowing of hay.  Again we see John Holyman reaching beyond his grave to dictate farming practises! Anne Holmes notes it was traditionally the festival of the wheat harvest. Lammas means loaf-mass from the Anglo Saxon hlaf-mas.

Line 50 - An indenture is a formal contract in this case concerning use of fields.  The formal agreement would be copied twice, signed and then cut or torn in two at the indent, with each party having an identical statement of the bargain.  

More on the Will next posting....

Genealogist Anne Holmes of Buckinghamshire, a careful and accurate historian, wanted these corrections listed in this article, which she noted after the first posting.

"Correction Line 26 'be howsse' should be 'be howffe' The letters f and s can look the same, especially when written as double letters. This is meant to read in modern language 'to her behoof' that is to her best advantage. I am still struggling with the end of line 26. I think this undeciphered word may be an abbreviation of some kind. The obvious is something along the line of 'trusting' or 'keeping' but the letters do not quite fit with those words.

Correction Line 31 'grett long brass' should be 'grett long broche' A broche is a term connected with the weaving of tapestries. It could either be a weaving spindle of some kind or a long strip of woven tapestry see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/broche Perhaps it was some kind of woven tapestry that went over the bedding mentioned in the next phrase of the Will.

Also yt in old documents can be an abbreviation for either 'it' or 'that' depending on context."

Have questions about your 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 hopefully one of the dozens on the list will have an answer. 

For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!)