The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 2

By Glenn N. Holliman

Our First Stop – St. Peter de Merton

Bedford, Bedfordshire

May 18, 2019

We were on an adventure moving back in time.  There were 29 or so of us on that chilly, rainy morning. Our bus met us at 9:15 am on Saturday morning, May 18^th in Moreton in Marsh and took us across beautiful countryside, fields green and yellow flowering horse chestnut trees in bloom and through little villages. There was a bit of rain but it did not discourage our high spirits.

We Hollimans and spouses gathered in Bedford at the spot where 410 years earlier my generation’s 8^th great grandparents, Thomas and Helena Poynard Holliman, were married.  Naturally this called for another group photograph.  This couple were the parents of Christopher Hollyman, our forefather who migrated to Jamestown, Virginia in 1650.

Above the entrance to St. Peter de Merton in Bedford, Bedfordshire. Jim Holliman of Marion Junction, Alabama and Becky Holliman Payne, Cookeville, Tennessee in the picture between the gates.

Genealogist Anne Holmes had arranged our first stop at St. Peters de Merton, a 10^th century church where we received hot tea, biscuits and a history of the parish by one of the lovely ladies who greeted us.

It was here we were transported back in time to 1609, the year and place where my generation’s 8^th great grandparents were married. 

Below the nave of St. Peter Church in Bedford, a parish over 1,000 years old!  Texans Marcia Holliman, Rob Fenske and Mary Holliman Fenske, center, and right, Alice Holliman Murphy take pictures.

Great changes occurred in that first decade of the 17^th Century. 

Queen Elizabeth, perhaps England’s greatest monarch, died in 1603 replaced by James VI of Scotland, James I as he became known in England.  His mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had lost her head several decades earlier after an attempt to replace Good Queen Bess on the throne. Dangerous business being a monarch in those times.

At the time of the marriage of Thomas and Helena, Jamestown, Virginia struggled to survive, an outpost for the London Company to which Christopher and Judith Hollyman would find a safe harbor 40 or so years later.

The new King James struggled to keep the various religious factions of England and Scotland from harming each other.  A sect of pious Protestants demanded less liturgy and more ‘puritanism’ in the nascent Church of England.  Roman Catholic terrorists led by Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the House of Commons.  Their gunpowder plot failed, and persecution of Catholics was renewed.

   

Guy Fawkes pictured.  To this day the English celebrate this would be tragedy with massive bonfires all over England on November 5th.

On the plus side, the glorious King James Version of the Bible was transcribed at the same time Shakespeare wrote some of his most outstanding plays.  It can be argued these two events were the epitome of English literature, not equaled since.

What do we know of this great grandmother, Helena? 

Not very much.  It was expected that the bride’s church would be chosen for the ceremony, and it did occur at St. Peter because such is recorded in the parish register.  Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chancellor decreed in the 1530s (before he too lost his head) that baptisms, marriages and funerals were to be documented, for which genealogists have been ever grateful.

Foreground, Rob Fenske and Dr. Jim Holliman inspect the chancery where Thomas and Helena Poynard Hollyman were married.

Genealogist Anne Holmes cannot find the name Poynard in other registers in Bedford, a town then of 2,000 souls.  She did find a will dated decades before the marriage by a Thomas Poynard of Barkway in 1563, perhaps a document of our 10^th or 11^th great Poynard grandfather?   We may never know.

We do know that Helena died in 1653 and is buried outside St. Mary’s Church on the south side of the Ouse River in Bedford.  Probably she was in her early 60s, and Thomas, whose death date is not known, evidently passed away before her.

And of course, of her eight living children, two had left the family forever, migrating in 1650 to Virginia, never to return to a mother’s embrace.

We thank the good ladies of St Peter de Merton for their kind hospitality, hot tea and sharing of the history of this famous church.

Next blog, we visit the parish where Thomas and Helena had their many children baptized.

Going Forward

by Glenn N. Holliman

Thoughts to Share and Feedback Welcome

Our first national gathering of the Christopher Hollyman Families Society was held March 31 - April 2, 2016 in Smithfield, Virginia.  Judging from the comments and photographs posted on Face Book, it proved to be the grand experience the organizers hoped it would be.  Allen Holleman and I met with Sarah Barlow Wright, Joe Barlow and Billy Joe Holleman in October 2015 to carve the outlines of a three day event.  Allen kindly took on the job of coordinating meeting and residence space and registration.

Left, part of the group at our gathering space for our meetings, Billy Joe Holleman in the blue shirt and Brenda Holloman, right, in white.

The Smithfield Inn, where we had dinner on March 31st, had the only private room in town with a restaurant attached (or the other way around).  We originally thought the service and space would be fine for say 25 or so who might attend, even believing the rooms available at the Smithfield Inn would be sufficient for out-of-towners.

Wow, did you surprise us!  Almost sixty persons registered (some could not make it at the last minute) pleasantly forcing Allen to reach out to the Hampton Inn for lodging, meeting space and to bring in a food truck for meals.  And he did all this from Raleigh, North Carolina, a lot of work for which we are all grateful.  
  

Right, Mike Holliman, Jimmy Holliman, Norman Holliman and Becky Holliman Payne, all with Alabama roots.

And Billy Joe and wife went over the top, not only escorting us around the Holleman House, providing a hay ride to the possible resting place of Christopher Hollyman and other descendants, but then feeding us Smithfield Ham, cookies and hot and cold drinks at the Mill Swamp Baptist Church.  That church is the first Baptist Church planted in Virginia and was founded in part by the Hollemans.  The land for the cemetery adjacent to the church was donated by Hollemans from Christopher's original 1,020 acres.

Joe Parker, center in the light blue shirt, helped 'supervise' the generous ham sandwich snack at Mill Swamp.   

Besides the emotional experience of standing on historic Hollyman ground and the delightful opportunity to meet so many new cousins, the conference provided education on mutual family history and discussion on formalizing a Hollyman society.  Some of these outcomes I reported in the recent April  5, 2016 post.  

One thought in particular was the desire to meet again, to hold another Gathering, perhaps in two years, and perhaps even in England, the ancestral European home of Christopher's descendants. 

So the purpose of this blog is really a questionnaire asking for your feed back.  May I ask you to send your comments to glennhistory@gmail.com please.  Whether you attended earlier this month or not, we would welcome your opinion as we go forward in planning.

1. If and when another Gathering is held, where should it be?

2. Should we meet at a conference hotel with an in-house restaurant, meeting rooms and an indoor pool for children who might attend with parents and/or grandparents?  

3. Or should we hold the Gathering at a less expensive conference center in the woods, perhaps a bit more rustic setting and facilities but at a lower cost?  And such might not be near an Interstate Highway or airport.

4. Should it be held at or near a historic Holliman landmark, such as Samuel Holliman's 1741 restored home in Edgecombe County, North Carolina?  Or should we stay in the Jamestown/Richmond, Virginia area, our common American ancestral home?

5. Would one have an interest in holding a Gathering in Buckinghamshire, England and visit historic sites in High Wycombe, Cuddington, Dinton, Sherington and Bedford, Bedfordshire?  Obviously this would require a lot of planning and appropriate expense.

Below in 2014, Carolyn Stonham, owner of the 1699 Holyman House in Cuddington, Buckingshire, England with cousins Lindsay Holliman of England and Glenn Holliman of Pennsylvania, USA.  This thatch cottage would be an important stop on a Hollyman ancestral tour of England.

In my next post, I will get into agenda building.  As one plans a conference, one wants to offer subject matter that is meaningful to as many as possible.  That is why we met in Isle of Wight County, Virginia and began our program with the latest research on our English roots. Everyone there had that interest in common.  

So more thoughts and opinion seeking in the next blog.  Enough for now.  Please take a moment to respond to the above questions.  

Again, just write me at glennhistory@gmail.com or leave a comment below. I will 'combine' thoughts and share the findings.

Annoucing a New Holliman Genealogical Resource

by Glenn N. Holliman

The 2013 Holliman Genealogical Forum in Fayette, Alabama

 

 

Gathering for two days of sharing and learning during beautiful autumn southern weather were left to right: Anne Holliman Windel (Alabama), Jeanette Holiman Stewart (Texas), David Jennings (Alabama), Shelia Nichols (Alabama), Glenn Holliman (Pennsylvania), Janie Holliman (Alabama), Lois Sherrill (Alabama), Sarah Hall Holliman Hatch (Colorado), Nell Holliman, sitting (Alabama), Harvey Holliman (Texas), Alice Holliman Murphy (Texas), Glenda Norris (Alabama), Frank Holliman (Alabama), Rachel Lee (Alabama), Eddy Smith (Alabama), Marilyn Wilson Galvan (Texas), Vonceil Duckworth (Alabama), Linwood Holliman (Alabama), Jimmy Holliman (Alabama) and Joseph Parker (Texas)

At the October 2013 Holliman Genealogical Forum in Fayette, Alabama, a tremendous new genealogical web site was announced.  The web site, designed as a virtual archives, can be found at The Hollyman Family at MyFamily.com.  The top portion of the site is visible below.  Note the numerous titles available at the location.

Already on this MyFamily site one will find:

Over 14,000 names on the extensive Holyman Family Tree

 

Dozens of research files and family histories

 

Several thousand photographs

 

 A discussion forum

 

And more information added almost daily!

However for accuracy purposes, the site remains private; that is one needs an invitation to participate.

Whether you live in the United States, the British Isles, Canada, Australia or where ever on the globe, that invitation is easily granted if you email this writer at glennhistory@gmail.com or Jeanette Holiman Stewart at Htreekeeper@outlook.com.

 

Or go to the HOLLYMAN GENEALOGY MyFamily site at http://myfamily.com/group/hollyman .

Then click on "Request to Join" in upper righthand corner! 

 

Below, Jeanette Holiman Stewart double checks her records as Jimmy Holliman and Vonceil Duckworth join her at the Shepherd Baptist Church Cemetery in Newtonville, Alabama.  On this site in 1836, their ggg grandfather Charles Holliman located his family after migration from Lancaster County, South Carolina.  Jeanette monitors the Tree at MyFamily.com and has entered over 14,000 names and thousands of photographs and documents!

 

 

You will be welcomed to this living museum and world-wide resource center, a place where those of us with ancestors by the names of Holyman, Hollyman, Holliman, Holiman, Holleman, Holloman, Hollemon, Hollomon and numerous other variations can find and share family history information. Associated families are encouraged to join us in this program.

This site was founded after extensive discussions following a 2011 reunion in Fayette, Alabama by family historians Joseph Parker, Glenda Norris, Lynn R. Holliman, Jeanette Holiman Stewart, Tina Peddie and Glenn N. Holliman, all descendants of Christopher Hollyman, Sr. (1618-1691). These persons, four of whom are in the group picture above, administer the site.

As regular readers of this space know, this Christopher, Sr. came from Bedfordshire, England to Jamestown, Virginia in 1650, married twice, had six children and prospered leaving a plantation of 1,020 acres at his death in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. While other persons with the name of Holyman (or a derivative) evidently migrated later to the New World, our evidence to date traces almost, but not all Holymans (and various spellings), back to the four sons of Christopher, Sr. Their names were Thomas, Christopher, William and Richard. There were two daughters – Ann and Mary who married two brothers from a neighboring plantation – John and James Atkinson.

The purpose of this MyFamily site is to gather the most complete information possible on Holymans, post and share without fees to the larger family. Our goal is to establish a central gathering place for Holyman Family information and research materials. We have designed our management to be self-perpetuating, to maintain service and enlarge this site as the years and decades pass.

Left, one of the hosts for the Alabama Holliman Forum and dedicated genealogist, is Glenda Norris, descended from Cornelius Holliman, one of three brothers who caught 'Alabama Fever' and migrated to the state from South Carolina in 1836.

Of course, genealogy is a process, and as new information is discovered, lineages and dates may change. If your research differs from what might be contained on this site, let us know and corrections or differences of opinions will be noted. This site is for education only and not for commercial or legal purposes.

               Additional Resources are available!

Join the Hollyman Email genealogical conversation at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Or the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family".

For more information on these sites, contact Tina Peddie, one of our MyFamily administrators, at desabla1@yahoo.com.  Mrs. Peddie can assist also in any DNA research.

Remember for your Hollyman MyFamily invitation, contact glennhistory@gmail.com or Htreekeeper@outlook.com.

 

Or go to the HOLLYMAN GENEALOGY MyFamily site at http://myfamily.com/group/hollyman . 

Then click on "Request to Join" in upper righthand corner! 


Next week, back to another bit of Holleman history....

 

A Gathering of Hollimans, Part III

by Glenn N. Holliman

This is the third in a series of articles concerning the October 14/15, 2011 family seminar held in Fayette, Alabama, the ancestral location of many Hollimans living today.

At the Georgia-Pacific Railroad Depot in Fayette stands a historical sign.  The Depot is now a visitor’s center and museum where in the 1880s the rail road reached Fayette.  In 1917, this writer's grandfather and grandmother rode this train with their four children to start life over in Irondale, Alabama, a blue collar suburb of Birmingham.  There Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman increased their family by three more children (one my father b. 1919 H. Bishop Holliman).  Their movement during World War I foreshadowed the disapra that the Holliman families and tens of millions of American families would experience from the middle to the end of the 20th Century.


On October 15, 2011, seminar and round table discussions were held at the Fayetteville Civic Center.  Some of those attending were below left to right, David Jennings and his uncle Bill Holliman, both of Picken’s County, Alabama.  Later, after consulting the papers of the late Walt O. Holliman, it was determined they are descendants of Charles Holliman (1795 – 1841 ca), one of the three brothers who immigrated to west Alabama in 1836 from South Carolina.  Bill is a retired college music professor.

Above, same photo on the right, from the Selma, Alabama area were Jimmy and Kathleen Holliman.  Jimmy is a descendant also of Charles Holliman, and is a professor with the University of Auburn Agricultural Extension Service. 

Keeping notes at the meeting was Jeanette Holiman Stewart of Texas, below.  Jeanette has entered over 10,000 Holliman names in her database!  Behind Jeanette, left, is Frank Holliman who still retains some of the original land settled by the pioneering Holliman families in Fayette County.

  Below, Joe Parker flanked on his left by Lynn Holliman delivers a point during the discussions.   Joe provided information on the Holliman lines from Christopher Sr. (1618 – 1691) to the present.  His knowledge of the various Holliman branches through their Southern migrations is encyclopedic in scope.

 At the meeting, we remembered many Holliman pioneers, both living and deceased who could not be present.  Undoubtedly this is only a partial list, and I apologize for not having information to include all.  Additions to this Holliman (and all its spellings) Hall of Fame are welcome.


Recognized were Maxine Wright of Arkansas and Dr. Rhodes Holliman of Virginia.  Both descend from James Grantson Holliman and have accomplished through the decades a mountain of research.  Dr. Sidney Arthur Holleman’s 2003 publication of his branch of the family (Texas) was praised also.  Ron Holliman of Dothan, Alabama, a descendant of James Grantson and John Thomas Holliman, also has compiled significant records but due to business and family could not be with us.

Among those whose earthly  journeys are over and recognized as contributing significantly to our knowledge of this American family are Cecil Rhodes Holliman, Glenda Norris’s grandfather, Walt O. Holliman, also late of Alabama, whose research has been preserved by his children, and Dr. Charles Holliman, late of North Carolina whose work lives on the writings of others. 

Above Glenn Holliman and Tina Peddie in February 2011 near her home in California.  In addition to being an accomplished genealogist, Tina conducts searches for adopted children seeking biological parents.

Tina Peddie’s establishment of the Hollyman Internet chat room in 1999 has been instrumental in the sharing of family information and networking of various Holliman researchers.  Her contributions from her home in California also include the  re-publication, with the just deceased at age 93, Dr. Jeremiah Holliman, of the George E. Holleman 1953 ground breaking genealogical book on the family.  Her achievements and George E. Holliman's tome, the first known publication concerning the family, were recognized with appreciation.

Next posting, more on the Holliman Alabama seminar....