Connecting the Hollyman English Lineages, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

Professional genealogist Anne Holmes has been researching the Hollymans of England for almost a decade since she and I met in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Her work exploring the United Kingdom ancestors of most Hollimans in American (numerous spellings since 1650) has been outstanding.

Above, Jeanette Holiman Stewart, keeper of the Hollyman Ancestry.com tree, Anne Holmes, center and beside a Lee tomb, church historian George Lambert in 2013. Entombed in the sanctuary at St. Peter's and St. Paul's in Dinton, Buckinghamshire are the resting places of the Lee families, ancestor's of Margaret Lee Hollyman, grandmother of Christopher Hollyman who migrated in 1650 to Jamestown, Virginia.

Anne's work seemingly climaxed as she guided approximately 30 American cousins in 2019 through Buckingham and Bedfordshire revealing the parish churches and domestic locations of our English fore bearers. She has not ceased her research and in the past year has tried to connect the lineages of the Cuddington, Buckinghamshire Hollymans (from which most American Hollimans descend) with groups of 17th Century Hollymans in Somerset (Bristol) and Worcester.

Above, Holliman cousins at St. Peter's and St Paul's, Dinton, May 2019

This research has been triggered by information provided by Michael Hollyman of Australia who reached out by email to us earlier this year. Michael's ancestry involves both London and Somerset persons and more than a hint of relationships to the Cuddington Hollymans. Anne has picked up these threads and using her time during the global pandemic has researched these connections. What follows are a number of articles concerning her research.

To Michael in Australia, we tip our hats for his sharing of family research and to Anne a continued shout out for her perseverance in exploring the roots of parentage whose DNA we carry. - GNH

Part I by Anne Holmes

My initial search was to look at the London HOLLIMANS to try and link them back to the Cuddington HOLLIMANS and also to look at a possible connection to the Somerset HOLLYMANS also.

Michael Hollyman's possible earliest HOLLIMAN known ancestor was a Richard HOLLIMAN or HOLEMON, a bachelor and Brewers Servant, who married a Mary BROWN in London in 1753. The marriage, recorded in the London Clandestine Marriage Register, noted Richard was from the parish of St. Andrew’s Holborn and Mary from St. Luke’s parish.

St. Andrew's Church in London

Clandestine marriages were a way of circumnavigating church regulations on marriage: one example being the bride or groom being under twenty-one therefore no need for parental consent to marry. The earliest age at which a male could marry at this time was fourteen and a bride twelve (normally with parental consent), but a groom marrying at fourteen was rare. Young men had to have the means in which to support a family if one came along and at fourteen that would have been difficult, even in eighteenth century London.

St. Giles in the Fields, sometimes known as the Poets Church,

is near Covent Garden in London.

These London Clandestine marriages took place in several locations in London including the Fleet Prison Chapel, Kings Bench Prison Chapel, the Mint and the May Fair Chapel. The Hardwicke Marriage Act of 1753 that came into force on 25th March 1754 put an end to the clandestine marriages in these institutions.

A baptism could not be found for Richard in St. Andrews Holborn parish circa 1739 or before. However, there was a baptism of a Richard HOLLMAN in St Giles in the Field, Holborn in 1716, son of William and Mary. A possible candidate for the Richard who married in 1753, but was the Richard born in 1716 a HOLLIMAN or a HOLMAN? The register entry is unclear.

However, looking for a marriage of the parents William HOLLMAN or HOLLIMAN and Mary in London, there were three possible marriages between 1696 and 1700 and in locations not that close to Holborn, so not enough firm evidence to take the family of this Richard back further.

To confuse matters further there was also another Clandestine marriage of a Richard HOLLIMAN of Ealing, Middlesex to a Rachel THORNE of Dinton in 1734. Noting the bride was from Dinton, Buckinghamshire this Richard may be connected to the Cuddington HOLLIMANS. As can be seen, with incomplete information, the London HOLLIMANS at this time are a confusing picture. - Anne Holmes

The stories Anne has composed from her research will continue with the next blog and numerous others. - GNH

The Hollimans of England, Part 7

 by Glenn N. Holliman

With this post, we conclude an exploration into the lineage of Lindsay Holliman of England, a distant cousin of most American Hollimans (various spellings) who shares our same ancestor, Thomas Hollyman of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England (d 1558).  Whereas my Hollyman forebearers left for Virginia in 1650, Lindsay's remained in England.  

In the 1500s, Hollymans were a prominent family.  One of Thomas's son, Christopher (d 1588 and my 9th great grandfather) married into the distinguished Lee family of Denton, Buckinghamshire, a family that acquired Hartwell House, now a National Trust property near Aylesbury.  However, whereas first born sons inherited real property, second and third born sons did not, so after several generations, these offspring became members of the commercial and laboring classes. 

Both Lindsay's and my paternal ancestors were those second and third sons for several generations in a row.  My 7th great grandfather, Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691) sought his fortune in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  If one will review the previous blog posts, one can read of the economic development of Lindsay's branch, moving from farm workers to commerce to academic endeavors over a period of several centuries.

With Lindsay's father, Frederick George Holliman,  a Cambridge University graduate, the family achieved the apex of academic learning in the United Kingdom.  George's  achievements and contributions to his country and the British Commonwealth are described below by Lindsay, his son.


Frederick George Holliman (1920 – 2001)  
by Lindsay Holliman

Frederick George Holliman in 1940

 Lindsay writes: 

"My father was born on 9 January 1920 in Cambridge and went to school and university there. A scholarship to Trinity College in 1938 launched him on his academic career and set its form. 

An attempt during World War II to join the Royal Fleet Air Arm was deflected into wartime research. That research mixed unconventional and dangerous work on flames and poisons and resulted in PhD in stereochemistry. He was elected to a fellowship at Trinity in 1943 and to a university demonstratorship in 1945. 

Below, Dora Circuit Holliman, Lindsay's mother.

He married Dora Circuit at the Bedford Salvation Army Citadel on 12 July 1945. They had two children - Lindsay in 1946 and Philip in 1950. In 1947 he left to teach at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (UCT) and was made professor of organic chemistry 1950, aged 30. Later in 1955, he became head of the chemistry department and, a few years later, Dean of the Faculty of Science. 

During this time apartheid was being developed and Fred, along with others, was very active in trying to keep South African universities open to all – at Cape Town University he was chairman of a committee fighting the changes. 

 Right, Dora and young Lindsay, 1949.


Left, Dora and Fred in the late 1960s, back in England.



 In 1962 the family returned to England, living in Harrogate in Yorkshire where Fred was a professor at Leeds University. He retired in the early 1980s and eventually lived in Market Harborough, Leicestershire where he died on 13 November 2001, two months after my mother Dora." - Lindsay Holliman

Below, Lindsay and wife, Magdeleine, outside their home near Market Harborough, England.  Retired from a career in human resources, Lindsay is an avid golfer, playing as often as three times a week.  Will there be other generations of Hollimans in England?  Yes, Lindsay has two sons!

If an American Holliman has ever wondered what happened to those left in England by those who migrated to the New World, well, now we have one story of just such a branch of our family! 

My thanks to Lindsay for sharing his ancestral story and for his friendship across the Atlantic. - GNH


For information on Hollimans and allied families, please refer to the 28 March 2015 blog for an inventory of available manuscripts and data on Hollimans and allied families.

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!).

We are all on a journey.  Through genealogy we can discover how families better themselves generation to generation.  When we understand the past, we know ourselves more fully and are more generously equipped to travel through our own time and place in the Cosmos. - GNH