Connecting the Hollyman Lineages, Part 4

 by Glenn N. Holliman

A decade or so ago, I visited Worchstershire as parish records indicated that numerous Hollyman families lived as early as the 1500s in that region of England, along the Severn River.  This trade and migration route is the longest river in the U.K., some 220 miles that flows south to Somersetshire  and Bristol where more Hollymans were located (and remain so to this day).

Note that Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, the ancestor of most American Hollimans (and various spellings) left Bedford (center right on the map) in 1650 for Virginia.  His immediate ancestors were from the Aylesbury and High Wycombe area of Buckinghamshire.  Worcester is just southwest of Birmingham and Bristol further south, a port city along the Severn Wash leading to the North Atlantic.  

Distant cousins such as Mike Hollyman of Australia, a contemporary of mine, have roots in both the Bristol area, London and Buckinghamshire strongly suggesting ancestral kinship ties earlier than the 1500s.  

Descendants of Christopher Hollyman in America are from the lineage of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, born in Cuddington in 1495 near Aylesbury.  My Uncle John served as the second Roman Catholic bishop of Bristol from 1554 until his death in 1558.  Yes, his episcopate was during the reign of Mary Tudor better known as 'Bloody Mary' who encouraged the burning of Protestants at the stake. John allowed several burnings in Bristol, but felt so discomforted by the acts that he never attended these horrible executions.  In 2019 many of his descendants visited his tomb in Church Hanborough near Oxford and located his resting place in the sanctuary of the parish church where he had served during his priesthood. - GNH

In 2019, Kimberly Holliman found the resting place of her very Great Uncle John Holyman hidden in the wall or perhaps in the floor of St. Peter and St. Paul, a few miles from Woodstock.

In the following article, genealogist Anne Holmes explores the relationship between London Hollymans and Worcester Hollymans in the 1500s, furthering our knowledge of distant kinfolk. Please refer to her earlier articles for context.

Part Four by Anne Holmes

During his lifetime Richard HOLLYMAN is mentioned in the Wills of several of his PAKINGTON relatives and also in the 1563 Will of his old Master Humfrey BASKERVILLE. In this Will Humphrey BASKERVILLE also refers to Richards’ brother John HOLLYMAN. Richard HOLLYMAN was bequeathed two hundred pounds and his brother John HOLLYMAN fifty pounds. Humfrey BASKERVILLE also requested Richard HOLLYMAN had the bringing up of his daughters Anne and Martha. The sister of Humfrey BASKERVILLE, Agnes was married to a Humfrey HOLLYMAN of Blakeshall, Waverley in Worcestershire and this Humfrey is mentioned also in other contemporary BASKERVILLE and PAKINGTON Tudor Wills. 

Thus here, there is a strong suggestion here that Humfrey HOLLYMAN and brothers Richard and John HOLLYMAN were related, suggesting that Richard HOLLYMAN was probably born in Worcestershire. To try and further confirm this, I ordered several Tudor Wills from the Worcestershire Archives, namely that of Richard HOLYMAN of Stourbridge date 1541, Thomas HOLYMAN the Elder of Leigh date 1553, Elizabeth HOLYMAN of Leigh 1558 (Thomas widow) and Humfrey HOLYMAN of Blakeshall, Wolverley date 1575.

The results of these Wills were disappointing. Richard HOLYMAN who died in c1541 did not mention any children in his Will.

Above, Anne Holmes and Christopher Hollyman descendants at St. Mary's parish in Bedford, Bedfordshire in 2019, where Christopher was baptized in 1618.

Thomas and Elizabeth HOLYMAN did have a son Richard but not a son John. Richard HOLYMAN Mercer of London was known to have had a brother John in 1563 (Humfrey BASKERVILLE Will). Thomas’ son Thomas inherited his father’s lands in the Leigh, Worcestershire.

These HOLYMANS of Leigh are interesting though as the Lord of the Manor to the Leigh in 1575 was an Edmund COLLES. This was twenty years after Thomas HOLYMAN’s the elder’s death but contemporary with Thomas’ son Thomas. Edmund’s brother Michael was ‘of Bradwell in Buckinghamshire’. 

Another brother John COLLES had estates in Hatfield in Hertfordshire and a further brother William married Margaret PAKINGTON in 1564 so consequently became brother in law to Richard HOLLYMAN Mercer of London. William COLLES, like Richard was also a Merchant and he appears too in the London Port Books of 1567/8. - Anne Holmes

Next writing, Ms. Holmes provides a summary of her findings.

 

Connecting the Hollyman Lineages, Part 3

 by Glenn N. Holliman

Professional genealogist Anne Holmes of Buckinghamshire, a recognized authority in America on the Hollymans and Lees of England, continues her research on the Hollymans of London and their relationships with the Buckingham and Bedfordshire Hollimans.  In this blog, the 3rd in this series she begins to explore the possibilities of kinship ties with branches in Worcestershire and Somerset. The Richard Hollyman examined in this article was wealthy and moved in high social circles. - GNH

Part 3 by Anne Holmes

Going back in time to the Elizabethan era there was another Richard HOLLYMAN present in London in the Tudor period, namely a Richard HOLLYMAN Citizen and Mercer of London. Richard died in 1572 and was buried in the parish churchyard of St. Michael Bassishaw, London.

A mercer dealt with fine fabrics such as silk and velvet. To the left, Queen Elizabeth I, England's greatest queen.

 It is not certain where Richard was born but as the research unfolded, and more information was discovered about him, it began to seem more and more likely he came from the Worcestershire branch of HOLLYMANS. This is interesting as there is a suggestion, in the Hollyman Dictionary that the earliest HOLLYMAN noted in North Somerset may have been born in Belbroughton, Worcestershire in 1661.

St. Michael Bassishaw was dedicated to the Archangel Michael and named after the Basing family during medieval London. Haw means yard.  There were several rebuildings of the parish due to fires.  In 1900 the church was demolished on land now occupied by the Barbican Centre complex.

Richard HOLLYMAN Mercer first appears in the records (those that could be found online) in 1557 and 1558, in the London Livery Company Records. He is noted as a Mercer and a New Freeman of the City of London. His Master was a Humfrey BASKERFIELD or BASKERVILLE. To reach the status of New Freeman, Richard would have completed a seven-year apprenticeship. 

The minimum age to start a Mercer’s apprenticeship in London was sixteen years old so Richard would have been at least twenty-three years old in 1557. Eleven or so years later in 1569, Richard HOLLYMAN is noted as a Master of the Mercer’s Company himself. His apprentice Thomas HODSON now becoming a New Freeman of the City of London.

In 1560, Richard HOLLYMAN had married Martha PAKINGTON of the gentry family the PAKINGTONS of Worcestershire: the PAKINGTONS also had connections to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.  Note, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire is just a few miles from Cuddington and Dinton, ancestral homes of most Hollimans (various spellings in the USA).

Martha’s uncle Robert PAKINGTON was the first PAKINGTON of Aylesbury. Robert married an heiress of Sir John BALDWIN of Aylesbury, and thus inherited some of BALDWIN’s Buckinghamshire lands and property. 

Murder by 16th Century Technology!

Robert PAKINGTON is an interesting character. He was murdered in Cheapside, London in 1536, shot with a handgun, one of the first of this type of crime in the country. 

Below, handguns of the 1500s.

His brother Augustine PAKINGTON had predeceased him by 1536 but Augustine was known to have smuggled English Bibles into the London Ports from places like Antwerp in Belgium. It is thought Robert PAKINGTON was involved in something similar. Some of the PAKINGTON family though remained staunch Catholics throughout the Reformation, note here the later recusant PAKINGTONS of Harvington Hall, Worcester.

Richard HOLLYMAN’s marriage into the PAKINGTON family opened up a whole new level of society for him. His associates (mostly relatives by his marriage to Martha) were heads of Companies such as the Mercers and Grocers of the City of London, and some were Aldermen like his old Master Humfrey BASKERVILLE (Humfrey died 1564).

Richard and Martha HOLLYMAN had, it seems, ten children from their twelve-year marriage. The children were: Humfrey, Richard, Elizabeth, Lionel, Henry, Anne, Margery, Edward, Robert and Sarah. Richard had a prosperous career as a Mercer importing exotic goods into London, such as nutmeg as well as the materials for his Mercers business.

Richard appears in the London Port Books of 1567/8 importing the following goods from Antwerp:

1567 November: 35 lb of nutmeg cost £5 16s 8d ,

1568 January: 11 cwt of madder cost £7 6s 8d

1568 January: 2 cwt of estrige wool and 16 cwt of madder cost £20 13s 4d

1568 September: 90 half pieces of fustian cost £30

Fustian was a cloth made of cotton and flax, manufactured mainly in Italy and southern Germany.

Madder was a vegetable root that was used as a source of dye.

Estrige wool was imported from Central Europe.

Richard HOLLYMAN died suddenly in 1572. He did not leave a Will, but administration of Richard’s estate was applied for by Martha’s Brother, William PAKINGTON. By 1572 it seems two of the children of Richard and Elizabeth had died, sadly their namesakes Richard and Elizabeth. 

This information came from the nineteenth century Percival Boyd’s Citizens of London. Boyd did get one piece of information wrong though. Martha as a widow did not marry Robert BURBAGE of the famous BURBAGE family, as the 1569 Visitation of Worcestershire also states. I managed to locate the Will of Robert BURBAGE dated 1575. In his Will Robert BURBAGE refers to his wife Margery. Indeed, other sources do indicate Robert BURBAGE married Martha’s sister Margery PAKINGTON. - Anne Holmes

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