Connecting the Hollyman Lineages, Part 2

 by Glenn N. Holliman

This is the second in a series of articles by professional genealogist Anne Holmes of Buckinghamshire, England.  In this blog she seeks chiefly to discover kinship ties between Hollymans living in London of the 16th and 17th centuries with the Hollymans who lived in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.  Cuddington which lies east of London, south of Aylesbury, is an ancestral home of most Hollymans (various spellings) who reside in the United States. 

This research is also valuable to the descendants of Hollymans who departed from London in the 19th Century for New Zealand, Australia, other parts of the British Empire and of course, those who remain in the United Kingdom. - GNH

Part 2 by Anne Holmes

Rather than going backwards in time, one approach to solve some of the London HOLLYMAN lineage challenges is to look at the male HOLLYMANS present in London in the 17th Century and earlier and then to work through possible male descendants, looking for further clues.  From past research, for example, it is known that some Cuddington HOLLYMANS did move to London.

Above Hollymans (various spellings) in Cuddington in front of the late 1600s thatch cottage at the Hollyman farm, May 2019.  Fortunately this sojourn to our native land occurred ten months before the Pandemic of 2020.

John, a son of Thomas HOLYMAN of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire (d1558) lived in London. John died there in 1578, unmarried and therefore no descendants. His nephew John, son of Christopher HOLYMAN his brother, was a beneficiary of this John’s Will.

Note both these Thomas and Christopher Holymans of Cuddington are direct great grand fathers of the American Hollymans.  This Christopher Holyman married Margaret Lee of Dinton, and they lived most of their lives in Sherington, Buckinghamshire.  They are the grandparents of the Christopher Hollyman who migrated from Bedford, Bedfordshire in 1650 to Virginia. - GNH

Another son of Thomas HOLYMAN, Richard, also died in London 1603. Richard can be found liable for tax in Middlesex in the 1590s where previously he had been liable for tax in the Hundred of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. This Richard HOLYMAN lived in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate, London but kept his property interests back in Cuddington. 

Above the Medieval tower of St. Giles, Cripplegate with the Barbican complex in the left background.  The church was largely destroyed by the Blitz in World War II, and damaged in several earlier London fires.  Buried in the church were John Foxe who wrote the Book of Martyrs and John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost.  Oliver Cromwell married here in 1620.  

Below as Richard Holyman of Cuddington and London would have known St. Giles in earlier centuries.

This Richard had two surviving sons, Francis and Thomas. Francis died in Middlesex in 1633 but he too kept his links to Buckinghamshire. Like his father, Francis was liable for tax in 1623/4 in London where previously liability had been Buckinghamshire.  It has been difficult to trace any descendants of Francis’ brother Thomas.

This Francis who died in 1633 had three sons, Richard, Thomas and Simon, alive at the time of his death. Francis’ widow Margaret died after her husband in 1647 in Winslow, Buckinghamshire. At the time her Will was written (1643) only sons Richard and Thomas were surviving but their resident location not given.

 And then there is the Francis HOLLIMAN, Silk Weaver and Thrower who died in the parish of St. Mary’s Whitechapel, Middlesex in 1678. The administration of Francis estate was applied for by his daughter in law Mary, wife of Francis’ deceased son William. William had died in Marhalsea, south of the River Thames, in 1676 leaving behind two children.

 

Above St. Mary's Whitechapel in the Middlesex district of London, 

located approximately 3 miles east of Charing Cross. 

In 1666, the Hearth Tax for St. Mary’s Whitechapel lists a Francis HOLLYMAN as having a house with six hearths (fireplaces) so quite a big house to inherit.

Apparently, Francis had dictated a written Will before he died to an Ann HAWKE bequeathing his estate to the two children of his deceased son William. It looks as though from notes against the administration document (written later in 1693) there was a problem with this bequest. Unfortunately, the genders of Francis two grandchildren are not known as again suitable baptisms not found. 

There is evidence Francis HOLLIMAN, Silk Weaver of St. Mary’s Whitechapel was a nonconformist, a member of the Whitechapel Independent Church, hence the lack of baptismal evidence for his family. It is not impossible this Francis’ ancestry had its origins in Cuddington. - Anne Holmes

It is interesting that Anne's research reveals Hollimans belonged to two churches in London with Non-Conformist ties (i.e. not Anglican or Roman Catholic).  One Holliman known to history as a Non-Conformist is Stephen Holliman of Bedfordshire, a member in the late 1600s of a Bedford parish pastored by John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress.  Stephen was a brother of Christopher Hollyman, the 1650 immigrant to Jamestown, Virginia.  

The second Non-Conformist would be Ezekiel Holliman, born in Buckinghamshire, who immigrated to New England in the early 1630s and baptized the establisher of the Baptist Church in American, Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and advocate of religious freedom.- GNH

More research of Ms. Holmes in our next blog!

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 7

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our 5th Stop

 The Lathbury School of Thomas Hollyman

May 18, 2019

The day was getting long toward 5:00 pm when we arrived at Lathbury, a 16th and 17th Century school and church not far from Sherington.  We know from a history of Sherington that Thomas Holliman, the father of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, matriculated here in 1596, probably about 15 years of age.

The school closed a century later and the stones were used to restore the church and acquired by others in the village.  Today, a raised mound of dirt and a few markers occupy the space where my 8th great grand father would have studied the classics.

Below on the site, left to right, Kathleen Holliman, Dr. Jim Holliman, Rob Fenske, Mary Holliman Fenske, Becky Holliman Payne, Glenn Joiner with his wife, Kathy, behind him, and finally Susan G. White.

Murals from the Middle Ages still hold to the surface of the 13th Century church adjacent to the now vacant school site.  No doubt Thomas Hollyman worshiped here often and gazed at the then visible paintings.

The lane to Lathbury was narrow and our careful driver took some time to back up.  This photograph is from Sherington and one can see the size of the coach.  Many  English village streets such as in Lathbury are narrow, often only one lane.  This photograph shows a considerably wider street.

 It had been a long day and after a ride back to Moreton in Marsh, we dispersed, had supper and called it a day, because the Sunday would be filled with more stops and another step back in history!

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 6

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our Fourth Stop – St. Laud’s and the Old Rectory

 Sherington, Buckinghamshire

May 18, 2019

Fortified by lunch, our coach driver took us to Sherington, over the Bedfordshire line into Buckinghamshire.  This beautiful village is filled with lovely gardens and thatched cottages.  

It was here that by 1575, the grand parents of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, lived and raised a family including Thomas Hollyman of Bedford, Bedfordshire, the father of our Virginia immigrant Christopher.  

Alice Holliman Murphy reads about the parish's program of saving wild grass and flowers.  St. Laud's is in the back ground.

These grandparents were named Christopher, 1537-1589, (guess where our Virginia Christopher obtained his name?) and Margaret Lee Hollyman, born abt 1548, death date unknown.  We went through the lychgate (below) and inspected the interior of the church.

Kindly church wardens, below, greeted us and pointed out the interior of the facility where Christopher Hollyman, Sr. served as a warden himself.  We know this as our great grandfather and another church leader complained to the bishop about the indolence of the priest. 

   

   

Left Kathy Joiner (in black) and Dr. Jim Holliman, in glasses, in the chancel of St. Laud with other Hollymans.

                                    

Above genealogist Anne Holmes explained that Christopher and Margaret Lee were born in Cuddington and Dinton, Buckinghamshire and probably moved to Sherington to look after Lee family lands.  The Lees were moving up the English social and economic ladder and the Hollymans peaked also in the 16th Century. 

Probably because of Lee connections, Christopher was made a member of Queen Elizabeth's guard and wore a Tudor uniform similar to those worn by the yeomen at the Tower of London, shown in the photograph. Try to imagine our great grandfather dressed accordingly when mustering the local militia!

The church yard at Sherington most probably holds the remains of my 9th great grandfather, Christopher, named after his grandfather, Christopher Clark of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. 

Below, nine to eleven generations later the immediate descendants of Walter O. Holliman, 1927 - 2003, gather at St. Laud's on a chilly day in May 2019. 

Before we left Sherington, we stopped at the Old Rectory, no longer where the priest lives and now privately owed.  This 'Old Rectory' was constructed in 1711.  On this site in an earlier rectory, Christopher and Margaret raised Thomas Hollyman, the father of the Christopher who migrated to Virginia in 1650.  Evidently the Hollymans assumed possession of the rectory when the bishop dismissed the errant priest who Christopher, d 1589, had complained about.  Hmmmm.....

There was one more stop on May 18th, the school where Thomas Hollyman, abt. 1581 - abt 1650 attended.

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 4

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our Second Stop – St. Mary’s Parish,

Now the Albion Archaeology Centre

Bedford, Bedfordshire

May 18, 2019

Thomas Hollyman, most likely born in the early 1580s, grew up in a wealthy home in Sherington, Buckinghamshire, some 10 or so miles from his adult home of Bedford.  The second son (of a third son), he inherited 40 pounds but no land, when his father died in 1589.  His parents were Christopher and Margaret Lee Hollyman of families from Cuddington and Dinton, Buckinghamshire.

Did his inheritance eventually fund an apprenticeship in Bedford?  We know from Anne Holmes’ research that Thomas worked as a cordwainer or leather maker before he took a lease-hold on the Blue Boar Inn, on Cauldwell Street, several hundred yards to the west of St. Mary’s Church.  Later his son-in-law, Barnabas Crash, seems to have gone into business with him.

As a cordwainer, he must have fashioned shoes, leather garments and harnesses for horses.   Undoubtedly his second son, Christopher, was exposed to this occupation, and perhaps supported himself as a leather worker when he arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1650. 

Below, Elisabeth Krueger Ahrens and her mother, Anne Holliman Krueger, daughter of Walter O. Holliman (1927-2003) who did so much to research and capture the stories of the Holliman and allied families in the USA.  Both Elisabeth and Anne are international teachers.

The files in this photograph's background are of archaeological investigations in the Bedfordshire area, research often required before new construction in the United Kingdom.  This picture was taken in the interior of St. Mary's Parish which held its last service in 1975 and in 1991 became a research centre.  

Did Thomas curse his fate? 

The nephews and nieces of his mother, Margaret Lee Hollyman, were on the rise socially and financially.  Margaret’s brother, one Thomas Lee, married Eleanor Hampden who inherited Hartwell House, now a National Trust property which I will write about later.  

The Lees were rising and the Hollymans declining. Thomas Lee died a knight in 1626.  Our Thomas Hollyman, Lee's nephew, mended shoes and served ale at a Bedford Inn.  

One can imagine the envy felt by Thomas.  Unlike he, one of his sisters, Ursala, inherited well from her grandmother of the same name, Ursala Yates Lee.

 Above, Anne Holmes inside St. Mary’s Church, now an archaeological office, discussing the history of the building while the Albion manager, center, looks on as does Jim Holliman, right, of Alabama. 

Did his mother Margaret help support Thomas and get him started as an inn keeper in Bedford?  We do not know.

What impact did the English Civil War, which began in 1642 and did not end until 1652, have on the family?  Did our Christopher (1618-1691) serve in the Parliamentary forces which were supported by the Hampden family? 

Bedford citizenry were generally pro-Parliament and Anti-Royalist.  Young John Bunyan, a Bedford resident, and later a charismatic preacher and author of ‘Pilgrims Progress’, served in the Cromwellian forces. Christopher’s younger brother, Steve, later associated with Bunyan's Meeting House services.

Or did Christopher join the King’s army? 

We know the priest at St. Mary’s, Dr. Giles Thorne, from 1630 to 1671, was arrested by Parliament and jailed for four years in 1640s.  This royalist was accused of ill vices such as maypole dancing and praying for the King!  St. Mary’s was the Hollyman family’s parish.  

Also Christopher’s grandfather, an earlier Christopher Hollyman (d 1589) served as a member of Queen Elizabeth’s Guard, an elite royalist honor probably obtained through Lee family connections.

The interior of St. Mary's in 1851, now lined with files and books, but the monuments and stained glass windows remain.

What we do know is our Christopher along with his spinster sister, Judith, left Bedford in early 1650 and arrived in Virginia in May 1650.  Did they flee the chaos of civil war?  Had Christopher fought on the losing side, as King Charles I was beheaded in January 1649? Had his father, Thomas, died and why leave an elderly mother (age 60 or so) to cross the ocean?

The Birth and Grave Sites of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, have now been Visited by Descendants

In April 2016 at the Hollyman gathering in Isle of Wight, Virginia, Billy Joe Holleman, owner of some of the original plantation of Christopher (d 1691) took our group to what is believed to be the original burial plot of the Hollymans of Virginia.  There we assembled and asked ourselves, is this the final resting spot of the immigrant who left England in 1650 and with his sister Judith braved the Atlantic and settled in the New World founding our American family?

Below Susan White, center, in April 2016 with Holleman cousins at the possible grave of Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691) in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  This site, cleared for us by Billy Joe Holleman, is part of the original plantation of Christopher.

 And below three years later, the same Susan White, left, talking with Dr. Jim Holliman, Di Holliman (back to camera) and Tony Pryce, English friend and guide at the burial site of Thomas and Helena Hollyman, Christopher Hollyman’s parents, and one block from where Christopher was born in 1618 in Bedford, Bedfordshire.

 This picture, taken in May 2019, represents an odyssey of discovery taken full circle from the birthplace in England to grave site in Virginia of the ancestor who dared to come to America and founded our family in the New World.

Next blog, a lunch break at the historic Swan Hotel in Bedford.

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.

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

The Hollimans of England, Part 4

by Glenn N. Holliman

In previous articles, Lindsay Holliman of England has been tracing his branch of the Holliman family from the time of Thomas Holyman, d 1588.  Thomas was the common great grandfather of Lindsay and myself.  One of Thomas' children stayed in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, the ancestor of Lindsay. The story of his descendants continues including a 4th great half uncle whose story could have come from Charles Dickens.

November 2014 Glenn, left, and Lindsay Holliman, right, stand in front of the medieval market place in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, the home of a 14th Century Richard Holyman and another probable great grandfather!

Another son, Christopher, my 9th great grandfather, married into the Lee family and moved to Sherington, Buckinghamshire.  One of Christopher's sons, Thomas moved to Bedfordshire from which one of his sons, Christopher Holyman migrated to Isle of Wight, Virginia and started most of the American Holliman (various spellings) families.

In previous postings, Allen Holleman of North Carolina, has reported on his branch in the 19th Century.  It is interesting to compare how the lives and fortunes of Old World and New World Hollimans unfolded in the 19th Century. -GNH


The English Ancestors of Lindsay Holliman continued...by Lindsay Holliman

Prior to the 17th Century, early generations in my tree appear to have been both reasonably well off and educated. Later on, however, probably as a result of being younger children, my branch became more menial and less literate. As I have written in earlier articles, the short move from Cuddington, Buckinghamshire to Long Crendon took place in the latter part of the eighteenth century, possibly following the marriage of James Holyman (ca 1767 – 1853) to Elizabeth Cook who was from Long Crendon.  Both villages are approximately 40 miles west of London.

During the 19th century many of the local women were lace makers working from home to provide supplementary income whilst being available for the children. My great great grandmother, Zillah Sherriff, was a lace maker. She was the wife of John Holyman (1831-1907) who worked at Long Crendon Manor. 

The  picture is of a Long Crendon lacemaker working outside her house in the late 1890s. It also shows Long Crendon High Street - a view which would have not changed much over the 19th century, and would have been familiar to all members of my family in Long Crendon. Lace makers worked outdoors wherever possible because the light was much superior.

 James had a half-brother, Richard (1809-1854), my half 4th great uncle, who was imprisoned in 1837 for stealing potatoes. The following are extracts of letters from Thomas Hayton, vicar of Long Crendon from 1821 to 1887. They paint a pathetic picture. (Minor editing of the letter for clarity -GNH)

Crendon, 26 May 1837

Gentlemen:

The following case I submit for your consideration, not, I hope for your approval. It is abstractly the case of the wives of labourers committed to jail on suspicion of petty thefts, whether they – the wives on application for relief - should be uniformly ordered into the workhouse. 

Richard Holliman of this parish of Long Crendon is now confined in Aylesbury jail, waiting his trial for having some potatoes on his premises, supposed not to have been his own. He has a wife and three small children under 7 years of age: she, the wife, is a woman of good character, steady, industrious habits.  

The Board of Guardians at Thame relieved her out of the workhouse two weeks, but a fortnight ago ordered her into the House, agreeably with a standing rule in reference to persons so situate. This rule, I, as guardian, never could approve being carried out rigorously into effect, inasmuch as it frequently bore unnecessarily harsh upon a poor female. 

This woman alluded to has been undergoing the severest privations rather than fall in with an order, which I cannot but consider Unenglish and against the spirit of the Poor Law. 

Starvation, however, is before her, if she does not enter the Workhouse. Doing this she must necessarily give up her Cottage, have her little goods scattered among alien hands, or sold, her garden planted with cabbages and pillaged.  Should her husband be acquitted, they will be homeless, almost castaways. These are the obvious consequences of sending her into the workhouse.   

I will not pretend to work upon your feelings by describing to you how agonizingly reluctant she is to be compelled to enter the “Prison House” as she calls it, for no fault of hers, and a supposed on of her husband’s …, I am sure you will not sanctions that which I consider to be cruel in the extreme."

Below an English Victorian Work House

The Poor Law Commissioners did not accede to Thomas Hayton’s pleading and Richard was found guilty and sentenced to six months hard labour at the House of Correction, Aylesbury. The above illustrates the hardship under which the common man existed in times gone by. It is likely that Richard helped himself to the potatoes merely to provide food for his family. This is the same Richard who was looking after his father, James, in the 1851 census. -Lindsay Holliman

Next English posting...Lindsay's ancestors migrate to the city and begin to rise economically....

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 20,000 individuals, please write 
glennhistory@gmail.com.

I also have a collection of associated family manuscripts and research collected by the late Walt Holliman, Cecil Holliman and Rhodes Holliman.  Happy to send these materials by email and to insure their research is available.  The surnames: Alexander, Baldwin, Barham, Bass, Beall, Blakeney,  Baker, Bond, Bostick, Brewer, Bryan, Bryant, Bullock, Calvert, Carter, Champion, Chew,Cofer, Cole, Crafford, Crockett, Curtis, Dale, Daniel, Davidson, Davies, De Mallpas, Douglas, Duckett, Edwards, Edgerton, Emerson, Fitzhugh, Fowlehurst, Fox, Gains, Garrison, Gonson, Graves, Gray, Guyton, Guins, Hall, Hamby, Hawkins,Hendrix, Hill, Hogg, Holliman, Holt, Howard, Jackson, Jones, Judkins, Love, Lucas, Maget, Mansfield, Manwaring, McBee, McComas, McCurdy, McNewsome, Nicholson, Norsworthy, Noyall, O'dell, Oliver, Pearce, Peerce, Pettigrew, Petway, Pitman, Plow, Plyler, Porten, Prather, Petite, Ridgely, Riggan, Roberts, Smith, Spencer, Sprigg, Standley, Stanyard, Swan, Strother, Thompson, Thornton, Thrope, Trelawney, Turpin, Underhill, Underwood, Wallace, Walters, Weedon, Whitherspoon, Whitten,Williams,Wilmot,Wilson, Whitaker and Yerby.  These are mainly of Alabama families and their ancestors from the Carolinas and Virginia. Materials vary from one page to 200. - GNH at glennhistory@gmail.com.