The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 14

by Glenn N. Holliman

11th Stop

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England

May 19, 2019 

The Hartwell House, What Could Have Been

The last ancestral stop on our weekend journey to our family's past was to drive a few miles further north from Dinton to a National Trust Hotel, that English organization that for several generations has been saving and preserving valuable historical properties.  One of their properties was a home of the Lee family thanks be to Thomas Lee, d 1626, a first cousin of my generation's 8th great grandfather, Thomas Hollyman of Sherington and Bedfordshire (abt 1581-abt 1650).

 
We arrived in time for afternoon tea with our own private room.  Pricey but this was the last stop as an extended family, so a celebration was had - an English High Tea!  This did hold us for the ride back to Moreton-in-Marsh.

This Thomas Lee was the brother of my generation's 9th great grandmother Margaret Lee Holliman, wife of Christopher Hollyman, d 1589 in Sherington.  Margaret's brother married well, one Eleanor Hampden, a sister of wealthy Sir Alexander Hampden. 

When Alexander died, his home, the Hartwell estate, passed through Eleanor into the Lee family.

And there it stayed for generations while future Lees served in the British government.

Below the 'modest' back lawn of the Hartwell House.

The marriage of Eleanor Hampden Lee to Thomas must have been a happy one.  Eleanor, one of our great aunts by marriage, bore 24, that's right, no typo, 24 children.  No doubt the family eventually welcomed a house the size of Hartwell!

The House is not anything if not ornate!  Below Mary Holliman Fenske poses on the stairs.  A U.S. president and French kings have climbed these steps during the life time of the home.  It was delight to explore this stately manor 'hotel'.

Below, Marcia Holliman presents 'the Hollyman Ancestry Quest' coach to Glenn N. Holliman, a much appreciated remembrance gift of our weekend ancestral journey.

One has to ask what the fate of Lee/Holliman descendants visiting Hartwell House in May 2019 might have been if Christopher Hollyman had married a Hampden rather than a Lee?  

Oh, what could have been, but then we might not be on this earth, certainly in our present DNA format.

And so after this historic site, we mounted our coach and headed back to our Cotswold Hotel

When We Were English, Part LVIII

by Glenn N. Holliman

More on the Lees and Holymans of Buckinghamshire...the Story Continues....

The research on the Lee and Holyman family connections has been gathered by professional genealogist Anne Holmes of Buckinghamshire, England.  Her sources include William Betham's 1805 work 'The Baronetage of England', George Lipscombe's 1847 volume 'The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham' and the peerage.com at http://www.thepeerage.com/ , the Ashmolean Museum web page on brass rubbings in churches in Buckinghamshire and 'The Victoria County History of Buckinghamshire on line at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ .  Anne Holmes also has a blog of Buckinghamshire history at www.bucksancestors.co.uk .

The person I believe to be my 9th great grandfather, Christopher Holyman (d 1588) married Margaret Lee of Moreton, Buckinghamshire sometime between 1572 and 1578.  A son of Thomas Holyman (d 1558) of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, Christopher could have been born anytime between 1538 and 1557.  Thus he died young possibly only in his 40s.

Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Lee who died in 1572.  Margaret's mother was Ursala Yates Lee.  This Thomas had a father named Francis Lee, whose father, John Lee, died in London in March 1503. John's father was one William Lee who died in October 9, 1486.  William's wife was named Anne.

The Lee's evidently originated  in High Legh and Lyme in Cheshire.  During the overthrow of King Richard II in the 1390s, the family supported the reigning Richard and later underwent 'persecution' for opposing the successful new king, Henry IV.  The family then settled in Moreton in the parish of Dinton, Buckinghamshire adjacent to Hartwell. 

One of the oldest monuments in the Dinton church is of William Lee, Esq. and Anne, his wife. For five generations the Lees resided at Moreton, where the ruins of the house surrounded by a moat are still visible.  Below, the church in Dinton where Lees worshipped and were buried prior to the early 1600s.  This pictured was made by Anne Holmes in May 2013.  Christopher Holyman (d 1588) and Margaret Lee may have married at this church.

Margaret Lee Holyman's brother, another Thomas Lee (d 1626) married an Eleanor Hampden (they had 24 children as described in a previous post). When Eleanor's brother died, the Lees acquired the manor house Hartwell and Thomas, the title of Knight. By the middle of the 1600s, the Lees had become barons.

Below the Hartwell House today is a National Trust hotel with a storied past.  For photos of the current house with beautiful interiors click on www.hartwell-house.com/the-hotel . Photo taken November 2012.

Below, the chapel at Hartwell House where Lees were entombed beginning in the early 1600s.

The monument below hangs in the parish cemetery at Cuddington, historic home of the Holyman families of America.  This 19th Century Lee is probably a distant cousin of the Holymans.  Eleanor and Thomas Lee of the late 1500s had so many children that Lee became a popular name in Buckinghamshire.  Some authorities speculate this is the origin of the Robert E. Lee family of Virginia but this has not been proven one way or another. Photos taken November 2012.

While the Lee family 'star' continued to rise in the 17th Century,  some Holyman descendants of the Lee line moved down the social and economic scale.  And that story will take us up to the momentous decision of another Christopher Holyman (1618-1691) to stake his fortune and future in Virginia in the year 1650.

Next posting on England examines of the children of Christopher and Margaret Lee Holyman....

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!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Write please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.

 Announcing also a "Seminar and Site" gathering October 18 and 19, 2013 in Fayette, Alabama for Hollimans and associated families whose ancestors are from that area. Space at the Rose House Inn is limited for the occasion due to a football weekend. For information, contact me at the above email. Hope to see some of you there. - GNH

When We Were English, Part LVII

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Family of Margaret Lee Holyman....

This post continues our exploration of the life and extended family of Christopher Holyman, d. 1588, of Sherington, Buckinghamshire, England.  Evidence indicates he is a son of John Holyman, d. 1558, of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire and that his grandfather was Christopher Clark of the same shire.  This appears to be the origin of the first name Christopher which still appears to this generation in the Holyman families (and various spellings) in the United States.

Thanks be to the research of professional genealogist Anne Holmes of Buckinghamshire, England, we have information on the wife of Christopher Holyman, d. 1588.  This person, whom I believe is a direct great grandmother of mine, was Margaret Lee of Moreton in the parish of Dinton, Buckinghamshire.

Margerate Lee must have come into the marriage with a sizeable dowry from her father, Thomas Lee.  Margaret must have come with such a benevolence as we find the couple in the 1580s living in Sherington, Buckinghamshire.  Research by genealogist Anne Holmes reveals the names of the children of Christopher and Margaret.  

The Lees were a family of landed gentry, who settled in the area sometime in the 15th Century.  Margaret's father was Thomas Lee who died in 1572.  In his will, he does not describe himself as either gentleman or knight.  However, his son, Thomas, Margaret's brother, who died in 1626 does describe himself as a knight in is Will, a person of high social status in Stuart England. 

This brother-in-law of Christopher Holyman married Eleanor Hampden, the sister of Sir Alexander Hampden.  After the death of Alexander Hampden in 1618, a major estate passed into the Lee family through Eleanor (his sister), that being the Hartwell House of Dinton.

Below in 2012, Anne Holmes and yours truly shared a pub meal in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and reviewed family history.  Upon rising from the table, we discovered the print behind us was ironically of the Lee family Hartwell House.  Photo by Barbara Holliman.

Anne Holmes speculates  Thomas Lee, d 1626, acquired his knighthood possibly through the Hartwell Estate.  "By the end of the 17th Century, the Lees had become Baronets.  In contrast, the Holyman family star in Buckinghamshire was at its brightest in the mid 16th Century when Thomas Holyman (d 1558) had the manor of Cuddington and his kinsman, The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, was Bishop of Bristol. 

In the mid 16th century, the Holyman and Lee families would probably have been seen as contemporary equals in social status hence the marriage of Christopher Holyman to Margaret Lee" write Mrs. Holmes.

Eleanor Lee (nee Hampden) would then be a sister-in-law to Christopher Holyman (d 1588). According to The Victoria County History of Buckinghamshire, Eleanor and Thomas had twenty-four children!  This great aunt died in 1633, one would imagine of exhaustion, and is buried in Dinton, Buckinghamshire.  The following plaque in the parish church records her 'achievement' and also her kindness to the poor. (Click on copy twice to enlarge.)

References for this article are found at  http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62771&;strquery=Lee  and William Betham's late 19th Century publication The Baronetage of England

Next Post, more on the fascinating Lee family of Buckinghamshire....



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!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Write  please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.

Announcing also a "Seminar and Site" gathering October 18 and 19, 2013 in Fayette, Alabama for Hollimans and associated families whose ancestors are from that area. Space at the Rose House Inn is limited for the occasion due to a football weekend. For information, contact me at the above email. Hope to see some of you there. - GNH



  

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 








When we were English LVI

by Glenn N. Holliman 

Christopher Holyman makes his way in Elizabethan England...

 Sometime in the late 1560s or 1570s, the persons, of which cumulative evidence indicates are my 9th great grandparents, married.  They were Christopher Holyman, a son of Thomas Holyman (d 1558) who died in 1588 in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England and Margaret Lee, daughter of Thomas Lee of Dinton, Buckinghamshire.  The Lees were substantial landowners and persons of prominence in Buckinghamshire.  We shall explore this important maternal line in the next post.

According to professional genealogist, Anne Holmes of England, during the mid to late 16th Century the Holymans of Cuddington achieved their highest level of social and economic prominence.  In that era, Elizabeth I securely held the throne, her Sea Dogs such as Francis Drake raided Spanish treasure ships, and the realm settled on a religious compromise between Roman Catholicism and rising Puritanism.  That middle way is known as the Church of England, the Anglican Church if you will.  In the United States, this form of Protestantism is known today as the Episcopal Church.

When Christopher and Judith Holyman (whom I contend were grandchildren of this first Christopher Holyman) arrived in Virginia in 1650, they were Church of England, no longer Roman Catholics as had been their grandfather at his birth. Nor were they non-conformists as was their distant cousin, Ezekiel Holliman, a founder of the American Baptist Church in the Rhode Island plantations. 

 

English soldiers mustered to repel the expected Spanish invasion in 1588,  As an officer of the Queen's Guard, Christopher Holyman, d 1588, may have rallied with his men.

Thomas Holyman (d 1558) had numerous children and, as we noted in previous posts, according to the laws and customs of the time, the first born son, Richard, inherited the bulk of the estate.  Our Christopher, who may have been a minor when his father died, received only some income from the harvest from one of the numerous lands of Richard. 

Thus, Christopher and his brothers who inherited little had to make their own way in the world, generally through the church or the military, or one could step down the social ladder and become a tradesman.  Alas, one of Christopher and Margaret's sons, one Thomas Holyman (d ca 1650) of Bedfordshire,  inherited very little and became a member of the merchant class in the early 1600s, a story to be explored later. 

Margaret Lee probably bought a substantial dowry into the marriage with Christopher and that no doubt eased his way in life.  We know from several sources he was a prominent person in Sherington, Buckinghamshire, the location where he lived comfortably with his wife and growing numbers of children in the 1580s.

Seeking a career, landless Christopher joined the Army. When and where we do not know, but the year he died in 1588, he was a member of the prestigious Queen's Guard, a company of soldiers who served at the Queen's pleasure.  To give us some idea of the status of this elite group, in the 1590s, a few years after Christopher's death, the famous Sir Walter Raleigh, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, commanded the Guard.  Raleigh, North Carolina takes its name from this entrepreneur, adventurer and later writer, who attempted to found the doomed Roanoke Colony in the 1580s.
 

Above Elizabeth I, the Armada Portrait celebrating the victory of 1588.
 

The Queen's Guard survives to this day, well known to American tourists who have witnessed the Changing of the Guard in their bright red uniforms and tall bear furred head gear every day at 11 a.m. at Buckingham Palace, London.

 Was Christopher called out during the feared invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588?  Was he in the field at Kent when Elizabeth marshaled the country's land forces in readiness?  Did our 9th great grandfather hear his Queen forcefully proclaim that she had the feeble body of a woman but the heart of a king (such as her father Henry VIII)?
 

The English fire ships wrought havoc to the Spanish fleet as captured in this painting of the time.

 

Fortunately this gathering of English soldiers was never tested.  At Gravesends, the courageous Sir Francis Drake maneuvered his smaller ships close to the hulking Spanish galleons. He sent fire ships to panic the anchored enemy fleet. Many of the larger, less agile Spanish titans, caught fire and burned.   The panicked Iberian fleet scattered only to be battered by fierce storms that decimated the remainder of the shattered Spanish fleet. King Phillip II of Spain, once Elizabeth's brother-in-law, prayed aloud asking how he, a Catholic king, could have so displeased God?!

The invasion threat receded, the English soldiers returned home, but did our Christopher leave with the germ of a common killer of soldiers, a camp fever?  He died in December 1588, not an old man.
 

Above the parish cemetery in Sherington, England. Photo taken 2011.

 

Is Chris buried in the grave yard in Cuddington, his ancestral home, or in Sherington where he and his wife, Margaret Lee, raised their family of children, one being a young Thomas at the time of his father's death?  We do not know.

 Next Post, Christopher Holyman marries well into prosperous Lee family, wealthy and growing more so!

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!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let family's genealogical work or photographs languish unread and deteriorating in an attic. Write us please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.

Announcing also a "Seminar and Site" gathering October 18 and 19, 2013 in Fayette, Alabama for Hollimans and associated families whose ancestors are from that area.  Space at the Rose House Inn is limited for the occasion due to a football weekend. For information, contact me at the above email.  Hope to see some of you there. - GNH