Join the Hollyman Gathering in Virginia!

by Glenn N. Holliman

Above Allen Holleman of North Carolina, direct descendant of Christopher Hollyman, Jr. at the 1830 Holleman House in Isle of Wight, Virginia. 

THE CHRISTOPHER HOLLYMAN, SR.

 HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Executive Committee

Tina Peddie (California) Jeanette Holiman Stewart (Texas), Allen Holleman (North Carolina), Glenn N. Holliman (Pennsylvania), Lynn Holliman (Texas) Glenda Norris (Alabama), Sue Jones (Wyoming), Joseph Parker (Texas), Denise Goff (Virginia) and Sandra Torbert French (Florida)

CORDIALLY INVITE YOU

TO

The Inaugural Meeting of the Society

at

SMITHFIELD

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY

VIRGINIA

MARCH 31- APRIL 2, 2016

FOR

A ONCE IN A LIFETIME TOUR TO THE CHRISTOPHER HOLLYMAN'S PLANTATION CA 1682

AND

OTHER HISTORIC HOLLYMAN SITES

AND

TWO DAYS OF SEMINARS

and Round Table Discussions

ON

THE HOLLYMANS of ENGLAND

AND

SUBSEQUENT MIGRATIONS

THROUGH OUT THE USA

PLUS

SESSIONS ON HOW TO TRACE YOUR HOLLYMAN DNA, THE MASSIVE FAMILY TREE (at www.Ancestry.com), HOLLYMAN WEB SITES, THE JAMESTOWN SOCIETY AND THE NEW HOLLIMAN ARCHIVES FOR HOLLYMANS (ALL SPELLINGS) AND ASSOCIATED FAMILIES!

Our Isle of Wight Greeters are:

Billy Joe Holleman (owner of the Holleman House on the site of the original plantation!), Janet Wright Moore, Joe Barlow and Sarah Barlow Wright 

Below, Joe Barlow and Sarah Barlow Wright, 

direct descendants of Christopher Hollyman, Sr.

If you trace your ancestry to Christopher Hollyman, Sr. (1618-1691) you will not want to miss this national gathering of his descendants in the ancestral home of almost all North American Hollemans, Hollimans (and various spellings).

Our Registration Center and Gathering Place for Seminars and Dinners will be the Smithfield Inn, 112 Main Street, Smithfield, VA (757-357-1732).

As the Smithfield Inn is sold out for lodging, a special rate has been secured at the near-bye Hampton Inn.  Guests may book individual reservations under the name of Holliman Family Reunion.  One may call the hotel direct at 757-365-4760 or go to www.smithfieldsuitesva.hamptoninn.com.

·       Enter the dates ranging from March 31-April 2, 2016.

·       Click on Add Special Rate Code and enter the Group Code (HFR).

·       Click on Check Rooms and Rates.

Guests will be able to select their room type and proceed to make their own reservation using a credit card to guarantee their room.

The rates are as follows:

·       Standard King room at $109.00 plus tax.

The cut-off date is March 1, 2016 for this special rate.

The program begins with a Meet and Greet, Thursday, March 31, 5 pm - 6:30 pm, Smithfield Inn followed by order-from-the-menu dinner.  Sessions and field trips held and/or originated at the Smithfield Inn on Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2, 2016.  Please call your lodging choice directly BUT let us know if you plan to attend as space is limited. Location could be moved subject to enrollment. 

The Holleman House and Smithfield are located approximately 1 hour from Jamestown (by ferry across the James River) where Christopher and his sister, Judith Hollyman landed after their long and weary sailing from England, May 1650!  Williamsburg and Yorktown are near Jamestown, making it possible to treat yourself and family to a delightful spring vacation while learning more about your English and Virginia roots.

For information and a complete schedule of the program and times, email Allen Holleman, Program Reservations, at jallen.holleman2@gmail.com or call (919-210-6862).

Above, Allen Holleman in the historic section of Smithfield, Virginia

Agenda

for the Christopher Hollyman, Sr. History Society

March 31-April 2, 2016

March 31, 2016

5 pm – 6:30 pm registration, meet and greet, Smithfield Inn, Smithfield, VA

6:30 – 8:30  pm – Dinner, Welcome, Announcements, Group Photo and Review of the Agenda  (order from the menu)

Distribution of Materials: “The Hollymans from England to Virginia and Beyond”

April 1, 2016

9 am – Noon

"Getting to Know You" - Share your lineage with the group and what do you wish to learn?"

"Where to Find your Cousins - Facebook, the Yahoo Group, The Hollyman Family Tree, the Holliman Virtual Archive and the Jamestown Society”

As time permits - “England to Virginia” and "The Virginia Experience"

 Noon – Lunch on your own at one of Smithfield's many dining venues

1:30 pm – Visit to Isle of Wight Museum (across from the Smithfield Inn)

2:30 – Field Trip 1830 Holleman House at Christopher Hollyman 1682  Plantation including loop tour of Smithfield Hams and Ivy Hill Cemetery. Group photo at Holleman House! Optional extended 30 minute visit to possible site of Christopher Hollyman’s grave (Wear old clothes and shoes as old burial place in woods)

Below, Sarah Barlow Wright, Allen Holleman, Billy Joe Holleman, owner of the original 1682 Hollyman plantation and Joe Barlow, exchange questions October 2015 at the Holleman farm in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  Also, in the picture is a Holleman dog!

5 pm – Return to Smithfield and Dinner on your own

7:30 pm Business Meeting of Christopher Hollyman, Sr. Historical Society Executive Committee; open to all

April 2, 2016

9 am –  Noon

Break Out Sessions  on Topics that interest You! – Whether more information on DNA, Ancestry.com, your lineage or problems in tracing your family, Hollyman genealogists will be prepared to lead discussions on ancestors and issues.  Floating round table discussions available .

11 am – Sixth and closing Session – ‘Creating Structure for the Christopher Hollyman, Sr. History Society”

Noon – Close of Hollyman Seminar – Participants encouraged to visit Jamestown on their own, site of Christopher and Judith Hollymans 1650 arrival in the New World!

And don't miss Williamsburg, founded in the 1690s, a marvelous Colonial towne preserved and celebrated.

Today, the lands (see below) patented by Christopher Hollyman, Sr. in the 1680s grow cotton.  Three hundred and twenty-five years ago, the crops were a few acres of tobacco and many of corn.

PLEASE JOIN YOUR COUSINS IN OLD VIRGINIA NEXT SPRING!

Isaac Holliman - A Story of the Old South, Part II

by Glenn N. Holliman

A Holyman Family with Deep Roots in Virginia....

We continue the fascinating story of the family and descendants of Isaac and Ann Gray Holliman....

Below, left to right, Doris Knox, Tammy Hunt, Cyndi Barnett and Sandi Royal visit Holliman graves at Chapel Grove Cemetery, Windsor, Virginia.  All in this photograph, both living and those who have gone before, are descendants of Isaac Holliman, a former slave who had 12 children with Ann Gray, who by family tradition was a daughter of a slave owner. 

Isaac did have a son Robert W., probably born in or around 1851 by an earlier relationship with a woman named Matilda.  Tammy Hunt is descended from these first parents.


According to family records, the girls of Isaac and Anne were Anne Lou, Joanna, Luzerne, Monil J. and Rosanna.  The boys were Isaac T., James H., Jeremiah P., John H., Joseph, P., Joshua, and Nonnie J.  

Who was Isaac Holliman?  The 1880 census states an Isaac Holliman of Isle of Wight, Virginia was born in 1824 and had a wife named Ann.  Her birthday is in uncertain, born perhaps in 1832, 1845 or 1852.  

 

According to Sandi Royal, Isaac may or may not have been the offspring of his owner, whose name was Holliman.  DNA testing to this date has been inconclusive as to whether Isaac and his offspring are genetically related to the descendants of Christopher Holyman (d 1691).  However, there is not doubt that the two families are historically related by time, place and circumstance.

 

The name of the white Holliman family that held Isaac in bondage is not known with certainty although Mrs. Royal has an opinion based on careful reading of George Holleman's 1953 history of the family (reprinted by Tina Peddie and available for sale). 

 

Isaac did adopt the name Holliman, and after having fathered one child, at some point in his life 'jumped the broomstick' (married) a woman named Ann Gray, evidently during the Civil War.  Family tradition records Ann who died in 1930 as 'being the white grandmother' and tales abound of Ann being a slave owner's daughter.  The couple literally 'ran into the woods' to escape Ann's angry parents.

 

The document below, found by Hollyman historian Jeanette Holiman Stewart, was issued   October 8,1866 at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. The letter requests for Isaac Holliman, his wife, Ann, and son Robert transportation back to Nansemond County (an extinct county which bordered Isle of Wight County).  The three are identified as 'freed people' who, as were tens of thousands of former bonds people, displaced by the upheavals and destruction of slavery during the Civil War. 

Note Isaac's age is listed as 47 and Ann as 21 (which would make her born in 1845) and the stepson of Ann, Robert, is 15.  This Federal document suggests Isaac and Ann were only recently married, given her young age (if accurate) and the lack of children listed.
 

 

Next article more on this couple who defied the laws of their time to marry and found a family in post-Civil War Virginia.  And who was Ann Gray?
 

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