Maxine Wright, Holliman Genealogist

by Glenn N. Holliman

Maxine Wright, 1926-2017, a friend and fellow genealogist of the Holliman families, passed away last month. Thanks to the late Rhodes B. Holliman, I met Maxine over the internet in 2010.  Within a few months she was kindly sharing pictures and information on her family tree, which like mine emerged from west Alabama in the early 19th century.  As with many of you reading this posting, she descends from immigrant Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, first of Bedford, Bedfordshire and later from Isle of Wight, Virginia.

Her 17th, 18th and 19th great grandparents were the same as mine, immigrating from Virginia to North Carolina and by 1836 to Fayette County, Alabama near the Mississippi line.  Her ancestors later moved into west Tennessee and she to Arkansas, while mine stayed in Alabama.


Until her health failed, she wrote me often, both by email and surface. Photographs, old letters and records cascaded into my mail box (which I returned to her after scanning).  She was one of several who had questions about family trees on the internet that seemed to have errors on our common 18th century paternal ancestors.  She forwarded records from North Carolina for me to review.  With these clues and others from Joe Parker, Ron Holliman and Jeanette Holiman Stewart, we were able to rewrite our common lineage.

It goes as follows - Christopher Hollyman, d 1691 to Richard, d 1711, to Samuel, d 1787, to James Grantson, d 1836 and then to the three brothers - Warren, Charles and Cornelius who immigrated from the North Carolina/South Carolina border to Alabama the year their father died in 1836.  She descends from Charles Holliman.

Maxine's full family tree can be found in the Hollyman Ancestry.com tree and her work saved at www.bholliman.com, a virtual archive for a growing number of Holliman (various spellings) and associated families.  Go to the Records page, find the search box and enter Maxine Wright and her work will be made available.  We are grateful to her for her work, her sharing and her kindness. Below is the obituary as released on this good lady by the funeral home in Arkansas last month.