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