Connecting the Hollyman Lineages, Part 4

 by Glenn N. Holliman

A decade or so ago, I visited Worchstershire as parish records indicated that numerous Hollyman families lived as early as the 1500s in that region of England, along the Severn River.  This trade and migration route is the longest river in the U.K., some 220 miles that flows south to Somersetshire  and Bristol where more Hollymans were located (and remain so to this day).

Note that Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, the ancestor of most American Hollimans (and various spellings) left Bedford (center right on the map) in 1650 for Virginia.  His immediate ancestors were from the Aylesbury and High Wycombe area of Buckinghamshire.  Worcester is just southwest of Birmingham and Bristol further south, a port city along the Severn Wash leading to the North Atlantic.  

Distant cousins such as Mike Hollyman of Australia, a contemporary of mine, have roots in both the Bristol area, London and Buckinghamshire strongly suggesting ancestral kinship ties earlier than the 1500s.  

Descendants of Christopher Hollyman in America are from the lineage of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, born in Cuddington in 1495 near Aylesbury.  My Uncle John served as the second Roman Catholic bishop of Bristol from 1554 until his death in 1558.  Yes, his episcopate was during the reign of Mary Tudor better known as 'Bloody Mary' who encouraged the burning of Protestants at the stake. John allowed several burnings in Bristol, but felt so discomforted by the acts that he never attended these horrible executions.  In 2019 many of his descendants visited his tomb in Church Hanborough near Oxford and located his resting place in the sanctuary of the parish church where he had served during his priesthood. - GNH

In 2019, Kimberly Holliman found the resting place of her very Great Uncle John Holyman hidden in the wall or perhaps in the floor of St. Peter and St. Paul, a few miles from Woodstock.

In the following article, genealogist Anne Holmes explores the relationship between London Hollymans and Worcester Hollymans in the 1500s, furthering our knowledge of distant kinfolk. Please refer to her earlier articles for context.

Part Four by Anne Holmes

During his lifetime Richard HOLLYMAN is mentioned in the Wills of several of his PAKINGTON relatives and also in the 1563 Will of his old Master Humfrey BASKERVILLE. In this Will Humphrey BASKERVILLE also refers to Richards’ brother John HOLLYMAN. Richard HOLLYMAN was bequeathed two hundred pounds and his brother John HOLLYMAN fifty pounds. Humfrey BASKERVILLE also requested Richard HOLLYMAN had the bringing up of his daughters Anne and Martha. The sister of Humfrey BASKERVILLE, Agnes was married to a Humfrey HOLLYMAN of Blakeshall, Waverley in Worcestershire and this Humfrey is mentioned also in other contemporary BASKERVILLE and PAKINGTON Tudor Wills. 

Thus here, there is a strong suggestion here that Humfrey HOLLYMAN and brothers Richard and John HOLLYMAN were related, suggesting that Richard HOLLYMAN was probably born in Worcestershire. To try and further confirm this, I ordered several Tudor Wills from the Worcestershire Archives, namely that of Richard HOLYMAN of Stourbridge date 1541, Thomas HOLYMAN the Elder of Leigh date 1553, Elizabeth HOLYMAN of Leigh 1558 (Thomas widow) and Humfrey HOLYMAN of Blakeshall, Wolverley date 1575.

The results of these Wills were disappointing. Richard HOLYMAN who died in c1541 did not mention any children in his Will.

Above, Anne Holmes and Christopher Hollyman descendants at St. Mary's parish in Bedford, Bedfordshire in 2019, where Christopher was baptized in 1618.

Thomas and Elizabeth HOLYMAN did have a son Richard but not a son John. Richard HOLYMAN Mercer of London was known to have had a brother John in 1563 (Humfrey BASKERVILLE Will). Thomas’ son Thomas inherited his father’s lands in the Leigh, Worcestershire.

These HOLYMANS of Leigh are interesting though as the Lord of the Manor to the Leigh in 1575 was an Edmund COLLES. This was twenty years after Thomas HOLYMAN’s the elder’s death but contemporary with Thomas’ son Thomas. Edmund’s brother Michael was ‘of Bradwell in Buckinghamshire’. 

Another brother John COLLES had estates in Hatfield in Hertfordshire and a further brother William married Margaret PAKINGTON in 1564 so consequently became brother in law to Richard HOLLYMAN Mercer of London. William COLLES, like Richard was also a Merchant and he appears too in the London Port Books of 1567/8. - Anne Holmes

Next writing, Ms. Holmes provides a summary of her findings.