William Ralph Holliman, 1924-2017, a 6th Great Grandson of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691

by Glenn N. Holliman

A Member of the Greatest Generation Leaves Us....

Ralph with his grand daughter, Rachel, ca 1990 

After a short, sudden illness, Ralph Holliman, the youngest son of Ulyss (1884-1965) and Pearl Caine Holliman (1888-1955) passed away February 20th in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  He was surrounded by his wife, Laura, two daughters - Pam and Kathy - and granddaughter Rachel.  Ralph died at age 92 blessed with decades of retirement and numerous decades of management achievement with a national corporation.  H. Bishop Holliman (1919) age 97, my father is the remaining survivor of a family of seven children.


Ralph was born in Irondale, Alabama, a working person's suburb of the rapidly growing city of Birmingham, a then young metropolis that produced steel for the nation.  In 1917, his father, Ulyss, had moved his growing family of eventually seven children from rural Fayette County, Alabama and found lifetime work as a carpenter repairing street cars.  

Right, Ralph in 1925 in the arms of his Mother at 2300 3rd Avenue North, Irondale, Alabama. The child on the porch is Bishop Holliman, b 1919.

Left, Motie Chism and Ralph in 1943.

Ralph grew up during the Great Depression and married his high school sweet heart Motie Chism, a union that lasted sixty years until her death in 2003. She was 17 and Ralph 18, a war time marriage as he was off to the U.S. Army a few weeks after their brief honeymoon in February 1943.  With the exception of a brief visit to one of his army training stations, she would not see him again until the summer of 1945 after her husband served as a clerk in the Army Air Corp in England and France.


Using the G.I. Bill, Ralph enrolled in Birmingham-Southern College in 1945 but with the arrival of the first child in 1947, he found full time work in the office of American Bakeries. After many transfers and promotions, he retired in the early 1990s from the same company as a national vice president located in Chicago. 

A direct descendant from Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691), the English immigrant who migrated to Virginia in 1650, Ralph's long life encompassed a considerable portion of the American experience.  

In 1968, Motie and Ralph celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.  

One of the most intriguing aspects of genealogy is observing the tapestry of American history in one's ancestors. 

It was in my uncle's generation and those of my grandparent's that emerging technologies and engineering transformed the way Americans lived. Ralph's parents began their marriage in 1906 as farmers living and working much as countless generations before them had so done.  It was during their time and Ralph's that the American economy and standard of living vastly improved.  

A quiet and private man, but with a wry sense of humor, in 1998 he wrote nine pages of memories.   Below is a portion of this manuscript.  My uncle's own words capture an America about to move into a world of conveniences and technologies we now take for granted.

"I Remember - Every Monday morning Mama would wash clothes on the back porch.  We had a big black washing pot in the back yard over a fire that boiled all of the clothes.  Mama had a wash board that she used to scrub the clothes.  I can still see her working over the wash tubs with sweat covering her face.  When the clothes were ready to hand out to dry they were usually hung on the fence or bushes.  Mam finally got a clothes wringer that helped a great deal.

- We did not have inside bathroom plumbing until I was 7 or 8 years old.  The out house was located about 100 feet up our back yard.  The day that we got an inside bathroom was a great day.  Daddy built the bathroom using part of a bedroom.

Ulyss Holiman with the family dog in the early 1920s in a bountiful garden.

- We had chickens, a cow and a garden.  Old Charlie would come and plow the field for Daddy and we grew corn mostly in the larger field and vegetables in a smaller garden.  Mama would catch a chicken and wring its neck and cook it for dinner.  I could never bring myself to wring a chicken's neck.  The cow every now and then would eat bitter weeds and the milk would then taste bad.  Mama always did the milking.

- Churning the milk and making fresh butter and buttermilk.

- That we did not have sliced bread in the house until I was 10 or 12 years old. Mama and Daddy made biscuits every morning for breakfast and corn bread for the other meals.  We always had steak and white gravy and biscuits for Sunday breakfast.

 - We had an ice box and the ice man would come around almost every day.  Ice cost 10 to 25 cents.

- I could not wear long pants for the first 10 years or so.  I had to wear knickers. Why I do not know.

 - Mama crocheting and sewing at night while listening to the radio..  We had Zenith radio.  Some of the popular radio programs were Lum and Abner, Amos and Andy, etc.

 - ...Marie, a black woman, could come to the house and work in the kitchen.  I remember one time when I was probably 15 that I told Marie that I had to go shave and she laughed.

 - Aunt Vista standing in front of the fire place smoking a cigarette and on top that she was divorced.  How could anyone be that bad I thought. 

Left, in 1985 Bishop and Ralph Holliman with their Aunt Vista Gumpp, 1898-1986.

- One day while Mama and Daddy were away, my brother and sister - Bishop and Virginia - decided we needed a telephone.  We called the telephone company and had them come and install one. Luckily Mama and Daddy did not have it taken out,

- That Daddy did not spend a lot of time with us children.  Now I realize that he worked six days a week leaving home probably around 5:30 am and turning from work around dark. He walked to town, caught the bus and then changed to a street car in Woodlawn.  He was tired.

- That in the middle of March 1943, I was drafted into the Army and went to Ft. McPherson in Atlanta.  This nearly 19 year old boy was gone from home for the first time and not knowing what was in store for him, cried all night."

Right - April 1944 in Bournemouth, England with the U.S. Army Air Corp and an unidentified buddy.

In 2007, after four years a widower, Ralph married Laura Mills and found a new happiness in the last decade of his life.  There was golf, gardening, travel and family.

 Ralph and Laura on his 90th birthday

Below in Wales in the early 2000s with Kathy, Pam and Rachel

Uncle Ralph, a constant in my life for my seventy years, has passed away from us, but his influence will continue for generations.  He leaves two very talented and scholarly daughters and a grand daughter who edits books.  

As Kathy wrote in his obituary, "He was a strong and steady presence in their lives, a man who knew his own mind but continued to be open to change."  Well could these words apply to the incredible generation that his life encompassed. - GNH

The full document of Ralph Holliman's memories can be found under his name at www.bholliman.com, a virtual archives for the extended family.  Go to the Resource Page and enter his name in the Search Box.  One will find over 1,750 manuscripts on Holliman and associated families.

Blakeney Families of West Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Poetry from a Blakeney, an Associated Family of the Alabama Hollimans

The Blakeneys who immigrated from South Carolina to Alabama have a storied history.  Originally of patrician blood from Ireland (far right, one direct ancestor lies buried in Westminister Abby in London) and revolutionaries in the American War of Independence, a branch of this family lived for generations as neighbors of the Hollimans in Alabama. Both families arrived as pioneers in west Alabama in 1830s and intermarried over time.

Two important Holliman genealogists, father and son, Cecil R. Holliman (1902-1986) and Rhodes B. Holliman (1928-2014) researched in great detail both their Holliman and Blakeney lines. Belzy Ann Blakeney Baker (1859-1960) was a grandmother of Cecil Holliman, a prodigious researcher of all his family lines.   

Below, five generations of Hollimans gathered in Fayette County, Alabama in 1956.  The baby, C. James Holliman, b 1953, is now a physician and author of numerous books on emergency trauma treatment. He practices at Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania and lectures literally all over the world on his specialty.

As I have written before, the family of Rhodes Holliman have loaned me the manuscripts of a voluminous research which I have been scanning and uploading to a virtual archives at www.bholliman.com .  There, among 1,500 items, one will find over eighty manuscripts on the Blakeneys and their histories, often compelling and fascinating. 

Some of the material archived has come from James Reed Blakeney originally of Pickens County, Alabama who now makes his home in Georgia.  Reed is a writer and a darn good one.  Several years ago in this space, I reviewed his compelling novel "Sipsey'' named after the river that flows through west Alabama and by the original frontier farms of the Blakeneys and Hollimans. 

Borrowing from real life, Reed wrote of a great, great grandfather, an owner of African-American slaves, and who as a widower fell in love with one of his female servants. Two children were born of that relationship during the time of the Civil War.  In the 21st century, Blakeneys of both races have attended joint family reunions in Fayette County, a testimony to the complexity and richness of the American experience.

Reed has recently published another book entitled "Cotton Fields, Poems from the Fields", a work of both lyrics and memories of growing up in Alabama in the 1930s and 40s.  Reed literally is of the last generation that 'chopped cotton' before the motorized cotton baler arrived to revolutionize Southern farming and life.  Part biography, part poetry and part a history of social change as a family leaves an Alabama farm, I found this work fascinating. 

For example, Reed writes in the introduction of a time before electricity arrived in the rural South - 

"We read and wrote by kerosene lamp light.  Our primary contact with the state of world affairs was a battery powered radio and two periodicals - the Saturday evening Post and the Progressive Farmer.  The battery powered radio was reserved for the Saturday night renderings of The Grand Old Opry out of Nashville, Tennessee and evangelistic sermons from far away places like Del Rio, Texas.

Oh yes - I do remember the cotton fields...the plowing, the hoeing, the picking...all done with mule power and hand power and the ever-present knowledge that economic survival depended on that one crop."

One of his poems, a salute to his hard-working father, ends with these words,

'That life was hard - but in a way

Better than mine is today

At dusk - he heard the Whippoorwills'

Thanks to my second cousins, Dr. Jim Holliman and Glenda Norris,  I have become an archivist for the Blakeneys. Again the archives, free to all, is located at www.bholliman.com. 

Additional manuscripts from Hollimans, Blakeneys and all other allied families welcome.

And it has been a delight to know Reed and to read his works. If you read 'Cotton Fields" you too may listen for the Whippoorwills this spring. - GNH at glennhistory@gmail.com

"Cotton Fields", "Sipsey" and a fictional account of a crime in Georgia entitled "A Mulberry Summer" can be ordered directly from Blakeney Associates, P.O. Box 846, Social Circle, GA 30025.  "Sipsey" is $20.  A Mulberry Summer is $15, as is "Cotton Fields' - plus $3 shipping.

Some Descendants of Charles Holliman (1795-1842 ) of Fayette County, Alabama, Part 2

In our previous post, Juanita Hendrix Holliman and her Amy Holliman Armstrong provided information and photographs on their Alabama lineage.  This article reflects further on the heritage of her husband, James, and shares more photographs of a family and the times in which they lived. - Glenn N. Holliman, born Birmingham, Alabama


Additional Pictures and Reflections of a West Alabama Holliman and Allied Families
by Juanita Hendrix Holliman


Right, Amy, Juanita and James Holliman in 1985, Marion County, Alabama

A lot of folks left the rural areas of Alabama after World War II, my immediate ancestors included.  By the 1940s many moved to north and the midwest seeking higher paying factory jobs.  Some of these men were veterans who had had traveled to various places on their tours and were unwilling to return to the hard life on small cotton farms which by that time were phasing out anyway.

Of course, many stayed home.  My own father returned from overseas and farmed part time working in a saw mill, and later logging.  Eventually he gave up farming to no one's sorrow!  You have probably read the book 'Now Let Us Praise Famous Men', which describes living conditions of several families in rural Alabama in the 1930s.  There was a sequel of sorts written later describing the descendants of these same families - 'And Their Children After Them'. Both are very interesting in their depictions of their lives and the cotton culture of the South.

James had an older brother, William Garlon Holliman (1927-2013), who did remain in Marion County. He worked in a cotton mill in Winfield for many years, and later drove the book mobile for 20 or more years for the Northwest Regional Library for Marion and two or three other counties. he retired 15 or so years before his death in 2013.  His first wife of many years, Frances Roberts was the daughter of Eula Wheeler and Dewey Roberts. They had one child, Doris Holliman Dannelley who lives in Theodore, Alabama.  For many years, Frances was a dietitian at the local hospital.

  Below, a school photograph of Garlon Holliman in the 1930s and with his first wife Frances Roberts ca 1947.

 Garlon Holliman in 2011

After Frances' death in the mid 1980s, Garlon married Adelle Voce Cantrell, a widow from the Hackleburg area of Marion County.  They were married for about 18 years until her death.  Garlon died December 19, 2013 at Winfield.  Adelle taught school for many years, marrying Garlon after she retired. 

 Below, left to right- William Garlon Holliman, Loudell Holliman Morris, Lela Warren Holliman (Arthur's 2nd wife), William Arthur Holliman, Mildred Holliman Johnson (back), Louise Hollman Baccus,  and James Arthur Holliman on the occasion of William Arthur and Lela's 50th wedding anniversary with their children present at Winfield, Alabama.  The anniversary was in 1980.

Above John and Evelyn (Evie) Abernathy Holliman ca 1930.  The twins on the table are Lois and Lloyd.  John is a brother of William Arthur Holliman and son of Frances Marion Holliman. The picture was probably made in Fayette County, Alabama, their home. John farmed for a living. The other children pictured are Dewey, Oveat, Ector and James, who died as a baby. 

A brother of John was Sydney Holliman, another son of Francis Marion Holliman. Francis married Maud Morris in 1913 and lived in Winfield, Alabama.  Both worked in the Winfield Cotton Mill for many years. They had three sons: Roy, Troy and Edward (called Ed), all now deceased.

Below, Oscar and Ella Holliman Smith, husband and wife.  Ella is a sibling of John and William Arthur Holliman and daughter of Frances Marion Holliman. The couple lived at Winfield and farmed for a living. Their children were Mary Ellen, Ira, Lester, Jennie Lee, Pauline and Flora, all deceased now except Pauline.

Above, Loudell Holliman Morris as a young woman, 1940's.  She is a daughter of William Arthur and Zolena McKay Holliman.  Born in Alabama, she raised three children in Greentown, Indiana. She married James Elbert Morris of Fayette County, Alabama who for many years worked at Continental Steel in Kokomo. Loudell worked at another plant in the area, but mostly stayed home to raise the family. They had three children: James (Jimmy), Linda and Wayne. Loudell, Elbert and Jimmy are now deceased.

Left, Louise Holliman Baccus and her husband, Brady. They lived in Winfield, Alabama where Brady was a county commissioner for about 20 years.  Before that he was an employee of Marion County, and Louise work at one of the sewing plants for several years.  Brady's family was from Fayette County.  They had no children and both are now deceased.  Like her brother, Garlon, Louise was also a daughter of William Arthur and Zolena McKay Holliman.

Below, Mildred Holliman Johnson and husband Harold Johnson, the picture made at Saraland Alabama, 1980's ca. She is another daughter of William Arthur and Lela Holliman. 

Mildred and Harold lived in Marion County for a few years after their marriage, moved briefly to Columbus, Mississippi and then settled in south Alabama near Mobile. Harold died in January 2016. Mildred survives, still living in Saraland, as does one of their daughters, Brenda Johnson Snodgrass. Their other daughter, Barbara Sizemore, lives in Monroe County, Alabama.

Harold held many jobs - a barber early in his life, then a building contractor and finally he opened a saw sharpening shop.  He was a very intelligent, self-taught person with many abilities. In fact, he built the house in which James and I live in now.  Harold's parents, Alan and Susie Benton Johnson Williamson were from Fayette County. Harold lived in both Fayette and Marion Counties as a young person. 

If you would like to have your family's lineage shared with the extended Hollyman/Holliman/Holleman (and various spellings) families, please write me at glennhistory@gmail.com.  There are other resources available for your family research:

Want to know more about your Hollyman and associated families?  Check out the growing virtual archive at www.bholliman.com/ .  This storage unit now has over 700 manuscripts and grows monthly. 

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!).

Some Descendants of Charles Holliman of Fayette County, Alabama, Part 1

I am grateful to Juanita Holliman and her daughter Amy Holliman Armstrong for this comprehensive sharing of their lineage, descendants of Alabama pioneer Charles Holliman and brother of my GGG grandfather, Cornelius Holliman (1792 -1862).  - Glenn N. Holliman

A West Alabama Holliman Lineage including the Families of Walters, Blakeney, Henderson, Warren and Hendrix

by Amy Holliman Armstrong and Juanita Holliman

      

Three sons of James Granston Holliman (1750-1836), Cornelius, Charles, and Warren, in 1836 brought their families to Fayette County, Alabama from Anson County, North Carolina (later Union County, North Carolina).  After this arduous trip on foot and by wagon, they settled in the Newtonville area. The brothers had spent the previous winter in that area, went home in the spring, and returned with their wives and large numbers of children.

Of these three families, two remained in Fayette County.  Warren Holliman (1801-1876) left about 1840 and led a wagon train of settlers to Arkansas.

Cornelius’ wife, Elizabeth Plyer, died after the family arrived at Newtonville. He later married Elizabeth Lucas Rainwater and the family moved to the Bluff area of Fayette County.

Charles (1795-1842) and his wife, Barbary (Barbara) Walters (1797-1880) remained at Newtonville and raised their children there.  They were the parents of Peter, Asa, Joshua, John, Milly E., Suzanna, James, Jessie, Warren C., Cornelius, Elijah and Aaron.  All except Aaron were born before the family arrived in Fayette County.  Barbary in 1870 lived with her daughter Suzanna.  Charles and Barbary’s burial place is unknown.

Left, a photograph of Warren C. Holliman (1833-1908), the eighth child of Charles and Barbary, was born in North Carolina.

Warren married Mary Blakeney (1835-1896), the daughter of Thomas Blakeney (1800-1892) and Sarah Roberts Blakeney (1807-1861).  Thomas and his family migrated from South Carolina in the early 1830’s and settled at Newtonville.  Sarah is buried at First Shepherd Church Cemetery, established in 1834, at Newtonville.  Thomas is buried at Chapel Hill Baptist Church Cemetery, also at Newtonville.   

                                               Thomas Blakeney, picture on right.

Mary Blakeney was a granddaughter of a Revolutionary War veteran, Captain John Blakeney (1732-1832).  John Blakeney, a native of Ireland, arrived in America about 1750.  He served with Francis Marion during the Revolutionary War.

 Warren and Mary Blakeney Holliman were the parents of John, James W., Francis Marion (1861-1939), Sidney Warren, Moses Jefferson, Sarah, Barbara Elizabeth, and Suzan Kizziah (called Kizzie).

Warren C. Holliman served in Company B of the 41^st Alabama Infantry CSA.  He was wounded in 1864 and discharged at Petersburg, Virginia.  His brothers, Cornelius and Elijah, also served in the 41^st.  Aaron Holliman, Warren’s youngest brother, served in the 1^st Alabama Cavalry, a Union regiment.  (This is one of numerous Southern families whose families were divided by the war. - GNH)

 After Mary’s death in 1896, Warren married Luzia Howard (1848-1901).  Warren died in 1908, and he and his two wives are buried at Chapel Hill Baptist Church Cemetery at Newtonville.

Below right, Francis Marion and Nancy Henderson Holliman with children William Arthur and Ella.

 Francis Marion Holliman (1861-1939), Warren and Mary’s son, married Nancy Jennie Henderson (1860-1913), the daughter of Hugh and Nancy Henderson.  About 1902, Francis Marion and Nancy moved away from Newtonville, first to Eldridge in Walker County, then to Winfield in Marion County.  They were the parents of four surviving children: Sidney Warren (1886-1980), John A. (1889-1970), Ella (1892-1983),  and William Arthur (1899-1983). Ella married Oscar Smith.

 William Arthur Holliman  married Zolena McKay (1903-1930), the daughter of Archibald McKay.  They had three children.  After Zolena’s early death, William Arthur married Lela Warren (1908-1996), the daughter of John Franklin Warren and Emeline Smith Warren.  Lela and William Arthur had two children, the last a son, James Arthur, who married Juanita Hendrix, the daughter of Roy Lee Hendrix and Mary Katherine Wagnon Hendrix.

The 4 surviving children of Francis Marion Holliman and Nancy Henderson Holliman at a Winfield, Alabama reunion in the 1960s -  from left:  Sydney (1886-1980), William Arthur (1899-1983), Ella Holliman Smith (1892-1983), and John Holliman (1889-1970).

James and Juanita have one child, a daughter, Amy Holliman Armstrong.  William Arthur and Lila Holliman are buried at Winfield City Cemetery in Winfield, Marion County, Alabama. 

Right, William Arthur and Lila Warren Holliman on their 50th anniversary in 1980.

Amy Holliman married Brandon Wayne Armstrong, and they are the parents of a son, Aiden James Armstrong. 

The above is a partially revised version of an article originally printed in The Heritage of Fayette County, Alabama, publishers Heritage Publishing Consultants, Inc., 1999.  Sources are family knowledge, tombstones, census records for Fayette County, Alabama; various marriage records; Roster of South Carolina Patriots of the American Revolution compiled by Bobby Gilmer Moss; application for pension made by Warren Holliman; The History of Newtonville and Its Pioneer Citizens by Buren Sullivan; The First Alabama Cavalry, USA, 1862-1865, by William Stanley Hoole; Forty First Alabama Reg’t Infantry Confederate States of America, by George B. Wright; letter from G.R. Holliman dated 1977. Additional edits by Glenn N. Holliman.  Photographic credits are Mrs. Lela Warren Holliman collection, Rhodes B. Holliman and Juanita Holliman.

Appendix

Juanita Hendrix Holliman adds:

John Holliman (1889-1970) married Evelyn (Evie) Abernathy (his first cousin) and lived in south Fayette County until their deaths.  A son, Lloyd Holliman, lived near Birmingham, as recently as 4-5 years ago. Another son lived in the north, not sure where.  The only daughter, Lois, lived in Mississippi and died there, I think.  Dewey Holliman, another son, lived near John in Fayette County.

Sydney Holliman (1886-1980) resided in Marion County, Alabama and had 3 sons.  Ed Holliman continued to live in the Guin/Winfield area, Troy Holliman lived for many years in Tuscumbia, and Roy Holliman lived for many years in Tennessee, but returned to Winfield, Alabama, some years before he died.

Ella Holliman (1892-1983) married Oscar Smith and lived in the Winfield, Alabama area. Some of their children went north.  Pauline and her husband live in Ohio.  Genny Lee and her husband lived at Guin, Alabama.  Flora and her husband, Donald Miles lived for many years in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, then returned to Guin, Alabama.  Ira Smith lived in Ft. Wayne many years then returned to Winfield. Not sure about the other children, but don't think they lived in Birmingham area.

William Arthur Holliman (1899-1983) had 3 surviving children by Zolena McKay, his first wife.  William Garlon Holliman married (1st) Frances Roberts, and (2nd) Adelle Cantrell Voce. He lived with both wives at Winfield.  Loudell Holliman married James Elbert Morris of Fayette County, and they moved to Greenville, Indiana in the 1950's, raised their children there and remained there the rest of their lives.  Louise Holliman married Brady Baccus of Winfield and they lived in Winfield the rest of their lives.

William Arthur had 2 surviving children by his 2nd wife, Lela Warren.  Mildred Holliman married Harold Johnson of Fayette County and they lived for a while at Winfield, moved to Mississippi briefly, finally moved to Saraland (near Mobile), Alabama.  Mildred and one daughter are still at Saraland. Another daughter (of Mildred and Harold) lives near Monroeville, Alabama.   

James Arthur Holliman (1944) (always James, never Jim!) is my husband and we live on his parents' homeplace (which we own), though in a different house which James had built  in 1977.  The old house (in fair condition) is still standing next door to us.  James worked for about 46 years at Continental Conveyor & Equipment Company in Winfield, in 2 or 3 different jobs, but for many of those years as a receiving clerk.  He retired in 2011. About 2 years before James retired, Continental changed owners and became Joy Global.   We cattle farm in a small way.  James has raised cattle since he was in his early 20's.  We presently have about 20 cows, a bull, 11 calves, 8 donkeys, in addition  to 2 dogs (heelers) and an uncertain number of cats.  

I am from Fayette County (which adjoins Marion County).  I've worked in several offices since going to work in 1970, while still in vocational school.  Mostly I've worked for construction companies and for a period worked for an architectural firm. My first job was at Continental Conveyor, where I met James.   Presently, I work at Rebasco Decorators, a retail store in Fayette, Alabama, which sells carpet, paint, blinds, fabric (finish construction products).  My employer's main business is as a painting/flooring contractor, and I do paperwork work required for the contracting business (payroll, billing,  etc.) as well as store work. 

James and I have a daughter, Amy, who married Brandon Armstrong of Winston County, Alabama, and they now live in Winston County.  She graduated in 2003 from University of North Alabama at Florence, Alabama, with a degree in Family and Consumer Science. She is employed by Northwest Alabama Mental Health, and works as a social worker, dealing with intellectually challenged adults.  They have a son, Aiden James Armstrong, born 2009, who is in 2nd grade.

William Arthur Holliman was a farmer for many years, and he also did carpenter work.  For a few years he worked at a pants manufacturing  plant in Winfield.  He was born at Newtonville in south Fayette County, and moved during his early childhood to Eldridge, a community in Walker County, near Winfield, and for a brief period, his family lived in Arkansas.  They returned to the Winfield area and in 1919 he married Zolena McKay.  He and Zolena and two of their children were living on a rented farm near Winfield in 1924 when a farm became available for sale (the property James and I now own).  He purchased the farm and he and Zolena lived there until her death in 1930.  

Later in 1930, he married Lela Warren.  He lived there until his death in 1983. Lela continued to live on the home place until she entered a nursing home a few months before her death in 1996.   Lela and Arthur did leave their farm for 2 years during the 1930's. They moved to Brilliant and truck farmed, selling their produce to the miners who worked in the coal mines at Brilliant, in an effort to earn money to pay for their place (this was the Depression and money was scarce).  In the late 1940's a small church, The First Assembly of God, was established in our community.  Lela and Arthur were early members of the church. The church building was built by a number of neighborhood men, including Arthur, who did much of the carpenter work.  The church remains active today, though it has been re-named.

Francis Marion Holliman (1861-1939), Arthur's father, worked at farming, though I'm uncertain if he actually owned his own property.  Later in his life, after his wife's death lived with his children, different ones at different times.  He spent a good bit of time with Arthur's family. In fact, he died at Arthur's home.  His tombstone, put up long after his death, indicates a death date of 1939. However, he was counted in the 1940 census, so probably he died in either 1940 or 1941.  Unfortunately, James did not know him, as he (James) was born in 1944.  

From all accounts I've heard of Francis Marion, he was a hard worker. He did much work on Arthur's farm (now ours), doing ditching, plowing, and other farm work. His wife, Nancy Jane Henderson, was born in 1860 in Fayette Co. AL (her stone says 1861 but that is an error) and died in 1913. She stumbled and fell while working in a pea patch, and the injury progressed to a point that it killed her - possibly infection, possibly a hernia caused by the fall, not sure of this, but I know the injury was what caused the later problems. She apparently lived only a short while after her accident. Francis Marion was born in 1861 in Fayette Co.  Nancy Jane (Jennie)'s father was Hugh Henderson, who served in the 41st Alabama Infantry, as did Warren Holliman, Francis Marion's father.  Her mother was Hugh's first wife, named Nancy, who was mostly likely a Cook.  

Additional Commentary and Photographs to follow in Part 2.

From the Galaxy of Holliman Cousins - Blakeneys Continued

by Glenn N. Holliman

More on the Blakeneys, a branch of the Alabama Hollimans....

Below, two distant cousins by marriage, Reed Blakeney of Social Circle, Georgia and yours truly, met last springtime.  I am holding a copy of Reed's excellent work, Sipsey, a historical novel based on the life of Thomas Blakeney (1807-1896) of Newtonville, Fayette County, Alabama, a book we examined in our last article.

Unlike a similar work, Margaret Mitchell's famed Gone with the Wind, Reed's tome has not yet been snatched up by Hollywood, but I frankly think Sipsey is a better read.  This too is a story of the Old South, not a romance of fancy, exaggerated fiction, but rather a gritty, sometimes violent, sometimes loving, always anguished and accurate portrayal of the antebellum South that passed slowly from an 1830s Alabama frontier to the turbulent years of a Civil War.

Below, Reed in his working room where the background wall posts photos of his Blakeney ancestors.  The Blakeneys and Hollimans lived on neighboring farms in 19th Century Fayette County, Alabama and intermarried on occasion.

Below, one of Reed's most famed ancestors was Thomas Blakeney, the inspirational character for Sipsey.  Thomas Blakeney entered life 1807 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, the son of Revolutionary war hero, Captain John Blakeney who rode with Frances Marion.  

He moved to Alabama prior to 1831, and married Sarah Roberts (1807-1861) about 1831 in Tuscaloosa.  This couple had eight children, one being William Blakeney, who died 1863 in the War.  

Thomas remarried Martha Nevins in 1862 from which there were no more children.  He prospered in Fayette County, owning 2,800 acres, a cotton gin and at one time seven slaves.  Thomas died June 2, 1896 in Newtonville, Alabama. However, there is more to Thomas Blakeney's story, a fascinating chapter of passion, cultural turmoil and redemption.  With the research of Dr. Rhodes Holliman, we will take this story further in the next article.

This and the Blakeney's ties to the Alabama Hollimans and descendants will be explored in the next posting. 

 

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!). Mrs. Peddie can assist also in any DNA research.

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.

A seminar is to be held at the Rose Hill Inn, Fayette, Alabama, October 18 and 19, 2013 for more serious students of Holliman and related families.  Just write me for more information. GNH