The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 4

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our Second Stop – St. Mary’s Parish,

Now the Albion Archaeology Centre

Bedford, Bedfordshire

May 18, 2019

Thomas Hollyman, most likely born in the early 1580s, grew up in a wealthy home in Sherington, Buckinghamshire, some 10 or so miles from his adult home of Bedford.  The second son (of a third son), he inherited 40 pounds but no land, when his father died in 1589.  His parents were Christopher and Margaret Lee Hollyman of families from Cuddington and Dinton, Buckinghamshire.

Did his inheritance eventually fund an apprenticeship in Bedford?  We know from Anne Holmes’ research that Thomas worked as a cordwainer or leather maker before he took a lease-hold on the Blue Boar Inn, on Cauldwell Street, several hundred yards to the west of St. Mary’s Church.  Later his son-in-law, Barnabas Crash, seems to have gone into business with him.

As a cordwainer, he must have fashioned shoes, leather garments and harnesses for horses.   Undoubtedly his second son, Christopher, was exposed to this occupation, and perhaps supported himself as a leather worker when he arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1650. 

Below, Elisabeth Krueger Ahrens and her mother, Anne Holliman Krueger, daughter of Walter O. Holliman (1927-2003) who did so much to research and capture the stories of the Holliman and allied families in the USA.  Both Elisabeth and Anne are international teachers.

The files in this photograph's background are of archaeological investigations in the Bedfordshire area, research often required before new construction in the United Kingdom.  This picture was taken in the interior of St. Mary's Parish which held its last service in 1975 and in 1991 became a research centre.  

Did Thomas curse his fate? 

The nephews and nieces of his mother, Margaret Lee Hollyman, were on the rise socially and financially.  Margaret’s brother, one Thomas Lee, married Eleanor Hampden who inherited Hartwell House, now a National Trust property which I will write about later.  

The Lees were rising and the Hollymans declining. Thomas Lee died a knight in 1626.  Our Thomas Hollyman, Lee's nephew, mended shoes and served ale at a Bedford Inn.  

One can imagine the envy felt by Thomas.  Unlike he, one of his sisters, Ursala, inherited well from her grandmother of the same name, Ursala Yates Lee.

 Above, Anne Holmes inside St. Mary’s Church, now an archaeological office, discussing the history of the building while the Albion manager, center, looks on as does Jim Holliman, right, of Alabama. 

Did his mother Margaret help support Thomas and get him started as an inn keeper in Bedford?  We do not know.

What impact did the English Civil War, which began in 1642 and did not end until 1652, have on the family?  Did our Christopher (1618-1691) serve in the Parliamentary forces which were supported by the Hampden family? 

Bedford citizenry were generally pro-Parliament and Anti-Royalist.  Young John Bunyan, a Bedford resident, and later a charismatic preacher and author of ‘Pilgrims Progress’, served in the Cromwellian forces. Christopher’s younger brother, Steve, later associated with Bunyan's Meeting House services.

Or did Christopher join the King’s army? 

We know the priest at St. Mary’s, Dr. Giles Thorne, from 1630 to 1671, was arrested by Parliament and jailed for four years in 1640s.  This royalist was accused of ill vices such as maypole dancing and praying for the King!  St. Mary’s was the Hollyman family’s parish.  

Also Christopher’s grandfather, an earlier Christopher Hollyman (d 1589) served as a member of Queen Elizabeth’s Guard, an elite royalist honor probably obtained through Lee family connections.

The interior of St. Mary's in 1851, now lined with files and books, but the monuments and stained glass windows remain.

What we do know is our Christopher along with his spinster sister, Judith, left Bedford in early 1650 and arrived in Virginia in May 1650.  Did they flee the chaos of civil war?  Had Christopher fought on the losing side, as King Charles I was beheaded in January 1649? Had his father, Thomas, died and why leave an elderly mother (age 60 or so) to cross the ocean?

The Birth and Grave Sites of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, have now been Visited by Descendants

In April 2016 at the Hollyman gathering in Isle of Wight, Virginia, Billy Joe Holleman, owner of some of the original plantation of Christopher (d 1691) took our group to what is believed to be the original burial plot of the Hollymans of Virginia.  There we assembled and asked ourselves, is this the final resting spot of the immigrant who left England in 1650 and with his sister Judith braved the Atlantic and settled in the New World founding our American family?

Below Susan White, center, in April 2016 with Holleman cousins at the possible grave of Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691) in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  This site, cleared for us by Billy Joe Holleman, is part of the original plantation of Christopher.

 And below three years later, the same Susan White, left, talking with Dr. Jim Holliman, Di Holliman (back to camera) and Tony Pryce, English friend and guide at the burial site of Thomas and Helena Hollyman, Christopher Hollyman’s parents, and one block from where Christopher was born in 1618 in Bedford, Bedfordshire.

 This picture, taken in May 2019, represents an odyssey of discovery taken full circle from the birthplace in England to grave site in Virginia of the ancestor who dared to come to America and founded our family in the New World.

Next blog, a lunch break at the historic Swan Hotel in Bedford.

The Hollyman English Ancestry Quest 2019, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Hollymans Gather in the Cotswolds

May 17, 2019 

Above, at the Royal Hart Hotel courtyard in Moreton in Marsh, Gloustershire, England, Hollyman cousins from Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, Indiana, Florida, Alabama, California, North Carolina and the countries of the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Italy gather on May 17, 2019, the first night of a tour of Hollyman (various spellings) ancestral sites in England.

Left to right, front row are Glenn Holliman, Alice Holliman Murphy, Rebecca Holliman Payne, Allen Holleman, Marcia Holliman, Mary Lippo, Di Holliman and Madeleine Holliman.  Second row, Lindsay Holliman, Paul Holliman, Susan White (in front of Paul), Bryan Holliman, Matthew Holliman, Marshall Cocke, Ann Holliman Krueger, Alison Holliman Marlowe, Kimberly Holliman, Teresa Holliman, Mary Ann Holliman Fenske, Rob Fenske, and Dr. Jim Holliman.  Third row, in the blue shirt, Glenn and Kathy Joiner, Elisabeth Krueger Ahrens, Karen Holliman, and Kathleen and Jim Holliman.

First Some Background....

Since 2009 upon retirement, I have been seeking information on the paternal ancestry of my Holliman surname.  Birmingham, Alabama (b 1946) is my birthplace and that of my late father, Homer Bishop Holliman (1919-2018).  He told me his father, Ulyss (1884-1965) and grandfather, John Thomas (1844-1930) were from Fayette County, Alabama located near the Mississippi border.  Beyond that Dad had no further information.

With the advent of the internet and time to explore, I discovered the research of Ron Holliman in Dothan, Alabama (a second cousin) and shortly thereafter of Cecil Rhodes Holliman (1902-1986), my father’s first cousin, and his son, Dr. Rhodes Burns Holliman (1928-2014).  Through conversations and emails with Rhodes, I found Glenda Norris, Tina Peddie, Joseph Parker, Lynn Holliman, Maxine Wright, Jeanette Holiman Stewart, Allen Holleman, Jim and Karen Holliman and some wonderful second and third cousins in and from Fayette County.  In 2011, the children of Walter O. Holliman (1927-2003) posted to me 20 boxes of their late father’s prodigious research, over 50 allied families!  I am still scanning and uploading this work.

Along the way, my daughter Grace introduced me to ‘blogging’ and having a bit of my father’s writing bug, I began to record first the stories of my father and his six siblings.  There are 18 first cousins from this generation, and those who could shared letters and photographs for the articles which have been posted since 2010 at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com and http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .   A few years ago, my stepdaughter, Cyndi, created a virtual archive where I have uploaded over 3,000 manuscripts and records donated by relatives noted above.  That site is at www.bholliman.com.

 Above at the Crown Pub in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, brothers Rod and Andrew Holliman and Lindsay, their second cousin.  Rod and Andrew live in west England and Lindsay now in Scotland.  In 2013 DNA testing comparing Lindsay of English descent to Glenn N. Holliman, Alabama born, confirmed their paper ‘trails’ that both descend from Thomas Hollyman, d 1558, of Cuddingdon. Thomas was the great grandfather of Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, who immigrated to Virginia in 1650.  This Christopher is the ancestor of almost all Hollimans in the USA.

Before long, distant cousins found my web sites and inquiries tumbled in, expanding my knowledge of the extended family and introducing me to some wonderful people interested in our common heritage.  The list is now over 100 email addresses.

During excursions to England I found, with the help of the late Roger Smith, the late Fred Cooper, Jayne Sullivan, Bob Hollyman-Mawson, Lindsay Holliman and genealogist Anne Holmes the ancestral record of Hollymans from the 14^th to the 20^th century in the United Kingdom. 

Eventually I was led to the Hollyman farm in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, now owned by Caroline and James Stonham, pictured below in front of their 1699 thatched cottage on the site of the 15^th Century Hollyman manor.  This kind couple have welcomed many Hollimans to their historical home.

Last autumn, my two sisters, Becky Holliman Payne and Alice Holliman Murphy, asked if I could take them to the English sites.  As several distant cousins had asked also for a tour, I asked why not offer an organized quest for all who wanted to view the discoveries made over the past decade? 

Above, my sisters Alice Holliman Murphy and Becky Holliman Payne in the garden of the Hollyman 1699 home, now owned by the Stonham family in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.

Hence May 17-19, 2019, 25 American cousins made the trip over and we were joined by three English cousins – Lindsay and wife Madeleine, Rod and wife Di, and Andrew, all with the last name Holliman, all of us descended from Thomas Hollyman, d 1558, of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England.

So with this background, let us proceed to the next blog, peel back the centuries and discover our English heritage and those whose DNA we carry. - GNH