Reed Blakeney, a Remembrance

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Blakeneys, Bakers and Hollimans of Old Alabama....

Reed Blakeney of Social Circle, Georgia died this past July 4, 2019 after almost 91 years of living.  He left us a large legacy of remembrances on the complexity of the Old South.  Both Reed and I are Alabama born, although he is a generation ahead of me.  I got to know Reed through my closer cousin, Rhodes B. Holliman.

Reed and the late Rhodes Holliman (1928-2014) were close and shared numerous trips to Fayette County, Alabama cemeteries looking for graves of Blakeney, Baker, Holliman, and other kinfolks.

Rhodes was a biologist, a professor at Virginia.  Reed, a retired businessman, but had a wonderful way with the English language.

Picture is of Reed Blakeney and Glenn Holliman, 2013

If you look back to my August 4 and 18th, 2013 blogs, you will read of my visit with Reed, a gentleman of the New South, born in the segregationist age and leader into the increased human diversity age of the 21st Century.  I love his book Sipsey, named after the river that runs through Fayette County and borders the original Blakeney and Holliman farms of the first half of the 19th Century.

Living adjacent to each other and travelers from the same part of the Carolinas, the two families mixed and mingled and that's how, by marriage, I am related to Reed.

To find the Reed Blakeney articles or any other in this blog, look to the bottom left column of this page, and in alphabetical order of first names (not surnames), go down the list.  Or go to www.bholliman.com, click to the Records page and type in Blakeney in the search box.  Up  will come a myriad of Blakeney manuscripts and research.

Below, 1958, five generations. Sitting is Belzy Ann Blakeney, and left, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Baker Holliman, Cecil R. Holliman, his daughter, Cecile Holliman Youngblood, and grand daughter, Cecile Youngblood Brown.  Cecil R. Holliman is the father of  Rhodes B. Holliman and the grandfather of Dr. Jim Holliman.

To bring this story together, Dr. Jim Holliman presented me on July 20, 2019 with a cane he had inherited through his father (Rhodes) from his great grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Baker Holliman (1879-1975), wife of James Monroe Holliman (1878-1938), one of my great uncles.

The inscription reads  "This walking stick was owned and used by Anna Elizabeth Baker, wife of James Monroe Holliman, Birmingham, Alabama. She died September 1975."

Left, Jim Holliman, M.D., shows me the inscription while his wife, Karen, looks on.  Physician Jim advises me that with my chronic back problem, I am soon be using the cane!

Examine Blakeney, Baker and Holliman  relationships and one has many stories of Fayette and Jefferson County, Alabama families.  

Let's close with a picture of Reed and his second wife, Donna in 2013. 




Reed has left us stories and poems and we are richer for his work. - GNH

An Archive of Holliman Family Materials

A Collection

of Holliman and Associated Families Materials 
assembled by Glenn N. Holliman

as of 28 March 2015

This writer has been in communication and visited with Phil Upchurch, a superb genealogist of his family's history whose stories closely parallel the Hollimans, both families from Tidewater Virginia and the Piedmont of North Carolina.  Discussions are underway with his organization, Allied Families, to create a virtual archive of our mutual families and others, which would allow for the storage and the immediate downloading of materials such as listed below of the Holliman families.

Until that day comes, I list below an archive of scanned Holliman and associated family manuscripts and research made available by Maxine Wright, Joe Parker, Bob Hollyman-Mawson, Bishop Holliman, Anne Holmes, Sarah Holliman Hatch, Lindsay Holliman and others; plus the  late Walt O. Holliman, Cecil R. Holliman and Rhodes B. Holliman.  These are mainly of Alabama and Texas families and their ancestors from the Carolinas, Virginia and England. Materials vary from one page to 200. 

From time to time, I scan and upload additional materials.  I post announcement of scanned materials on future blogs at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.com/ .  Happy to add your research to the list.  Bear in mind some of this writing is 20 to 50 years old and has been super ceded by new research in the Internet age.

Happy to send these materials by email and insure their research is available to present and future generations.  Contact me at glennhistory@gmail.com.  My thanks to cousins who continue to make their findings available!

Surnames: Alexander, Baldwin, Barham, Bass, Beall, Blakeney,  Baker, Bond, Bostick, Brewer, Bryan, Bryant, Bullock, Burns, Calvert, Carter, Champion, Chew, Clemmons, Cofer, Cole, Crafford, Crockett, Curtis, Dale, Daniel, Davidson, Davies, De Mallpas, Douglas, Dover, Duckett, Edwards, Edgerton, Emerson, Fitzhugh, Fowlehurst, Fox, Gains, Galvin, Garrison, Gonson, Graves, Gray, Guyton, Guins, Hall, Hamby, Hawkins, Hendrix, Hill, Hogg, Holliman, Hollyman, Holt, Howard, Jackson, Jones, Judkins, Juston, Kaiser, Lees of England, Love, , Lucas, Maget, Mansfield, Manwaring, McBee, McComas, McCurdy, McKnight, McNewsome, Moore, Nicholson, Norsworthy, Noyall, O'dell, Oliver, Pearce, Peerce, Pettigrew, Petway, Pitman, Plow, Plyler, Porten, Prather, Petite, Ridgely, Riggan, Roberts, Smith, Spencer, Sprigg, Standley, Stanyard, Swan, Strother, Thompson, Thornton, Thrope, Trelawney, Turpin, Underhill, Underwood, Walker, Wallace, Walters, Weedon, Whitherspoon, Whitten, Williams, Wilmot, Wilson, Whitaker and Yerby.  

In addition to the above, the following histories, research and cemeteries are available.

Dr. Rhodes B. Holliman (1928-2014), professor of biology at Virginia Tech for many years.  Continued his father, Cecil R. Holliman's work in family history.  Rhodes wrote extensively of his Alabama roots.  This photograph taken 1975.

Cemeteries -

Fayette, Alabama and surrounding counties, 4 parts

Grant Co., AR

Pickens Co. AL Unity Cemetery

Shepherd Baptist Church Burials, Fayette Co., AL

Springhill, Millport, AL

Family Histories and Biographies

FAMILY HISTORIES Alexander, Frank (1833-1925) et al by W.O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Baker and Kaiser Papers, 2 vols collected by C.R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Baker, George (b 1782) by C.R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Baker, George and Descendants by Douglas Blakeney, 2001

FAMILY HISTORIES Baker, Hogg and Jones Families, 2 vols by Cecil R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Beall, Walter (1590-1653) et al by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Beaver, Elizabeth Blakeney biography by Minnie Beaver Rivers, 1926

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeney Ancestors by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES  Blakeney and Associated Families by Cecil R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeney, Baker and Holliman Alabama Biographies contributed by Adolph Blakeney

One of the outstanding Blakeney historians and novelists is Reed Blakeney of Georgia.  Here in 2013, I hold one of his novels entitled Sipsey, the story of some Blakeney ancestors in Fayette, Alabama.  Yes, Hollimans, the Blakeney's Alabama farm neighbors and blood kin, are mentioned in this pager turner.

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeney's Irish Heritage

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeney, James A. House, Mecklenburg, NC

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeney, John (1732-1832) et al

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeney, Thomas and Descendants by Reed Blakeney

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeneys of Smith County, Mississippi

FAMILY HISTORIES Blakeneys, Ten Generations by Rob Blakeney

FAMILY HISTORIES Boddington, Henry of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, contributed by Lindsay Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Bryant Back Trails by Lazelle Parsons Long

FAMILY HISTORIES Bryant Family History by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Bryant Family Tree by Annabell  Wishart Lane, 1954

FAMILY HISTORIES Bryan(t)s of Kentucky and Mississippi

FAMILY HISTORIES Bullock and Holliman lineages by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Burns, Fox and Dover Families

FAMILY HISTORIES Champion, Edward (b 1610) et al

Maxine Wright of Arkansas is prolific in her research and always willing to share.  Her Holliman line stems from 19th Century Alabama and Tennessee.

FAMILY HISTORIES Clemmons-Holliman lineage by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Cofer Families by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Curtis, Dr. James (1819-1882) et al

FAMILY HISTORIES Davidson, James A. (1788-1856) et al

FAMILY HISTORIES Davies, Samuel (1725-1815) et al

FAMILY HISTORIES De Mallpas (1240) ca

FAMILY HISTORIES Douglas, Scottish Ancestor

FAMILY HISTORIES Edwards, William (1605-1673)

FAMILY HISTORIES Egertons et al, Middle Ages to Am. Revolution by W.O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Emerson, Fitzhugh, Fowlehurst and Gonson Families by W.O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Fox Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Glavan, Marilyn Wilson Lineage

FAMILY HISTORIES Graves and Gray Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Guins of Lamar Co., AL

FAMILY HISTORIES Guyton, Joseph of S.C. Ancestors by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Hall, Hawkins and Crockett Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Hendrix Family by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Hogg, Baker and Jones Families and Records by Cecil R. Holliman, 1980

FAMILY HISTORIES Holleyman Family of South Carolina

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cecil R. - Immediate Ancestors, 1976

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cecil R. Notes from 1750 to 1900 on SC and AL Hollimans

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cecil R. My Family in 13 Parts

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cecil R. papers compiled by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Charles, Warren and Cornelius by Kay Blevins

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cornelius (d 1864) by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cornelius materials

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Cornelius 1812 military record

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, David (d 1818)

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, David 1819 Will by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Elijah (d 1836) records by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Ezekiel information by Maxine Wright

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Henrietta lineage

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, James Franklin Children by Sara Hall Holliman Hatch

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, John Newton Hall Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, John Thomas (1844-1930) biography by Rhodes B. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Joshua by J. H. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Leon O'Lenthus Family

FAMILY HISTORIES Hollimans in CSA by Rhodes B. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Mary Lucas (1819-1913), Two Biographies

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Rhodes B. (1928-2014) lineage

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, David Fannin and Trogno Family

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Uriah and Family of Alabama

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Walt O. relations

FAMILY HISTORIES Holliman, Warren C., the Walters and Bryant Records from the Collections of Victoria Boune, Maxine Wright and Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Hollyman, Edward of Wigginton, near Tring, England

FAMILY HISTORIES Holymans of Hertfordshire, England by Glenn N. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Howard, Judkins and Love Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Jones Families of Fayette and Walker Counties, AL, Cecil R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Jones, Keeping Up With The by Cecil R. Holliman 1970s ca

FAMILY HISTORIES Juston, Eddy Smith of Fayette Co., AL lineage

FAMILY HISTORIES Lees of England, a folder

FAMILY HISTORIES Lucas Genealogy and other Families

FAMILY HISTORIES Manfield, Manwaring, McBee and McKnight Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Moore, Nicholson and Odell Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Oliver Families by Walt O. Holliman

Below meeting in California in 2011, Glenn Holliman and Tina Peddie, the communications guru who has brought hundreds of Hollyman descendants together on her Yahoo chat room and Facebook Hollyman page.

FAMILY HISTORIES Peerce, Petite and Petway by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Plyler Family records

FAMILY HISTORIES Ridgely Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Riggan Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Roberts Family by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Roberts, Sarah lineage by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Smith, Col. John by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Spencer, Sprigg, Sandley by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Steward, Wm. M Civil War letters, Fayette Co., AL

FAMILY HISTORIES Thompson, Thorton and Trelawney by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Tring, England Hollimans by Anne Holmes 2013

FAMILY HISTORIES Walker Families of Alabama by Cecil R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Walker, James (b 1765)

FAMILY HISTORIES Wallace, Walters and Whitaker Families by W.O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Walters, Easter Holliman research by Cecil R. Holliman, 2 vols

FAMILY HISTORIES Walters Families by Cecil R. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Weedon Family Records of England

FAMILY HISTORIES Whitten Family by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Williams, Wilmont and Wilson Families by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Wilson Family History by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Wilson Families of Fayette Co, AL from Heritage Pub.

FAMILY HISTORIES Wilson Family of Pendleton

FAMILY HISTORIES Wilson, Joel by Walt O. Holliman

FAMILY HISTORIES Yerbys of Fayette County, AL

Cecil R. Holliman (1902-1986), outstanding attorney in Birmingham, Alabama and exhaustive family researcher in the pre-Internet age.  Picture taken in 1919 at Marion Military Institute, Alabama.  Father of Rhodes B. Holliman.

Family Records and Research

Alabama Records pertaining to Hollimans, a folder

Alabama Family Union Soldiers by Cecil R. Holliman 1964

Anson Co., NC Records

Auiler, Patsy Holliman emails to/from Rhodes B. Holliman

Baker, Hogg and Jones Family Records, Vol. 2 by Cecil R. Holliman

Baker and Kaiser Papers by Cecil R. Holliman 1960s ca

Baker, Prof. Jacob H. letters to Cecil R. Holliman

Bedfordshire, England Notes by Glenn N. Holliman

Blakeney 2003 Reunion and Ancestral History

Blakeney's Irish Heritage

Blakeney Notes by Deanna Adams Holm and Rhodes B. Holliman

Blakeneys Irish Notes by Rhodes B. Holliman 1999

Blakeney, James  A. House, Mecklenburg, NC

Blakeney Notes by Rhodes B. Holliman

Blakeney Notes and Tables by Walt O. Holliman 1995 ca

Bryant and Holliman Deeds and Wills, other Histories by Walt O. Holliman

Bryant Families Deeds and Wills by Maxine Wright

Bryant, James Family Here and There by Lazell P. Long, 1989

Bullock, Chester papers

Bullock Family Notes

Burns, Fox and Dover Families

Civil War Letters of Wm. M. Stewart to Biddy Stewart, Fayette Co., AL, 1860s

Chesterfield Co., SC

Choctaw Co., MS

Cousin Emails by Maxine Wright

CSA Alabama Military Records for Hollimans

41st AL, CSA Regt.. H Co. Roster, 30 May 1862

41st Al CSA Regt., H and B Co. Rosters

41st AL CSA Regt. on Warren Holliman by Juanita Holliman

Hatch, Sarah Hall Holliman lineage

Herfordshire Holymans of England by Glenn N. Holliman

Hollimans and Blakeneys in Fayette Co., AL Cemeteries 1999

Holliman, Bessie Moore

Holliman, Cecil R. Notes on Alabama and S.C. Hollimans

Holliman, Cecil R. Notes from 1750 to 1900

Holliman, Cornelius 1812 Records

Below, Jeanette Holiman Stewart of Texas visits in 2013 Bob Hollyman-Mawson in Wales.  Jeanette is the keeper of the 20,000 plus names in Hollyman Ancestry.com Tree.  Bob is the British expert on his ancestors in Bristol, Somerset and Wales.  He also has a vast collection of names and histories of international Hollymans.

Holliman, David by Tina Peddie and Jeanette Holiman Stewart

Holliman, David by Tina Peddie

Holliman, David will d 1819 by Maxine Wright

Holliman, Elijah by Maxine Wright Holliman

Holliman, Isaac and Mollie by Hollis McCoy, Texas 1985

Holliman, James Franklin Holliman papers

Holliman, J.F. and Dr. Joshua, Notes by John H. Holliman 1964

Holliman, James F. papers

Holliman, James Grantson 1800 and 1810 census

Holliman, James Grantson lineage by Walt O. Holliman 1995

Holliman, James Grantson Revolutionary War Pension

Holliman, Juanita's notes and emails to Rhodes B. Holliman,, early 2000s

Two avid Holliman researchers, Joe Parker, left and Lynn Holliman, right, both of Texas, compared notes in 2011 in Fayette, Alabama, a root county for many Texas Hollimans.

Holliman, Marriages 1609-1938 by Joe Parker
Holliman Names and Associated Families with Index, 2 Parts by Cecil R. Holliman

Holliman, Spellings, Six Parts by Cecil R. Holliman

Holliman, Rhodes B. 1942-45 School Days photographs

Holliman, Rhodes B. Ancestor Photographs, 1999

Holliman, Rhodes B. Emails on Blakeney Families 2000 ca

Holliman, Walt O. Relations

Holliman, Walt O. Emails to Rhodes B. Holliman 2000 ca

Holliman, Warren, the Walters and Bryant, Elizabeth records from collections of Victoria Boune, Maxine Wright and W.O. Holliman

Hollimans in the CSA by Rhodes B. Holliman

Hollimans who fought in Wars

Holyman, Christopher 1684 patent, Library of  Virginia

Holyman, Christopher (1618-1691) some records

Holyman, Christopher (1618-1691) some descendants

Left, Peter and Maureen Smith of Bedfordshire first opened new vistas to Hollyman history in England in 2012. 

Below, in 2014, Barbara, Madeleine and Lindsay Holliman, visited with Carolyn Stonham, left, at Hollyman manor farm from the 16th century in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, another breakthrough event in understanding Holliman English heritage.

Holyman Name, English Origin

Itawamba Co., MS Records

Lamar Co., AL Records

Lancaster Co., SC Records

Marion Co., AL Records
Mississippi Hollimans Notes

Mecklenburg Co., NC

Moore, Bessie letters by Maxine Wright

Noyall and Richard Holliman, Isle of Wight, VA documents

Rowan Co., NC Records

Somerset Family Tree of England by Bob Hollyman-Mawson

Tuscaloosa Co., AL Records

Wake Co., NC Records

Walker Co., AL Records

Walker Family names

Walters, Easter Holliman notes collected by Cecil R. Holliman

Wilson and Hughes Creek Nation Passports

Virginia Early Records by Maxine Wright

Walter O. Holliman, Jr., below, (1926-2003) left us a magnificent library of manuscripts, right, of his Holliman lineage and his associated families. 

His children bequeathed his genealogical materials to me, and I remain grateful for the opportunity to pass along his valuable research to future generations.

Histories

All Spellings of Holliman by Cecil R. Holliman, six parts

Boddinton, Henry of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire by Lindsay Holliman

Bryant Back Trails by Lazelle Parsons Long

Civil War Letters of Wm. M. Stewart to Biddy Stewart, Fayette, AL

Clemmons-Holliman Family History

Cofer Family History

Holliman, Edward of Wiggington, near Tring, Hertfordshire

Holliman Family History by Cecil R. Holliman

Holliman, James Franklin, Recollections of Children by Sarah Hall Holliman Hatch

Holliman Names and Associated Families by Cecil R. Holliman

Holliman, Rhodes 1942-1945 Memorabilia of Woodlawn High, B'ham, AL

Holliman, Richard of Haddenham, England by Lindsay Holliman

Hots Springs, AK and Holimans by Maxine Wright

In 2013, then 93 year old Bishop Holliman gave an oral history interview to historians in Irondale, Alabama, his home from his birth in 1919 until he left for World War II.  He now lives in Avilla, Indiana, age 95. 

Irondale, AL, Memoir of by H. Bishop Holliman 2013

Irondale, AL Further Memories of the 1930s by H. Bishop Holliman 2014

Lee Brasses at Dinton, Buckinghamshire, England

Below, in 2014 Anne Holmes in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, English with Hollimans on the historic medieval farm of the 15th century Hollyman family.  A professional genealogist, Anne has been superb in locating and translating Hollyman and Lee families documents. 

St. Mary's Parish, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England

Shepherd Baptist Church, Newtonville, AL

Tring, Hertfordshire Hollimans by Anne Holmes

Please email glennhistory@gmail.com for copies of the above or if you wish to contribute materials yourself.

Those Were the Days!  

by Dr. Rhodes B. Holliman, Dublin, Virginia


Dr. Rhodes Holliman, a descendant of pioneer families in Fayette County, Alabama, concludes his reflections on visiting his aunts and uncles in Newtonville, Alabama in the 1930s, a time gone by. - GNH

"These wonderful kinfolks never owned a gas or electric stove, a refrigerator or even an ice box; there was no washing machine or dryer and electric lights. No running water, tub or shower.  No indoor plumbing whatsoever.  If you wanted water there was a hand-dug well in the back yard."

Below is a Fayette County example of a 'dog trot' home prevalent in the 19th Century.  While not his Uncle Eura's home, this rustic building has a middle hall way with an enclosed room on each side.  Usually one built first one cabin and then as one prospered added a second side.  Often one side was a kitchen. The wood stove made it extremely hot in Alabama summers, so the family lived in the opposite room.  Photo courtesy of Dr. Rhodes Holliman and his niece, Glenda Norris

"Needed to wash clothes?  There was a big, cast iron, 3 legged pot in the back yard, in which you put water and under which you built a fire. When the water was hot, you would put the dirty clothes in the pot with some homemade lye soap. You would pull out the wet garments and scrub them over a wash board and then rinse with cold water.

Needed a cook stove?  There was a chop block near the well where you would split stove wood. Needed a bath?  There was a 16 gallon washtub in front of the hearth or wood stove. Needed lights?  Kerosene lamps did the trick.  Needed to store cooked food? There was the pie safe. Needed heat in the winter?  Back to the chop block or cross cut saw.  Needed air conditioning?  Get out your cardboard church fan.

Needed to go somewhere? There was a buggy and a horse or mule in the barn. A few wealthy folk had a Model T or A Ford. Needed groceries?  Go to the storm cellar and pick up home canned vegetables and/or take a sack of corn or grain to the local grist mill and come back with meal or flour.  Needed meat?  Go out to the smokehouse and cut down a ham, bacon or sow belly." 

Above, approximately 1905, James Monroe Holliman, Cecil Rhodes Holliman and Elizabeth Baker Holliman at their turn of the 20th Century home in Newtonville, Alabama.  James Monroe Holliman, the writer's grandfather, would become a lawyer, and as many during World War I, he took his family to an urban area, in this case Birmingham, Alabama and became a successful attorney.  Many of  his grandchildren and great grandchildren follow the same profession today in Birmingham.

"Needed a doctor?  Dr. Blakeney could be reached on your crank phone and he would come to your house in his antique car or on horseback.  Need to satisfy a sense of visceral urgency?  There was a path to the outhouse.  It could be a one holer or a two holer. Worried about cholesterol?  What was cholesterol?

In my boyhood mind, everyone was happy and did not seem to miss anything in life and always looked forward to family visiting, family reunions, church homecomings and revivals and all day singing and ‘eating on the grounds’.  It was in this wonderful world of simplicity that I grew to manhood never feeling that I missed anything."

Next posting, a return to our English roots....

Those Were the Days 

by Dr. Rhodes Holliman

My second cousin, Dr. Rhodes Holliman continues his touching memoir of his childhood in rural Fayette County, Alabama in the 1930s.  Rhodes, along with his father, Cecil Rhodes Holliman, and his niece, Glenda Norris, has done much to preserve Holliman family history. - GNH

"Hunting was my passion.  A great uncle named Eura Carter lived in southern Fayette County near Patton’s Chapel and very close to the Sipsey River.  He had a fox terrier named ‘Beans’ that was the finest squirrel dog that ever put a nose to the ground.  

Beans was a silent tracker.  He did not bark until he had the squirrel treed and then would bark one time.  You had to keep Beans in sight because if you did not hear his solo bark, you could lose him and he would hold a squirrel up a tree for hours.  He was never a house pet.  The only time he ever showed any friendly emotion was when we came out of the house with a shotgun and indicated that we were going hunting.  Then he was bundle of energy leading the way."

Below, young Rhodes Holliman grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, but looked forward to summer days and school holidays in the country side of West Alabama.

"In those days the virgin timber in the Sipsey Bottoms was composed of giant gum, water oak, beech, hickory and other trees that grew 100 plus feet tall and produced a canopy so dense that sunlight could not reach the forest floor except in the dead of winter.  There was very little undergrowth and you could walk through the forest without being encumbered by thickets of briars, brush and saplings.  It was in this pristine wilderness that I first went hunting at age 4 with my Dad, Cecil Rhodes Holliman, Uncle Eura and Beans.

Beans trotted along ahead, nose to the ground and presently he barked, and we saw him.  If you couldn’t see the squirrel, you just got down on your knees and looked up Beans’ nose and there was the quarry!  If the squirrel moved, Beans would move, always keeping his nose pointing dead on target.  Well, Beans was pointing, Dad was loading his shotgun and I was standing under the tree looking straight up.  There was a tremendous ‘BANG’, a thrashing in the tree top, and the squirrel fell directly on my head.  Luckily, the squirrel was DOA (dead on arrival) and did not bite or claw me. 

From that moment on, I was hooked to squirrel hunting and my question arose immediately, ‘when can I have a gun?’ Such a question today would probably instill a sense of horror and fear in a city bred parent but, ‘in the good old days’, a conservative father, reared on a farm, would give this question some serious consideration.  I had to wait until I was 6 years old and learn hunter safety and be strong enough to carry a firearm.  

At 6, I became the happiest child in the Sipsey Swamps with my new .410 single barrel while Dad carried the ammunition.  Beans would find the squirrel, Dad would stand behind me and hand me a shell and another squirrel would ‘bite the dust’.  That gun produced a mighty kick for a 6 year old but the harvest it produced offset the pain and bruises."

Left to right, Cecil Rhodes Holliman, Jim Holliman, Dr. Rhodes Holliman and Elizabeth Baker Holliman (widow of James Monroe Holliman).  Rocking in front is Belzy Anne Blakeney Baker, mother of Elizabeth.  This picture was made ca. 1955.

"In the days of the Great Depression, squirrel meat was a staple source of protein in Fayette County and many other rural areas of the South.  We would par-boil the squirrel first --then fry them up or cook them to make squirrel dumplings.  Yum!  I learned quickly that the hunter is responsible for cleaning his harvest and Uncle Eura was a master teacher of the techniques for skinning squirrel.  Any coon hounds standing around would be happy to eat the raw squirrel hides, hair and all, in one gulp!"

Glenda Norris, a niece of Dr. Rhodes Holliman and daughter of Cecile Eugenia Holliman Youngblood, poses on the porch of her ancestor, Thomas Blakeney's dog trot home in Newtonville, Alabama in 2006.  The home still stands serving as a reminder of life in the 19th Century Deep South.

"There was much sadness when Beans departed this life.  I continued to hunt squirrels with hounds but none of them could ever match the skill of Beans.  After a while I would just go into the woods without a hound and find a good spot near a beech or hickory mast. I would look for a squirrel den in a hollow tree and there I would wait, sitting very still, watching for movement.  

Using this technique at only 14 years of age brought me a bounty of 6 squirrels from one giant red oak den.  I would shoot and the squirrel would hit the ground.  Each time I would mark the spot but not move and wait for the next one to appear. This kind of hunting took a lot of patience and perseverance especially for a young boy. As I grew older, night time coon and possum hunting were added to my list of favorite things to do down by the Sipsey in Fayette County, Alabama."

 Next Posting, more on life in rural Alabama in an earlier generation....

The Legacy of Walt Holliman

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Research and Writings of Walter O. Holliman Preserved and Being Shared with a New Generation

Walter Orien Holliman, pictured above, a meticulous family researcher, passed away November 1, 2003.  His birthday was May 5, 1927.  Walt's father was Moses Holliman, the son of Warren C. Holliman, the son of Charles Holliman (1795 - 1841 ca), who was the son of James Grantson Holliman (1750-1836), a common grandfather to almost all reading this blog.

Above, Glenn N. Holliman, distant cousin of Walt Holliman, surveys over 300 pounds of papers and books donated to his Holliman Collection from the children of Walt.  The material is housed in a 5,000 volume collection of books and papers in Newport, Pennsylvania (yes, it is in Perry County as the liberated highway sign reveals).

"I walked into my library/barn just as the UPS truck was pulling away to discover this awesome collection of research, manuscripts, raw data and genealogical books.  The children of Walt - Lynn, Bryan and Ann - had been in touch with me about preserving the collection.  After checking with other children - Debbie and Paul - they decided to pass this invaluable material to my growing family history collection.  This is 24 feet of shelf space of important papers and books.

I am honored by their trust.  This winter I intend to inventory the collection and begin posting appropriate materials on the web so that other Hollimans and associated families can benefit from the decades of work accomplished by Walt.  After my time is over, I intend to pass the collection to a new generation of family members, perhaps in some type of family association or corporation.

While I have not had time to study the materials in depth, there are unpublished manuscripts and meticulous will and land transfer records obviously representing years of work and travel.  It is obvious Walt was careful and documented everything he did. His work is an excellent example of a historian who enjoyed his craft.

We are fortunate in our extended family to have this work saved.  Others in the family, the late Cecil Holliman and his son, Rhodes Holliman, Ron Holliman, Maxine Wright, Joe Parker, Vonceil Duckworth, Jeanette Holiman Stewart, Glenda Norris and other members of Tina Peddie's chat room have been likewise industrious in saving and preserving our family's history.  The story of the Hollimans and our associated families is America's story.

Walt was born in Birmingham, Alabama as was I.  A Boy Scout, he enlisted at age 16 in the U.S. Navy serving in World War II as a air gunner.  After the war, he graduated from the University of Tennessee and went on to a successful career in mobile home manufacturing and the aviation industry.  Tiring of travelling, he settled back in the Birmingham area as a stock and real estate broker.  He was a member of Mensa International, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Methodist Church and various business associations.


From his last home in Pelham, Alabama, he spent countless hours collecting raw data, saving it and typing thousands of pages of notes and stories on his families.


Our great thanks to the family of Walt for preserving his work and their generosity is sharing it with the larger family.  I am happy to report that in the first few weeks of receiving this material, I was able to:


(1) pass along a thick file for review on the Blakeney family to genealogist Glenda Norris, a Blakeney descendant in Alabama, 


(2) review Walt's materials on Samuel Holliman (1707 - 1789) with Lynn Holliman (Texas) and Joe Parker (Texas), and together come to consensus, that yes, Samuel is the father of James Grantson Holliman, and 


(3) respond quickly to David Jennings of Pickens County, Alabama who sought to know the name of his great, great grandfather.  Like Walt, David descends from Warren C. Holliman, son of Charles Holliman, son of James Grantson Holliman."


For information on the Walt Holliman Collection or if you have papers to preserve, please contact yours truly at Glennhistory@gmail.com.  Together we can save our history for our children who come after us.