The Passing of Rhodes Holliman, Ph.D.

by Glenn N. Holliman

We lost one of our best family historians this morning - Dr. Rhodes Burns Holliman (1928-2014) of Dublin, Virginia.  For decades, Rhodes taught biological sciences at Virginia Tech., himself a Ph.D. in infectious diseases from Florida State University.  April 29, 2014, after months of ill health, he slipped away with his loving wife, Phyllis Anne Holliman, by his side.

Since retirement, Rhodes had indulged in his love of family history, building on the voluminous research of his father, Cecil Rhodes Holliman (1902-1986).  Much of what many of us know of the Alabama and Carolina Hollimans comes from the work of this marvelous father and son duo of family historians.

Rhodes was my second cousin.  His father, Cecil, was my father's (H. Bishop Holliman, 1919) first cousin. All of us were born in Alabama.  In March 2012 in this spot, I published Rhodes' memories of summers and weekends in his beloved Fayette County, Alabama.  These articles on rustic life in the 1930s have attracted more readers than almost anything that has been published in this space in the past four years since inception.

 A number of you reading this column know Glenda Norris, a niece of Rhodes, the daughter of Cecile E. Holliman Youngblood (1937-2012), late of Alabaster, Alabama. Below with her hand on her Uncle Rhodes is Glenda,who has helped conduct the 2011 and 2013 Holliman Family Forums in Fayette, Alabama. Rhodes, her uncle sits at the table in Birmingham, Alabama with another niece, Susan Youngblood Corley, behind him.  His sister, Cecile is also at the table in this 2007 picture.  

Glenda, an avid student of Holliman and her associated families such as the Bakers, Burns and Blakeneys, remembers her grandfather, Cecil, pecking away in the 1960s on his manual typewriter, laboriously recording family stories.

The work of Rhodes and his father, their manuscripts, files and photographs, he generously shared with me.  I have scanned and uploaded the bulk of this vast family material to the Hollyman/Holyman MyFamily.com site.  


The genealogy work of Rhodes and Cecil is not in vain nor stored forever in some attic, forgotten by future generations.  It is available for researchers as long as the web exists.   

That is what Rhodes asked me to do, and that is what I have done. I have done the same with the Walt O. Holliman manuscripts entrusted to me by his children.  And some day, I hope someone will do the same for me with my family histories and research.   Family, pass it along....

Below, the writer with his cousin, Rhodes, April 2013 in Dublin, Virginia.

Rhodes his survived by his wife of many years, Phyllis Anne Holliman, a son and good friends of mine, Jim Holliman, M.D. and his wife, Karen, of Hershey, Pennsylvania.  There are four grown grandchildren, one great grandson and three nieces.  Rhodes was predeceased in death in 2008 by another son, Daniel Rhodes Holliman, M.D.  Two other lovely people in Rhodes' life are brother-in-law Dennis  Jackson and Clare Fugate, the mother of two of his grand children.

 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!).

Join your many cousins at MyFamily.com and view an expanded Holliman family tree and many files on the history of the family.  Just write to glennhistory@gmail.com for an invitation. Or go to the HOLLYMAN GENEALOGY MyFamily site at http://myfamily.com/group/hollyman. Then click on "Request to Join" in upper righthand corner!

Annoucing a New Holliman Genealogical Resource

by Glenn N. Holliman

The 2013 Holliman Genealogical Forum in Fayette, Alabama

 

 

Gathering for two days of sharing and learning during beautiful autumn southern weather were left to right: Anne Holliman Windel (Alabama), Jeanette Holiman Stewart (Texas), David Jennings (Alabama), Shelia Nichols (Alabama), Glenn Holliman (Pennsylvania), Janie Holliman (Alabama), Lois Sherrill (Alabama), Sarah Hall Holliman Hatch (Colorado), Nell Holliman, sitting (Alabama), Harvey Holliman (Texas), Alice Holliman Murphy (Texas), Glenda Norris (Alabama), Frank Holliman (Alabama), Rachel Lee (Alabama), Eddy Smith (Alabama), Marilyn Wilson Galvan (Texas), Vonceil Duckworth (Alabama), Linwood Holliman (Alabama), Jimmy Holliman (Alabama) and Joseph Parker (Texas)

At the October 2013 Holliman Genealogical Forum in Fayette, Alabama, a tremendous new genealogical web site was announced.  The web site, designed as a virtual archives, can be found at The Hollyman Family at MyFamily.com.  The top portion of the site is visible below.  Note the numerous titles available at the location.

Already on this MyFamily site one will find:

Over 14,000 names on the extensive Holyman Family Tree

 

Dozens of research files and family histories

 

Several thousand photographs

 

 A discussion forum

 

And more information added almost daily!

However for accuracy purposes, the site remains private; that is one needs an invitation to participate.

Whether you live in the United States, the British Isles, Canada, Australia or where ever on the globe, that invitation is easily granted if you email this writer at glennhistory@gmail.com or Jeanette Holiman Stewart at Htreekeeper@outlook.com.

 

Or go to the HOLLYMAN GENEALOGY MyFamily site at http://myfamily.com/group/hollyman .

Then click on "Request to Join" in upper righthand corner! 

 

Below, Jeanette Holiman Stewart double checks her records as Jimmy Holliman and Vonceil Duckworth join her at the Shepherd Baptist Church Cemetery in Newtonville, Alabama.  On this site in 1836, their ggg grandfather Charles Holliman located his family after migration from Lancaster County, South Carolina.  Jeanette monitors the Tree at MyFamily.com and has entered over 14,000 names and thousands of photographs and documents!

 

 

You will be welcomed to this living museum and world-wide resource center, a place where those of us with ancestors by the names of Holyman, Hollyman, Holliman, Holiman, Holleman, Holloman, Hollemon, Hollomon and numerous other variations can find and share family history information. Associated families are encouraged to join us in this program.

This site was founded after extensive discussions following a 2011 reunion in Fayette, Alabama by family historians Joseph Parker, Glenda Norris, Lynn R. Holliman, Jeanette Holiman Stewart, Tina Peddie and Glenn N. Holliman, all descendants of Christopher Hollyman, Sr. (1618-1691). These persons, four of whom are in the group picture above, administer the site.

As regular readers of this space know, this Christopher, Sr. came from Bedfordshire, England to Jamestown, Virginia in 1650, married twice, had six children and prospered leaving a plantation of 1,020 acres at his death in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. While other persons with the name of Holyman (or a derivative) evidently migrated later to the New World, our evidence to date traces almost, but not all Holymans (and various spellings), back to the four sons of Christopher, Sr. Their names were Thomas, Christopher, William and Richard. There were two daughters – Ann and Mary who married two brothers from a neighboring plantation – John and James Atkinson.

The purpose of this MyFamily site is to gather the most complete information possible on Holymans, post and share without fees to the larger family. Our goal is to establish a central gathering place for Holyman Family information and research materials. We have designed our management to be self-perpetuating, to maintain service and enlarge this site as the years and decades pass.

Left, one of the hosts for the Alabama Holliman Forum and dedicated genealogist, is Glenda Norris, descended from Cornelius Holliman, one of three brothers who caught 'Alabama Fever' and migrated to the state from South Carolina in 1836.

Of course, genealogy is a process, and as new information is discovered, lineages and dates may change. If your research differs from what might be contained on this site, let us know and corrections or differences of opinions will be noted. This site is for education only and not for commercial or legal purposes.

               Additional Resources are available!

Join the Hollyman Email genealogical conversation at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Or the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family".

For more information on these sites, contact Tina Peddie, one of our MyFamily administrators, at desabla1@yahoo.com.  Mrs. Peddie can assist also in any DNA research.

Remember for your Hollyman MyFamily invitation, contact glennhistory@gmail.com or Htreekeeper@outlook.com.

 

Or go to the HOLLYMAN GENEALOGY MyFamily site at http://myfamily.com/group/hollyman . 

Then click on "Request to Join" in upper righthand corner! 


Next week, back to another bit of Holleman history....

 

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 Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman
Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama


This is my last post on the April 9, 2011 Fayette County, Alabama excursion organized by my second cousin, Glenda Norris.  Working with information from her Uncle Rhodes and Grandfather Cecil Rhodes Holliman, Glenda scheduled the day, and even did a 'test drive' before leading 15 of her distant cousins on a trip through family history.  Below in the Tuscaloosa County, Spring Hill Baptist Church Cemetery, Glenda in the background cleans a tombstone while her husband, Scott, and Norman Holliman look on. Robert Holliman in the foreground takes photos.

In this cemetery is the unmarked grave of my generation's third great grandmother, Elizabeth Holliman, wife of Cornelius.  They led their family by horse and wagon in 1836 from Lancaster County, South Carolina near the North Carolina line through George to west Alabama.  Here on recently released Indian land, the family purchased land and began farming.  Two brothers, Warren and Charles Holliman, made the trek also, although Warren moved on in a few years to Arkansas to put down roots and establish the Holliman name there.  In the photo below, 91 year old H. Bishop Holliman, who visited Fayette County for the first time in the 1920s (He was born in Irondale, Alabama in the 1919) explores the cemetery.

Several earthen grave sites dot the Spring Hill Cemetery.  In one of these resting places, may be the remains of Elizabeth Plyler Holliman, pioneer Mother and Grandmother

Next post, we return to study earlier Hollimans in England....
Plan now to attend the Holliman and Associated Families Genealogical Round Table at the Fayette County, Alabama Civic Center, 10 am to 3 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011. For information and reservations for lunch, contact Glenda Norris at gnorris@bcbsal.org or Glenn Holliman at Glennhistory@gmail.com.  Sessions to include Tracing the Holymans from England to Alabama, Holliman Farm Sites in Fayette County and sharing of information on Associated Families.  All invited including the social at 5:30 pm, Rose House Inn in Fayette on Friday evening, October 14th.  Y'all come!

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama


Actually this article is about a Baptist Church just south of Fayette County and Newtonville.  Spring Hill Baptist Church is located just over the Tuscaloosa County line.  The memorial stone below in front of the church honors to of my generations's three great grandfathers - Charles Daniel Lucas and Cornelius Holliman.  Their graves were visited on April 9, 2011 by some of their descendants.

Below the church with the memorial stone in front.

As we know, Charles Daniel Lucas is buried several miles away in an Indian grave site.  Cornelius is at peace twenty or so miles north at Old Blooming Grove in the Bluff Community.  Glenda Norris believes Cornelius's wife, Elizabeth Plyler, is buried inside the gates of the Spring Hill Cemetery.  However, her grave is lost.

Next post, more graves in Spring Hill....
Plan now to attend the Holliman and Associated Families Genealogical Round Table at the Fayette County, Alabama Civic Center, 10 am to 3 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011. For information and reservations for lunch, contact Glenda Norris at gnorris@bcbsal.org or Glenn Holliman at Glennhistory@gmail.com.  Sessions to include Tracing the Holymans from England to Alabama, Holliman Farm Sites in Fayette County and sharing of information on Associated Families.  All invited, including the 5:30 pm - 9 pm social at the Rose House Inn, Fayette, Friday, October 14th.

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N . Holliman


Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama


Below Norman Holliman photographs his distant cousin, Glenda Norris, at the head stone of a common great grandfather, Cornelius Holliman, 1792 - 1862.  Cornelius is buried in the Old Blooming Grove Cemetery in the Bluff community of Fayette County.  It was wretched year for the Holliman family.  A son and grandson of Cornelius, Uriah and Charles Daniel Holliman, died in May of 1862 after the Battle of Shiloh.  Now in the autumn of that tragic year of 1862, Cornelius, passed away from natural causes. Born in North Carolina, he rests in Alabama soil.

Below members of the Holliman excursion view graves at Old Blooming Grove Cemetery.  It was early spring, the trees were leafing out and the brush and weeds were still few and low to the ground.

Here Bishop Holliman, b 1919, and great, great grandson of Cornelius, stands with his son, Glenn N. Holliman, b 1946 at the headstone of the pioneer who left the Carolinas and by horse and wagon in 1836 crossed Georgia and much of Alabama to reach the ravine and river bottom country of Fayette County.  One hundred and twenty-five years later, some of his many descendants paid homage to his courage and energy and those of  his brothers, Charles and Warren, and their wives and children who treked west with them.
Plan now to attend the Holliman and Associated Families Genealogical Round Table at the Fayette County, Alabama Civic Center, 10 am to 3 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011. For information and reservations for lunch, contact Glenda Norris at gnorris@bcbsal.org or Glenn Holliman at Glennhistory@gmail.com.  Sessions to include Tracing the Holymans from England to Alabama, Holliman Farm Sites in Fayette County and sharing of information on Associated Families.  All invited also to the 5:30 pm to 9 pm social at the Rose House Inn in Fayette, Friday, October 14, 2011!

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama

More on the Civil War Veteran who became a School Teacher


Below on April 9, 2011, Holliman descendant Faye Gardner snaps photographs of Holliman and Stewart grave sites while Robert Holliman and his brother, Norman (not visible) work at removing vines and bushes from covered grave sites of Hollimans and Stewarts near Bluff, Alabama.

Below, Glenda Norris stands by the memorial stone for Daniel F. Holliman, son of James Franklin and Bertha Lee Holliman - Oct 20, 1895 - May 27, 1897.  Lt. James Franklin Holliman is a great, great uncle of hers.

Below, James Franklin Holliman in the early 1900s.  This Civil War veteran dedicated his life to school teaching after the violence of his military service from 1861 - 1865.  Photo from the collection of Dr. Rhodes Holliman, a great nephew of James Franklin.

More on the Hollimans of Fayette County, Alabama, next post....

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama

The Visit to Caine's Ridge, a Family Excursion in 2011

Lecturing on family history near the burial sites of this paternal and maternal grandparents is 91 year old H. Bishop Holliman (in purple shirt with cap).  As a boy he used to visit John Thomas and Martha Jane Walker Holliman, his paternal grandparents at their last home near the Fayette train depot.  One of his memories is sitting on their porch on the south side of town watching the trains come into town.

Below in a photograph taken in either 1928 or 1929 are John Thomas and Martha Jane Walker Holliman standing in front of their home in Fayette.  John would died in 1930 and Martha Jane in 1931.  The young man sitting on the porch in a white shirt and tie on the far right is 10 year old Bishop Holliman!

Cleaning the Caine monument is Glenda Norris using shaving cream.  When gently scrapped off, the cream reveals difficult to read letters.  Glenda credits her Uncle Rhodes Holliman for the process. In the background are Robert Holliman and Faye Gardner.


Bishop Holliman's father was Ulyss Holliman (1884 - 1965) who grew up in Fayette, married Pearl Caine (1887 - 1955) in 1906, and removed to Jefferson County, Alabama in 1917 in search of increased income for  his growing family.  Pearl Caine's grandparents, William Ellison and Melissa Anthony Caine, lie buried under the gravestone above.  It was Pearl's grandfather who gave the land for the church.

The journey to explore Holliman and their families continues in the next post....


Plan now to attend the Holliman and Associated Families Genealogical Round Table at the Fayette County, Alabama Civic Center, 10 am to 3 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011. For information and reservations for lunch, contact Glenda Norris at gnorris@bcbsal.org or Glenn Holliman at Glennhistory@gmail.com.  Sessions to include Tracing the Holymans from England to Alabama, Holliman Farm Sites in Fayette County and sharing of information on Associated Families.  All invited!

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama

Below, H. Bishop Holliman, great grandson of Samuel T. Walker, and Glenda Norris, 3 great grand daughter of Samuel, stand at his grave at Pilgrim's Rest Church in Fayette County, Alabama.  Glenda led a tour on April 9, 2011 of Holliman and associated family cemetery sites.  Glenda and two cousins, Norman and Robert Holliman, are attempting to have installed a Confederate tombstone marking the incredible military service of this family ancestor. Samuel (1820 - 1900) was one of the 7,000 or so troops left in Lee's army when he surrendered at Appomattox!

The late Cecil Rhodes Holliman (1901 - 1980) has written extensively on the Walker family and in later postings the history of the Walkers and especially Samuel will be explored.  One of Samuel Walker's daughter's, Martha Jane, married John Thomas Holliman (1844 - 1930), a grandson of Cornelius Holliman and son of Uriah Holliman (1820 - 1862).  John Thomas and Martha Janes Holliman had five children, one being Glenda's great grandfather, James Monroe Holliman.  Another child was Ulyss Holliman (1884 - 1965), the father of Bishop Holliman, above.

Located near Samuel's resting place at Pilgrim's Rest is his wife, Elizabeth Walker (1821 - 1879), mother of Martha Jane Walker Holliman.

More next week on the Hollimans and associated families....




Plan now to attend the Holliman and Associated Families Genealogical Round Table at the Fayette County, Alabama Civic Center, 10 am to 3 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011.  Sessions on the Holymans from England to Alabama, Holliman sites in Fayette County, Alabama, and general sharing of Associated Families material.  All invited!   For information and reservations for lunch, contact Glenda Norris at gnorris@bcbsal.org or Glenn Holliman at Glennhistory@gmail.com.

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama

Below are observations by Holliman family historian, Glenda Norris.  She credits much of her knowledge to Dr. Rhodes Holliman, her uncle.  It was Rhodes who, as a boy in the 1930s, would hike several miles into the piney woods, dodging more than a few snakes to re-discover the location for the family.  Several monuments now mark this spot.

Glenda Norris reports:

"Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. was the son of Charles Daniel Lucas, Sr. and 'Dorcas' (no last name has been found). It is believed that the mother of Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. could be a Catawba Indian from the Pee Dee River area in Marlboro County, South Carolina. She was only 13 years old when she married Charles Daniel Lucas, Sr., a tailor.  Their son, Charles Jr., was born on June 30, 1771 and died May 31, 1853."

Above, on April 9, 2011, Holliman and Lucas descendants take the trail to the Lucas and Indian graves which are located several hundred yards through the woods off County Road 100 in south Fayette County.

"Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. was a traveler and migrated from South Carolina to Alabama before the Holliman brothers. His first homestead was in Marengo County, Alabama where he purchased 80 acres on October 20, 1823 and then 80 more the next spring.  Two years later, he established a homestead in Fayette County, and still ambitious, 40 acres on October 16, 1834 in Tuscaloosa County.  


The Fayette and Tuscaloosa properties were connected, almost touching Highway 171 on its east side. He was a deacon at the Spring Hill Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa County.  A monument at the church celebrates he and Cornelius Holliman, a son-in-law, as ‘founders’ of this church.

Charles Jr.  earned his living 'stock dipping' and as a Federal Indian agent. Newtonville, Alabama straddled the line between the territory of the Chickasaw (north) and the Choctaw (south).  By 1836, all these land claims were extinguished.  In a dreadful and, even in that day, controversial act, most of the Native Americans remaining were removed to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma).  


With the dispersal of the tribes, the Federal government sold the land to immigrant families from the south east U.S. - the Hollimans, Lucases and other associated families.


Charles Lucas, Jr. claimed to be ‘black Dutch’, a term at the time to obscure one's possible Indian ancestry but this has not been proven, only speculated.  He was a man of large stature (6’4” - 6’6”) and had great strength.  It has been passed down through generations that Charles Daniel killed a panther with his bare hands.

 His burial site is in southern Fayette County, Newtonville area off of County Road 100 (Walnut Lane). At one time this land belonged to Charles Jr. and his home was not far from the burial site. His grave is on a ridge line, over looking a ravine. The site is an Indian burial ground as he chose to be buried with his friends."

Glenda Norris, foreground, provides information at the internment site and memorials to Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr.  The site contains numerous Choctaw or Chickasaw Indian burials, disturbed in an earlier century by grave robbers.

"Charles Daniel Jr. was married to Mary Hasten (in some places spelled Hastings). They had 10 children together. Family historians suggest that Charles Daniel ‘over disciplined’ one of his children with his cane. This did not go over very well with his family and because of his temper, his wife, Mary and the rest of his children left him and moved to the Bluff community. Due to this estrangement Mary Hasten Lucas was buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery, 20 or so miles north of this pioneer’s resting place."

This original stone marker stands on the burial site of Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr., pioneer and Indian agent, who helped open Northwest Alabama to Anglo and African American settlement in the early 19th Century.

When Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. was born, George III, was sovereign over the American colonies.  When Charles Jr. died, Franklin Pierce had just become president of the United States, a union on the verge of dissolving."

For additional information on Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr., go to Archives and the February 13 and 26, 2010 editions of this blog.  Rhodes Holliman incorporated his own research and that of his father, Cecil Holliman and the late Walt Holliman to create some excellent articles that are available for all to read.  Some of the general information for these postings comes also from Robert Scott Davis's book, "Tracing your Alabama Past" (University of Mississippi Press, 2003).

More soon on the Holliman migrations across the Southern United States from the 17th to the 19th Centuries....Information and your written insights always welcome as we share together.

The Hollimans of Alabama

by Glenn N. Holliman

Back to the 19th Century...A Series of Articles on the Hollimans and Related Families of Fayette County, Alabama

By 1836, several sons of James Grantson Holliman (1750 - 1836) and other associated families had migrated to Fayette County, Alabama from Lancaster, South Carolina.  Cornelius (1792 - 1862), Charles (1795 - 1850) and Warren Holliman (1801 - 1876) were part of the westward movement of the American nation and my family in the 19th Century.  


Warren would later move on to Arkansas and father many Holliman descendants in that part of the United States.  Cornelius, Charles and many of their descendants remained in Fayette and adjoining counties.  Many others went to Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.


An Excursion into History....
On April 9, 2011, Glenda Norris, a descendant of James Grantson and Cornelius Holliman families, led fifteen of her distant cousins through the cemeteries of her many great grandparents to share their stories.  She would be the first to tell you that she stands on the shoulders of her grandfather, Cecil Rhodes Holliman, and his son, her uncle, Dr. Rhodes Holliman.  The research about to be shared comes from their hands and also of the late Walt Holliman, a descendant of James Grantson and Charles Holliman, his son.


Glenda Norris reports:

"The first stop of the tour was Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. burial site. It was unseasonably hot for April (92f) even for the Deep South. But that didn’t slow anyone down. Everyone was more than willing to take a short ‘hike’ into the woods, up a small hill and then a left turn into the forest to view the ‘old Indian burial ground” where Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. gravesite is located.

Here is a photo of everyone getting ready to make the walk. Left to right are: Jeanette Holiman Stewart (Austin, Texas), Glenn Holliman (Newport, Pennsylvania), Lenwood Holliman (Gordo, Alabama), James Franklin Holliman (Sulligent, Alabama), Bishop Holliman (in cap from Avilla, Indiana and the oldest at 91), Laura Vonceil Duckworth (Reform, Alabama), Wally and Tommie Holliman (Irondale, Alabama), Faye Gardner (Kennedy, Alabama), Bill Holliman (Horn Lake, Mississippi), Jean Holliman (Irondale, Alabama), Joey Holliman (Florence, Alabama) and Tyler Duckworth (Tuscaloosa, Alabama and at age 15, the youngest on the trip). Obscured is Robert Holliman and taking the photograph is Norman Holliman (both brothers from Marysville, Tennessee)."

All the above are either descendants of Charles (about 1795 - before 1850) or Cornelius Holliman (1792 - 1862).  Of course, all have the DNA of Christopher Holyman, Sr. (1618 - 1691), the Englishman who left Bedford, Bedfordshire and immigrated to Jamestown, Virginia in 1650.

Above, Glenda Norris shares information at the grave site of her 4th great grandfather, Charles Daniel Lucas Jr. whose daughter, Mary 'Polly' Lucas married Uriah Holliman, a son of Cornelius Holliman.  Below, Glenda points out a Creek Indian burial site.  Charles Daniel Lucas, Jr. was a Federal Indian agent and may have been the son of a  Catawba Indian mother from South Carolina.  When he died, he requested to be buried with his Native American friends.  His wish was granted and he lies today sharing the sandy soil with first Alabamians.

Next post on Fayette County, Glenda provides detailed information on the Lucas family....

Welcome Family!

Important Notice:

Since composing this article in February 2010, additional research has failed to identify John Holyman (1572 - 1650) of Tring as the father of Christopher Holyman, Sr., the believed first generation of Hollimans in America. My interpretation at this time is that Christopher Holyman, Sr. was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England in 1618. We have data that he arrived in Virginia in 1650 and died in 1691. (Last updated April 13, 2014)

This is the story of the Christopher Holyman families from Jamestown, Virginia to the present day. All family members, and those who have married into this family, are invited to join in the exploration.

Through this blog we plan to include interesting facts, family trees, lore, geographical information and first hand memories. This blog is a work in progress. Your comments, insights, corrections, articles, photographs, diaries and old letters are most welcome. In this format we plan to hand off our past, and present, to the future.

Glenn N. Holliman, Complier

Grace A. Hollilman, Editor

Family Lineage
What follows is a baseline genealogy of a Holliman paternal family tree through the life of John Thomas Holliman of Fayette County, Alabama and his sons. John Thomas is the father of six sons (photo below). Most of the persons receiving this email are descendents of two of the sons: James Monroe Holliman and Ulysses (usually spelled and pronounced Ulyss) Selman Holliman.

Jim Monroe Holliman, an attorney, and his wife Anna Elizabeth Baker, had two sons who grew to maturity: Cecil Rhodes and Charles Baker Holliman. Ulyss and his wife, Pearl Caine, had seven children: Melton, Vena Holliman Daly, Euhal, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell, Bishop, Virginia Holliman Cornelius and Ralph Holliman.

All the above, and most of you reading this, are descended from an immigrant from a Bedford, England immigrant with probable additional grandparents from Cuddington and Sherington, Buckinghamshire, England.

Christopher Hollyman (b 1618 Bedford, England – d 1691, Isle of Wight Co., Virginia)

Richard Holyman (b 1660 ca - d 1711)

Samuel Holliman - (b 1707 - 1781), Johnston County, NC.

James Grantson Holliman (b 1750, Johnston Co., North Carolina – d 1836, Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina). Wife was Elizabeth Bryant.

Cornelius Holliman (b 1792, Anson Co., North Carolina - d 1862, Fayette Co., Alabama) First wife and mother of Uriah, Mary Elizabeth Plyler (1793-1835).

Uriah Holliman ( b 1817, Lancaster, Co., South Carolina - d 1862, Okolona, Mississippi after the Battle of Corinth). Wife was Mary Polly Lucas (1819-1913).

John Thomas Holliman (b 1844, Fayette Co., Alabama – d 1930, Fayetteville, Alabama)
Of the marriage to Sarah Corbett, William Perry Holliman (1871-1941) was the surviving child. Of the marriage to Martha Jane Walker, five sons were born: Silas Green Holliman (1876-1943), James Monroe (1878-1938), Thomas Leland (1880-1970), Andrew Eckford (1882-1926) and Ulysses Selman Holliman (1884-1965).

Sons of John Thomas and Martha Jane Walker Holliman

Left to right are: Bill, Green, James Monroe, Leland and Ulysses. The vacant spot is for Eckford who died in 1926.

The photo was taken at Fayette Co., Alabama May 1934 by Cecil Rhodes Holliman with an old bellows Kodak on 120 film. Rhodes Holliman, his son, remembers the photo and observes the following:

I remember the sense of necessity that pervaded the crowd to get this historic family photo. It was made at the annual Holliman reunion and ‘eating on the grounds’. With Eck dead, everyone wanted to preserve the remaining family image. I used to play under this old church while services were in progress. I'm surprised that the building didn't collapse while full of people. The ferruginous rock pilings did not have any mortar! The building was literally balanced on these pilings! Uncle Bill’s son, Grady, played the guitar to accompany the singing. This is where I fell in love with the hymn, "Just a Little Talk with Jesus". 

I remember an over-weight lady whose name was Cousin Maggie Thornton. She came to the reunion in a wagon pulled by a team of mules. She had an old steamer trunk full of food: pies, fried chicken, potato salad, you name it. She was famous for her cooking. I think that she was a spinster. She was distantly related -- collateral family. I think that she is buried at Caine’s Ridge. Uncle Bill could walk to church; his old shack was across the road and a little south, back in the woods. I think that his house site still shows on the USGS Topo maps.

Bishop Holliman (b 1919), a son of Ulyss, was also present at this reunion, and remembers Maggie Thornton. Ulyss, Euhal and Bishop drove from Irondale (a suburb of Birmingham) to Fayette for the day, a major drive in 1934.


Mary Polly Lucas Holliman (1819-1913)

The Story of Her Father and Grandfather

Contributions from Glenda Norris, Rhodes Holliman and S. Emmett Lucas, Jr. Prepared by Glenn Holliman.

Mary Polly Lucas, was the daughter of Charles Daniel Lucas (1778- 1853) and Mary Hastings (9/10/1786 - 1/21/1867), all originally from South Carolina. Polly Lucas became the wife of Uriah Holliman on 8/29/1836 in Tuscaloosa, AL. Uriah and Polly had many children, one being John Thomas Holliman, the direct ancestor of most persons reading this information.

Charles Lucas Sr. (1755 - 1810?) was the grandfather of Polly Lucas. Charles was probably a tailor who lived in Marlboro County, SC, along the Pee Dee River near the North Carolina line. Glenda Norris reports that Charles was married to Dorcus (maiden name unknown) who is thought to have been an American Indian. One of their sons was Charles Daniel Lucas, Polly’s father.

Charles Daniel Lucas (1771-1853) stood six-foot-four and according to Polly, he once killed a panther with his bare hands. In 1819 Charles Daniel moved his family from South Carolina to the new state of Alabama (just as the Holliman family did in 1836).

Rhodes Holliman, a great great great grandson of Charles Daniel, reports that Charles had a fierce temper yet managed to serve as a deacon in the 1830s at the Springhill Baptist Church near Moore’s Bridge, Fayette County. Family lore states that Charles Daniel hit one of his sons causing his wife, Mary Hastings Lucas, to move herself and children from Newtonville to the Bluff Community northwest of Fayette.

Charles Daniel died in 1853 after having served as a Federal Indian agent. He is buried in an Indian burial site seven miles from Fayette toward Newtonville. In death, as in life, Charles Daniel Lucas was not completely at peace. In 1870 grave robbers attempted to disinter him but were scared off in the process.

Charles Daniel’s wife, Mary, is buried in an unmarked grave at the Springhill Baptist Church Cemetery in Fayette Co., along with their daughter, Mary Polly Lucas Holliman, and John Thomas Holliman’s first wife, Sarah E. Corbett.


In the picture below Glenda Norris (Alabaster, AL) and her uncle, Dr. Rhodes Holliman (Dublin, VA), visit the gravesite of Charles Daniel Lucas in Fayette Co., AL near Newtonville in 2007.

Glenda (b 1959), is the daughter of Cecile Eugenia Holliman Youngblood (b 1937), who is the daughter of Cecil Rhodes Holliman, (1902 – 1986), who is the son of James Monroe Holliman (1878 – 1938) who is the son of John Thomas Holliman (1844 – 1930) who is the son of Uriah and Mary Polly Lucas Holliman. Rhodes (b 1928) is the son of Cecil Holliman, the grandson of James Monroe Holliman, and great grandson of John Thomas Holliman.