Preserving our Past for the Future 2019

by Glenn N. Holliman

Our Annual Review of the Fascinating work of Jeanette Holiman Stewart!

Here we are again as we  have for several winters, Jeanette on the right and I on the left, comparing notes at the home of Jeanette and Jim Stewart in Florida.

Jeanette is the chief administrator of the Hollyman Ancestry.com site, now with over 50,000 names, up from 44,000 last year.  The number of records has passed 225,000!

This is a prodigious piece of work that she and others have accomplished over the years.  Jeanette receives questions almost daily from distant cousins from all over the world.

In the photograph above, we were working on two particular issues involving our common ancestor Richard Hollyman, d 1711, one of the four sons of Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691) of Bedfordshire, England and Isle of Wight, Virginia.  Richard married a widow, Margaret Jordan House, probably in 1700.  In 1707,  our 5th great grandfather, Samuel was born and later moved from Surry County, Virginia to North Carolina.  In the centuries to come, our American families continued moving west.  Jeanette was born in Texas and I to an Alabama family.

An Intrusive Court Case in Colonial Virginia

What is fascinating is that Richard and Margaret started their family before benefit of a legal marriage.  She was called before a parish court in Surry and found guilty of 'fornication' and named our Richard as the father of her child, name of which we are not sure.  Widow Margaret was fined the ghastly sum of 500 pounds of Virginia tobacco for her premature intimacies with Richard.  Margaret did have a child from her first marriage, Mary, who was at least temporarily taken away from her, evidently our multiple great grandmother perceived as an unfit mother.  This was indeed a different era in a seemingly tightly regulated colonial American society.

Master Hollyman genealogist Joseph Parker sent me details of the above incident several years ago.  One can find his research at www.bholliman.com, a virtual archives.  Go to the Records page and enter Margaret's name (try also Richard Hollyman or Joseph Parker), drill down a bit and click on the manuscript which also contains other items of interest of Colonial era Hollimans.

A Complicated Task

Jeanette and I have begun the task of tracing Margaret Jordan's Virginia ancestors which is proving complicated.  Evidently there were several Jordan families in the new colony prior to 1650, one of the most famous persons being Samuel Silas Jordan (1578 ca -1623).  Samuel Jordan served in the first House of Burgess in Jamestown in 1619, the first assembly of representative democracy in what became the USA.  Is Samuel a great grandfather of descendants of Richard Hollyman?  As yet, we do not know.  More research is required, so Jeanette is directing me to spend more time at the Library of Virginia, the next time I visit grandchildren in Richmond.

What was that other issue Jeanette and I were studying?  Check out the next blog to learn more about the founding family for most Hollimans (various spellings) in the present USA!

Hollomans of Illinois

by Glenn N. Holliman

On the Trail of the Illinois Hollomans!

In my last post, we shared the story of Betty Holloman Fritch  (left) and her missing 18th Century ancestors.  Betty's great, great grandfather, James Holloman, shows up in the 1820 Census in Johnson County in the southern part of Illinois.  Betty is a native of that area with ancestors in both Johnson and Polk Counties. As her brother, Jack Holloman, is a DNA match with yours truly, both of us descended from Christopher Hollyman (1618-1691) and his English fore bearers, Betty is puzzled she cannot locate her great grandfathers between Virginia in the 1690s and Illinois in 1820.

Below, Joseph Parker of Texas, and soon-to-be-Florida, offers some important clues that may answer Betty's mystery.  Joe is no stranger to those who follow Hollyman genealogy. His mind is filled with decades of research and reasoning on Hollemans, Hollimans, Holimans, Hollomans and all the various American spellings.  In short, he is the go-to-person, a living encyclopedia of stories and lineages.  Our thanks to Joe for once again helping to fill-in-the-blanks of a cousin's genealogy! - GNH

A Possible Answer to Betty's Riddle
by Joseph Parker

In my notes, someplace, you will find many of the Hollemans/Hollomans/Hollomons that moved into the lower three or four counties of Illinois - some prior to Statehood of Illinois in 1818.  I don't have all the information before my eyes at this time, but three of those counties were Pope, Union, Randolph, and another that I can't name at this time.

 Right, Joe Parker, Hollyman Genealogist Extraordinaire!

When Wilson Holleman and his two sons, Moody Holleman and Josiah John Holleman, left Surry County, Virginia between early 1796 and before 1800, they moved over to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky (western Kentucky south of Illinois and the Ohio River) where they were in 1803 (from records).  Along the way, I believe that they stopped in eastern Tennessee where many of the Hollemans were then located, and then moved on to western Tennessee and then Kentucky.

In doing so, I believe that this family took some of the Hollemans/Hollomans with them; and most probably, Hickman Holloman, William Holloman, and a James Holliman (spelling derived from local records of the times).  Also traveling was a younger son of Wilson's, Edmund Holleman. 

Records of Edmund indicate he served in Indian Wars around 1812 with Zachary Taylor. He then moved over to Union County, Illinois, where he met and married Martha Thornton (citation from the William Thornton Bible).  

In 1818, Edmund and Josiah John then moved down the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and thence over to Lawrence County, Mississippi, where Moody married and settled down. But Josiah John and Edmund with their families then proceeded to move back to Tennessee. 

However, Edmund went back to Union County, Illinois.  When he died about 1828, Martha then proceeded to move on south to Clark County, Arkansas where she married again and lived out her life there. 

My records of southern Illinois were hard to come by, and very few and far between.  I believe that those Hollemans located in southern Illinois are from the same family of Wilson Holleman - hence, my own family (which arrived later in Texas). - Joseph Parker

So Betty, perhaps Edmund of Union County, Illinois, a county in the southern part of the state adjacent to Johnson and Polk Counties, may be the missing link to your great great grandfather, James Holloman? And you may be rather closely related to Joe! 

Our Hollyman Ancestry.com administrator, Jeanette Holiman Stewart, has responded to Joe's insightful words above with additional information and questions. Her comments are below followed by Joe's affirmation of her insights. It is grand to have these two fantastic chroniclers of our family's history share their knowledge and continue to 'fill in the blanks' on this American story. - GNH

From Jeanette Holiman Stewart - 

This is very exciting! Joe, I have a question though. Wasn't Edmund Peyton Holleman Sr. the son of Joseph Holleman Jr and Elizabeth Wilson? If so, he would be the brother of Wilson Holleman. I may be confused here, but just wanted to clarify. Also, any records you may have about Martha Thornton Holleman, I need desperately. All I have is her marriage to Edmund in Johnson, Union, Illinois. Also, Joseph Holleman Jr and Elizabeth Wilson had a son named James, a brother of Edmund and Wilson (if I have Edmund correct).

Below, Jeanette in her office keeping the Hollyman

Ancestry.com tree intact and accurate.  She has 
close to 40,000 names now in the database!

In the tree we have this James Holleman b abt 1770 in Surry County, Virginia. Betty's James Holloman that married Lorinda Davis was b abt 1803 in Virginia. The birth dates for both of those James are not arbitrary, I may have them off a bit, but thirty years or so is a leap.

Many people have attempted to tie the James that married Lorinda Davis to William Holleman (the s/o Arthur Holleman Sr). This William Holleman died in Southampton, Virginia in 1803. Now we know that Arthur and Joseph were brothers, so their kids may have been close and some may have done this migration together. Just things to ponder, but I really need Joe and Betty's wisdom to untangle this a bit. - Jeanette Holiman Stewart

From Joe Parker - 

Jeanette, you are absolutely correct. As to the notes on Martha Thornton, those are with the notes that I passed on to Glenn, or, those notes that I have lent to Lynn Holliman.

In late 1832, early 1833, Martha Thornton Holleman married again to Peter Lettherhead and moved on to Clark Co., AR -  or - moved on down to Clark Co., AR where her parents were then living, and then married there.  The settlement folder where the estate of Edmund Holleman was decided in Illinois, is empty, with no known disposition of any goods noted.  Martha Thornton was the daughter of William Thornton, and the Bible Record of William Thornton is on record some place.  William Thornton died someplace in Texas after 1840.

I have a feeling that that the birth of James Holleman/Holloman(?) is in Tennessee - but, where, and whose parents are his, is still a mystery to me, at this time.  I was never able to find enough records of Tennessee to clarify much of my information.  There is always that possibility that he was a brother to Hickman Holliman.

The Census Records of Lawrence Co., MS, taken in 1818 for application to Statehood purposes by Mississippi, does show Josiah John Holleman and his family in that area, beside Edmond Hollomon, wife, and female child - as best I remember.  (Those records copies are in my notes, which are now in the hands of Glenn Holliman in that large black loose leaf binder that I gave in Virginia - possibly marked "Book 2".)  In January, 1820, the US Census taken in a county of TN at that time, does show Josiah John Holleman and family there at that time (it also gives a definite possibility that the son of Josiah John and wife, could have been born in MS rather than all the following statements that William Arthur Holleman was born in TN.)  It also shows an Edmund Holliman, with wife, but not child, in that TN county.  Edmund was known, by records, of having returned to Illinois not later than 1825, when he was then a militia man at that time there.

Jeanette, this has some good thoughts about it.  There is a "time-frame" that would allow such a son to join Wilson and family in KY in the years just after 1803.  It IS an intriguing possibility that such is feasible - but, that paperwork is missing.  I have found no official paperwork for southern Illinois prior to Statehood in 1818, other than a few land grants by the Federal Government.  Further research is required. - Joe Parker

The above is an excellent example of how knowledgeable genealogists using research and citations work through the often complicated detective work to ascertain our ancestors.  We of the Hollyman families are so fortunate to have Joe and Jeanette dedicated to accurately sharing their abundant knowledge. - GNH

For additional information on Holliman families (Hollyman spelled numerous ways), these platforms are available.

Hollyman Ancestry.com - managed by Jeanette Holiman Stewart at htreekeeper@outlook.com 

Hollyman Facebook - managed by Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com

www.bholliman.com - a virtual archives of Hollyman and allied families managed by Glenn N. Holliman

http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com - managed by Glenn N. Holliman

The Library is Open

by Glenn N. Holliman

Does one call it a virtual archive, a library with a card catalog or your uncle's attic?  Whatever the name, one will find at www.bholliman.com  a growing assembly of manuscripts, biographies, family histories, family and government records, email collections, letters and even some photographs.

My research and writing has diminished at this site as I have been struggling to learn how to upload and save various documents. I am not of a generation for whom technology comes easy.  My tech savvy ended in the 1950s turning focus knobs on the family's 17 inch Motorola black and white television.

So for a while, I am an archivist.  Almost 500 documents now available to the extended families, most relating to Hollimans, Hollymans, Holleman or however your ancestors spelled our surname.

Let me recognize a few who are now storing documents.  First there is Joseph Parker of Texas.  At our gathering in Smithfield, Virginia in early April, he bestowed on me a large 4 inch notebook binder full of notes and information he has collected and stored through the decades.

 Right, Joe Parker and Lynn Holliman, good friends and relatives who wrestle together with lineages, share a laugh.

I have scanned his pages on Holleman marriages and his numerous notes.  Go to the web site, click on Records.  Go to the Surname Search section and type in Joseph Parker.  

His documents, now saved for the future, will come up.  Click on a document of your choice and allow some time for it to upload, and there you have Joe's research.

The same can be said for his distant cousin and good friend, Lynn Holliman, also of Texas.  Lynn has specialized in David Holliman and his families in Georgia and James Grantson Holliman of North Carolina.  The manuscript Lynn distributed at the April Hollyman Gathering on his research is available at the archive.  Follow the same procedure as detailed above, and you will have a number of items with Lynn listed as the author.

Since our Gathering, another ace researcher, Bob Hollyman-Mawson, an Englishman who lives in Wales, has passed along a cascade of Hollyman lists (various spellings) from the many shires in England where American Hollimans have distant cousins, descendants of those who did not immigrate as did Christopher Hollyman in 1650 from Bedfordshire.  

Again type in Bob's name in the Surname Search section of the Records page, and an amazing catalog of names and locations will appear. If you are an English Holliman descendant you definitely will want to review Bob's massive collection of names, dates and towns.

Above, Bob as a sailor in Her Majesty's Royal Navy in 1963. Right, a recent Remembrance Day, 11 November, with Bob sporting his medals and a red poppy, and looking every bit the quintessential Englishman!  

Bob is no stranger to many of you.  He has emailed with many Hollimans in the USA and has contributed numerous articles in this space.  Bob has been the conduit from which American Hollimans have learned much about our English heritage.

As with Joe and Lynn, we owe Bob a debt of gratitude for sharing his research and manuscripts.

There are more contributors, both living and passed, whose work I have and will continue to upload.  The children of Walter O. Holliman and Rhodes B. Holliman have left me boxes and boxes of papers.  All I am carefully reading, scanning and if the Creator gives me enough time, will add to the www.bholliman.com archive.

When my DNA is rotated, my son and nephew will take over stewardship of this archive.  So if you have something to share with the generations to come, let me know.

More later at this blog spot, as I find time to write between scanning and archiving.  Thanks for reading and your many emails. - GNH

.

Exploring further Holleman History in Old Virginia, Part 12

by Glenn N. Holliman

Note in previous articles, I have written of Josiah Holleman and his sons, Joel and Wilson who lived in 19th Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  In this posting, Allen Holleman of North Carolina writes of Jesse Holleman, the father and grandfather of the before noted Hollemans.  Allen's lineage is profiled in our October 4, 2012 article in the Archives of this blog. Take a look at Allen's blue convertible! GNH

Jesse Holleman, a Man Among Men 
by descendant Allen Holleman (photograph below)

 

Jesse Holleman (1735 ca - 1825) is a great grandson of Christopher Holyman (1618-1691), the patriarch of most of the Hollyman (various spellings) clans in America.  Christopher, Sr. arrived in Jamestown in 1650, and fathered Christopher, Jr. who parented John Holleman, the father of Jesse Holleman of this article.  All lived in Isle of Wight County, VA and had extensive land holdings in this Tidewater area of southeast Virginia. 

We don't know much about Jesse's early life other than he was born about 1735-37. His mother was named Elizabeth but we know less about her except that she was named as heir and executrix of John's will dated and applied in 1751 when John died. 

Below a Google photograph of the Holleman Farm at Mill Swamp today.  Approximately 100 acres remain of the original 1,020 acres Christopher Holyman, Sr. patented in 1684.  The Mill Swamp Cemetery land and possibly the land for the Mill Swamp Baptist Church, adjacent to the Cemetery, were donated by the Holleman family.  The Holleman House and remaining farm are located on the left center of this picture on Highway 621.

Jesse inherited 200 acres beside the Mill Swamp as a teenager, and it is safe to say he began farming the land as he grew into manhood.  He was educated well enough to read and write as he signed his name, not using an 'X'.  Also in his later professions of surveyor and land appraiser, many documents and other written works were necessary.  Even later, as a Baptist minister he needed not only to read and quote the Bible but to deal with the records and documents required.

Jesse acquired other properties and expanded his farming, mainly tobacco which leeches the soils so badly that land could be used only for a few seasons.  He, and later his sons, must have worked the farms themselves as census records show him having only one slave.  Although the slave population grew rapidly in Virginia in the 1700s, Jesse probably could not afford bonded servants in his early years.  Tobacco demands skill to raise, cure and transport, and he may have been able to hire some help among the numerous free blacks in Isle of Wight County.

What was Jesse like, what sort of man was he?  Farming demands dedication and hard work so he would have been self-directed and even driven.  By learning a new profession, he showed determination to succeed and proposer. He surely had high standards for himself and expected no less for his children.  

And they did not disappoint. A son, Josiah, became a member of the House of Delegates and a long time commissioner of Isle of Wight County.  A grandson, Joel Holleman, became a U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House of Delegates.

The Holleman family was reasonably prosperous and prominent in the area among such neighbors as the Wombles, Gwaltneys, Burwells, Wrenns and Cofers.  And in marrying Charity Cofer (m. ca 1766), Jesse did very well indeed.  He was held in such regard that he was co-executor of her father's will along with her brother and was trusted to value the land and divide it according to the senior Thomas Cofer's wishes.

There are records of Jesse's father, John, being a land appraiser, and one wonders if John might also have been a surveyor.  Jesse had probably learned much from John, even at a young age, as children grew up quite early in colonial times.  Jesse became a highly-regarded surveyor, an exacting science even in that more "primitive" time.  Land appraisal is more of an art, but requires trust in one whose judgement and experience can be relied upon for sale or inheritance purposes.  There was little circulating money, so property and the cash crop tobacco were the basis for wealth.

Jesse and Charity had three daughters: Mary "Polly", Sarah and another whose name is lost to history.  I have read that they had twelve sons but we can only identify seven.  All the boys names started with 'J': John, Josiah, Jesse (Jr.), Jordan and Jonathan we know quite well and some about Jeremiah but nothing about Jeptha.  He might have died at a young age - as possibly others?

And none named James. It was written by early genealogists that  James Grantson Holliman (1750-1836) of North Carolina was a son of Jesse, but Joseph Parker, Maxine Wright, Jeanette Holiman Stewart and Glenn N. Holliman have demonstrated otherwise earlier at this blog site.  Charity would have been only 10-12 years old if she had birthed James Grantson, and she never lived in North Carolina as did he.

Charity was in the 1810 census and died before 1816 when Jesse married a prominent widow, Frances Dews Stringfield, when he was about 70 years old. 

And no, there were no more children, but Jesse took up another profession, that of minister of the oldest Baptist church in Virginia - Mill Swamp Baptist that is still a thriving congregation today.  There was a previous congregation that met at Burleigh Plantation, but this group never had a building per se.  MSBC grew from this first Virginia attempt at organized Baptist worship. When he was in his 80's, Jesse again served the church as minister.  Below, Mill Swamp Baptist Church as it looks in the 21st Century.

And what might seem strange today....Jesse was also a distiller of spirits.  It was common practice to have a toddy before dinner, and Jesse, who evidently had no use for temperance, made apple brandy, his favorite.  It probably helped him live longer and surely made the journey more enjoyable.  My how the Baptists have changed!

Many researchers have stated that Jesse was a patriot in the American Revolution (true) - as a soldier in the army. That part is not accurate.  He would have been about 40 and too old for field service - except maybe as a senior officer and the records would exist for that. 

No, he had a large farm and family to look after as well as his other professions. As all able-bodied men were expected to serve in the local militia, Jesse might have served there, probably along with his teen-aged sons.

 Alas, when the British officer, Banister "Bloody" Tarleton, burned the Isle of Wight courthouse, many of the militia records were lost along with many other documents. (This is why we have lost so much information on our antecedents.)

Jesse did something equally important as being a soldier.  In 1779 he was appointed Surveyor of Roads for Isle of Wight county, building and maintaining roads used by the citizens, militia and army. Unfortunately the area roads were utilized by the British as well, who made excursions into the region burning, pillaging and thieving, before being driven back to their ships by the militia. 

This service is the important basis for a number of DAR and SAR applications - including my own.  Jesse Holleman was truly ‘A Man Among Men’.

Jesse died in December of 1824, and his will was proved with an inventory on January 3, 1825.  It has long been written that he was buried in the Mill Swamp Baptist church cemetery, but that land was not given until later.  It is almost certain that Jesse was laid to rest in the existing cemetery on the Holleman farm, possibly with John, and Christophers Sr. and Jr.  Wooden markers of the time did not last long, and Wilson's is the earliest carved in stone. - Allen Holleman of North Carolina

  I am grateful to Allen for this article, and encourage all who have an ancestral story to send it along so we may share it with others. GNH

Next posting...back to our English Roots, some new research....

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!