Going Forward

by Glenn N. Holliman

Thoughts to Share and Feedback Welcome

Our first national gathering of the Christopher Hollyman Families Society was held March 31 - April 2, 2016 in Smithfield, Virginia.  Judging from the comments and photographs posted on Face Book, it proved to be the grand experience the organizers hoped it would be.  Allen Holleman and I met with Sarah Barlow Wright, Joe Barlow and Billy Joe Holleman in October 2015 to carve the outlines of a three day event.  Allen kindly took on the job of coordinating meeting and residence space and registration.

Left, part of the group at our gathering space for our meetings, Billy Joe Holleman in the blue shirt and Brenda Holloman, right, in white.

The Smithfield Inn, where we had dinner on March 31st, had the only private room in town with a restaurant attached (or the other way around).  We originally thought the service and space would be fine for say 25 or so who might attend, even believing the rooms available at the Smithfield Inn would be sufficient for out-of-towners.

Wow, did you surprise us!  Almost sixty persons registered (some could not make it at the last minute) pleasantly forcing Allen to reach out to the Hampton Inn for lodging, meeting space and to bring in a food truck for meals.  And he did all this from Raleigh, North Carolina, a lot of work for which we are all grateful.  
  

Right, Mike Holliman, Jimmy Holliman, Norman Holliman and Becky Holliman Payne, all with Alabama roots.

And Billy Joe and wife went over the top, not only escorting us around the Holleman House, providing a hay ride to the possible resting place of Christopher Hollyman and other descendants, but then feeding us Smithfield Ham, cookies and hot and cold drinks at the Mill Swamp Baptist Church.  That church is the first Baptist Church planted in Virginia and was founded in part by the Hollemans.  The land for the cemetery adjacent to the church was donated by Hollemans from Christopher's original 1,020 acres.

Joe Parker, center in the light blue shirt, helped 'supervise' the generous ham sandwich snack at Mill Swamp.   

Besides the emotional experience of standing on historic Hollyman ground and the delightful opportunity to meet so many new cousins, the conference provided education on mutual family history and discussion on formalizing a Hollyman society.  Some of these outcomes I reported in the recent April  5, 2016 post.  

One thought in particular was the desire to meet again, to hold another Gathering, perhaps in two years, and perhaps even in England, the ancestral European home of Christopher's descendants. 

So the purpose of this blog is really a questionnaire asking for your feed back.  May I ask you to send your comments to glennhistory@gmail.com please.  Whether you attended earlier this month or not, we would welcome your opinion as we go forward in planning.

1. If and when another Gathering is held, where should it be?

2. Should we meet at a conference hotel with an in-house restaurant, meeting rooms and an indoor pool for children who might attend with parents and/or grandparents?  

3. Or should we hold the Gathering at a less expensive conference center in the woods, perhaps a bit more rustic setting and facilities but at a lower cost?  And such might not be near an Interstate Highway or airport.

4. Should it be held at or near a historic Holliman landmark, such as Samuel Holliman's 1741 restored home in Edgecombe County, North Carolina?  Or should we stay in the Jamestown/Richmond, Virginia area, our common American ancestral home?

5. Would one have an interest in holding a Gathering in Buckinghamshire, England and visit historic sites in High Wycombe, Cuddington, Dinton, Sherington and Bedford, Bedfordshire?  Obviously this would require a lot of planning and appropriate expense.

Below in 2014, Carolyn Stonham, owner of the 1699 Holyman House in Cuddington, Buckingshire, England with cousins Lindsay Holliman of England and Glenn Holliman of Pennsylvania, USA.  This thatch cottage would be an important stop on a Hollyman ancestral tour of England.

In my next post, I will get into agenda building.  As one plans a conference, one wants to offer subject matter that is meaningful to as many as possible.  That is why we met in Isle of Wight County, Virginia and began our program with the latest research on our English roots. Everyone there had that interest in common.  

So more thoughts and opinion seeking in the next blog.  Enough for now.  Please take a moment to respond to the above questions.  

Again, just write me at glennhistory@gmail.com or leave a comment below. I will 'combine' thoughts and share the findings.

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


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


 Nancy Palestine Holliman, one of the thirteen children of Uriah and Polly Lucas Holliman, is buried at Springhill Cemetery in the Bluff Community of Fayette County, Alabama near her mother, Mary Polly Lucas Holliman.  Athough her name is listed as Holliman on the stone, Nancy Palestine is reported by Rhodes Holliman to have been married to John Pinion, but they had no children.

Below, J. Frank Holliman, a second great grandson of Uriah and Polly Lucas Holliman, tells the tale of the winter time burial of his great aunt, Palestine, at the Bluff community, Spring Hill Cemetery.  His great grandfather and other relatives dug the grave on a cold, stormy night in 1923.

Left to right are Bill Holliman, Bishop Holliman, Norman Holliman, James Franklin (Frank) Holliman, Glenda Norris, Wally and Tommie Holliman Allen.  Frank Holliman, who still lives on and near the land farmed by Uriah Holliman prior to the Civil War, is most familiar with Holliman ancestors in the northern part of Fayette County and southern part of Lamar County, Alabama.  This excursion to north central Alabama on April 9, 2011 was organized by Uriah and Polly Lucas Holliman's 3rd great grand daughter, Glenda Norris.

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


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.

A Salute to Our Family's World War II Veterans, Part I

World War II, 1939-1945, was a time of horrible destruction, hatred and sadness. Young men, with the support of women, were asked to leave their homes to fight an aggressive enemy on foreign land. They went to Europe, Africa, and the Pacific, places they had only heard of, or read about, in school books. These soldiers witnessed the atrocities of modern warfare, yet, upon their return home, were able to build the foundation for the superpower nation we live in today.


A Soldier's Duty
by Norman Holliman

My father, August Harold Holliman, was born in Burleson County, Texas, September 27, 1923 and passed away March 11, 1991, much too young. My mother was born November 2, 1928 in Maryville, Tennessee and survives him.

Dad enlisted in the Army on May 19, 1944 at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. He was sent to the front lines in France and Germany where he was in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945). He reported that, in some places, he had to walk in thigh-high snow in sub zero conditions.

One evening my father was on guard duty. When he finished his watch, he went to the campfire to get his replacement. The soldier who was to replace my father said, "The hell with them, let them come and get us.” Instead of going to the CO (commanding officer), my dad pulled his replacement’s shift in that unbearable snow and almost lost his feet to frostbite.

When I asked my dad why he didn't do something about the soldier’s reply he said, "I knew what he was going through. He was having a hard time dealing with the circumstances.” My father was humble like that; of course he was a Holliman!

When my father got to the hospital in England, his feet where black with frostbite. The good nurses rubbed his feet nonstop with alcohol, relieving each other periodically. My dad made it home and was medically discharged from the Army on August 2, 1945 with a Purple Heart and the European – African – Middle Eastern Campaign Medal. My father was a rifleman in his service to his country.

Later in his life, my dad was the Post Commander at the local VFW in Rockdale, TX. I hope any child who has a father who is, or was, a veteran of any war can admire him as much as I admire my father!


Right, a photo of August Harold Holliman and wife, Betty. They married June 25, 1957.

Next week, we highlight the war service of a distant cousin of Norman's, William Ralph Holliman. Norman and Ralph, who is the youngest son of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, share a great grandfather, John Grantson Holliman (1850-1836), who fought North Carolina Tories and the British Army in 1780 during the American Revolution. Additional information on Norman and Ralph can be found in our Contributor's page.

Mary Polly Lucas Holliman Part II

Since our February 26, 2010 post we have heard from many members of our extended family. Much thanks to all for writing and passing along new information and photographs about Holliman family history. Your contributions are encouraged and welcome.

The photo below is of Norman S. Holliman of Tennessee taken by the gravesite of his great, great grandmother, Mary Polly Lucas Holliman in Bluff, Alabama. She is a grandmother of almost all reading this story.

A native of Rockdale, Texas, Norman is the son of the late August Harold Holliman, who is the son of Cornelius Elmer, who is the son of Cornelius Holliman, who is the eighth child of Uriah and Polly Lucas Holliman. A genealogy of Uriah and Mary Polly's offspring is listed at the end of this post and has been added to the Family Lineage Page (on the left on this blog).

Feature Story:

Part II –A Compassionate Heroine: The Story of Mary Polly Lucas Holliman
By Dr. Rhodes Holliman, originally published in Southern Times Magazine of Tuscaloosa and West Alabama, issue no. 125.

In May of 1862, Mary Polly in her home in Fayette Co., Alabama heard from some source, that her husband Uriah and son, Charles Daniel, were sick in Okolona, Mississippi, where a very congested camp had been established after the retreat from Corinth (Battle of Shiloh). They were trapped in an epidemic of measles and pneumonia that enveloped the camp. She hitched up the mule to a wagon and traveled the primitive dirt roads and trails to Okolona, a distance in excess of 70 miles to attempt to care for her sick husband and son. Uriah died on May 8, 1862, and Charles Daniel died on May 12, 1862.

She stayed long enough to bury her husband and son, and then drove the wagon back to the home place near Bluff, while suffering the ravages of measles contracted while acting as caregiver to her family. Their graves are among the many ‘unknowns’ in the Okolona Confederate Cemetery. She remained in desperate condition while convalescing at home. One can only imagine the tragedy what would have occurred if she had died, orphaning seven children at home between the ages of 14 and two. She survived this frightening ordeal to become one of the great, compassionate, pioneer ladies of northwestern Fayette County.

In 1865, when James Franklin and John Thomas returned from the war, Mary Polly had nine of her 13 children at home for a short time. James and John, at ages 26 and 21, would soon be married and moving out to start their own families. The remaining children: females aged 17, 11, nine and seven, and boys aged 16, 13 and fiver, were the ‘work force’ on which May Polly depended to handle all the many chores inherent in sustaining a successful farm. She could hitch up a mule to a plow and till the soil as well as any man. As her brood began to mature over the next 12 years, she saw two boys and two girls marry local sweethearts and move away to Texas, the new frontier for patent land. Another daughter would marry a Holliman cousin and move to Oklahoma, leaving only one daughter and one son to assist in maintaining the farm.

As children abandoned the old homestead for ‘greener pastures’, Mary Polly developed a vocational interest that would endear her to the population of northwest Fayette county and enhance the qualities of her character that are engraved on her grave stone: “Pioneer Strength – Integrity – Human Kindness!”

Professional medical services were virtually unknown in post-war Fayette County so, while maintaining her farm, she became the only source of medical assistance in her community as an herb doctor, caregiver and midwife to many of her neighbors. As her reputation of competency spread, her medical ‘practice’ spread geographically. She would accept appeals for help from all over the area, then saddle up a mule and ride out to provide services.

She charged $5 for midwife services, which included prenatal checkups, moving in to the expectant mother’s home and performing the delivery, staying for a week or more of postnatal care of mother and infant, plus cooking for the family, doing the washing and cleaning the house. If ever a grave stone spoke the truth to the memory of the one interred, it is her stone. One of he God’s great compassionate mothers is at rest in Springhill Baptist Cemetery in Bluff Community, Fayette County, Alabama.

Mary Polly finished her days at the home of her youngest son, Joshua Warren Holliman (1860-1944) in Vernon Alabama, Lamar County. This writer had the privilege of talking to Joshua in the 1930s and hunting on his farm as a boy. One of the last recollections that Joshua had of his mother comes from our family archives. She was ‘sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of an old dog-trot house, smoking a corn cob pipe, dipping snuff and nipping from a quart of Four Roses whiskey that was sitting on the floor beside her chair!” What a unique way to remember a lady whose life-long work ethic brought comfort and support to so many.

There are many tales to tell about Mary Polly Lucas Holliman and her large family. There is a separate, exciting story about each one of them. There are very few cemeteries in Fayette County where you can’t find one or more Hollimans descended from Mary Polly. Her descendants spread out over Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama.

Tombstone of Mary Polly Lucas Holliman

(photo courtsey of Norman Holliman)

In our next post, Dr. Rhodes Holliman continues his story of the Holliman family with a two part biography of John Thomas Holliman (1844-1930).


The Children of Uriah Holliman and Mary Polly Lucas Holliman
compiled by Dr. Rhodes Holliman

1. Mary Elizabeth Holliman, born Sept. 12th, 1837, died Oct. 9th, 1841.

2. James Franklin Holliman, born Jan. 28th, 1839, died 13 May, 1911. 1st Lt., Co. B, 58th Alabama Infantry Regt., captured at Missionary Ridge, TN, on Nov. 25th, 1863. Spent the remainder of the War in Johnson's Island Prison Camp for Confederate Officers, in Erie, Ohio. He was released on June 13th, 1865. He returned to Fayette County to become a teacher and farmer. He married Rebecca Utley Stewart on July 2nd, 1865. They had 4 children (3 boys and a girl). Rebecca died and JFH married one of his former students, Bertha Lee Powell. The had 5 children (3 boys and 2 girls). JFH and both wives are buried at the Holliman-Stewart Cemetery, Bluff, AL.

3, Sarah Jane Holliman, born Oct. 3, 1840 in Fayette County, died Oct. 15, 1915, buried at Cottonwood Cemetery, 6 miles east of Eustace, Texas. She married Charles Stephen Coppell in Fayette County on July 13th, 1864.

4. Charles Daniel Holliman, born May 6th, 1842, died May 12, 1862 of diseases mentioned above while in the Confederate Army. Burial probably in the Confederate Cemetery, Okolona, MS.

5. John Thomas Holliman, born April 23, 1844, died July 12th 1930 in Fayette County. Burial at Caine’s Ridge Cemetery, 4 miles south of Fayette, AL, on Route 159. Was known as "Hico John" to distinguish him from 2 others of the same name in the county. Married (1) Sarah Corbett: one child, William Perry. She died in childbirth. Married (2) Martha Jane Walker: 5 sons. JTH was a Pvt. in Company H. 41st Alabama Infantry Regr., CSA. He surrendered at Petersburg, VA, on Feb. 15th, 1865, near starvation. He took the oath and was paroled to a farmer in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he worked until the fall of 1865 and then walked home to Fayette County, AL.

6. Elijah Holliman, born April 16th, 1846, died July 10th, 1864, from typhoid while serving in the Confederate Army. He was a Pvt. in Company I of the 56th Alabama Partisan Rangers. He died in a Confederate Hospital near Lagrange, GA and his buried in Confederate Cemetery under gravestone that reads E. Holman.

7. Nancy Palestine Holliman, born April 7th, 1848, died Dec. 12th, 1923. Married John Pinion: no issue. She is buried near her mother, Mary Polly, in Springhill Cemetery near Bluff, AL.

8. Cornelius Holliman, born Dec. 16th, 1849, in Fayette County. Married Sarah Elizabeth Smith at Fayette. Moved to Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. Buried Texas Eagle Cemetery. This is Norman S. Holliman's great grandfather.

9. William Perry Holliman, born March 29th, 1852, in Fayette County. Married Sarah Holliman, a distant cousin and daughter of Warren C. Holliman and Mary Blakeney of Newtonville, AL. Moved to Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. Resided near Cameron, Texas.

10. Martha Ann Holliman, born June 27th, 1854, married Rufus Buckner. Resided near Alvord, Texas.

11. Rebecca Drucilla Holliman, born March 4th, 1856. Married John Thomas Holliman, cousin, and son of Warren C. Holliman and Mary Blakeney of Newtonville, AL. Moved to Ardmore, OK. He was called "Black John" due to the color of his hair and to distinguish him from two other John Ts living Fayette County at the same time.

12. Emily Frances Holliman, born March 14th, 1858 in Fayette Co. Married (1) Abner McClung in Fayette County. Moved to Eustace, Texas, where she had relatives and there married Joe Reynolds.

13. Joshua Warren Holliman, born Aug. 26th, 1860, died Jan. 6th, 1944. Married Martha Goulsby, resided in Vernon, Lamar County, AL, until his death. Buried in Vernon. His mother, Mary Polly Lucas Holliman, died at his home in 1913.