A Gathering of Hollimans, Part IV

by Glenn N.  Holliman


This is the fourth in a series of articles concerning the October 14/15, 2011 family seminar held in Fayette, Alabama, the ancestral location of many Hollimans living today.

On the outskirts of Fayette last October were many cotton fields (above) waiting for the harvest.  This crop was important to Southern Holliman families for several centuries.  The farm land in the Sipsy River bottoms and the the timber and minerals of the ridge and ravine topography of the area have provided income to generations of Hollimans in that part of west Alabama. 

Above at the Fayette, Alabama seminar for Holliman descendants, Raiford Brandon, Bill Holliman and Vonceil Duckworth took notes while Joe Parker (above) shared his many insights in the Holliman family.

The gathering did not lack for educational expertise.  In addition to Kathleen and Jimmy Holliman (above left), a professor at Auburn, was Lenwood Holliman (above right) of Lamar County, Alabama, a retired superintendent of schools.  Both Lenwood and Jimmy descend through Charles Holliman, a son of James Grantson Holliman.

The Hollimans attending, sans spouses, were left to right front row: Jeanette Holiman Stewart, Vonceil Duckworth, Lenwood Holliman, Glenda Norris (number 12), Jimmy Holliman, Raiford Brandon and David Jennings.  Back row: James Franklin Holliman, Glenn Holliman, Bill Holliman, Joe Parker and Lynn Holliman.

Sending greetings to Alabama from Caernarvon, Wales in Great Britain was cousin Bob Hollyman-Mawson (left) who forwarded some of his humerous findings on Holyman behaviors in Nottingham, England in the 1500s.  His article, which generated chuckles, was distributed at the seminar.

Finally after a presentation on our English heritage to the Fayette group, an accumulation of my articles on English Holymans, was distributed (see below).  If anyone would like a copy of Bob Hollyman-Mawson's article and/or mine, I am happy to email.  My email address is Glennhistory@gmail.com.

This publication describes my adventures during 2010 and 2011 in the search of the Holliman families of England before our ancestors became Americans.  The parish church on the cover is Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire, England where a very great uncle of the America Hollimans was born in 1495.  This uncle became The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, appointed a bishop during the turbulent reign of Queen Mary Tudor.


One cannot close our visit to Fayette, Alabama without a word of thanks to the Rose Hill Inn for their generous hospitality, the staff at the Fayette County Civic Center who worked on a Saturday for us, and my genealogical partner and second cousin, Glenda Norris who donated great time and energy to insuring the Holliman Round Table event would occur.


And much thanks to those who came so far and shared knowledge and asked good questions as we all sought to know better our ancestral roots.  


Next postings, more on Alabama Hollimans before we return to Merry Ole England and Wales in search of our Medieval and Renaissance roots. 

A Gathering of Hollimans, Part I

by Glenn N. Holliman

In the small community of Fayette, Alabama on October 14 and 15, 2011, a dozen blood-related Hollimans, all descended from Christopher Holyman, Sr. (1618 – 1691), gathered to share research and pose questions as to their common lineage.

Those who came overnight lodged at the Rose House Inn (above) in Fayette, a quiet community, forty or so miles west of Birmingham and the same distance north of  Tuscaloosa.  It was in this frontier county that three Holliman brothers, Warren, Charles and Cornelius settled in 1836, emigrating from South Carolina.  All three were sons of James Grantson Holliman (1750 – 1836).  Warren and his family moved on to Arkansas.  Charles, Cornelius and hundreds of their descendants stayed in Fayette and surrounding counties.

Not wasting a moment, Joe Parker (left below) and Lynn Holliman (right) immediately upon arriving began sharing information on the front porch of the Inn’s guest house.  Both had driven from Texas, and planned to travel further east on family vacations and research.  Joe had prepared a software disk of Hollimans (and various spellings) and their locations in the United States.

During the evening, Joe, Lynn and yours truly examined papers on James Grantson Holliman from the Walt O. Holliman collection recently donated by his children for review by other family members.  


With combined research and the work done by Walt in previous decades, we concluded that the evidence is overwhelming that Samuel Holliman (1707c - 1789), a grandson of Christopher Holyman, Sr. (1618 - 1691), must be the father of James Grantson.  The name of James Grantson Holliman's father has bedeviled family historians for decades.

On the Friday evening, a reception was held and, those of us who knew each other only by email, began to share stories in person.  Above seminar organizer Glenda Norris, (left in pink) of the Birmingham, Alabama suburbs, reviews a family history prepared by Raiford Brandon (right) and his wife, Shelia (in blue).  


The Brandons had traveled from their home near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Raiford’s family tree not only is connected to England through his Holliman roots, but also has branches leading to members of the Tudor Royal Court of the 1500s.     

Also traveling from Texas to Alabama were Gladys Parker, above left, and Jim and Jeanette Holiman Stewart, all of the Lone Star state, representing some of the many family members that continued west from the Deep South.  Gladys, Joe Parker’s better half, is a serious genealogist herself.                   

Next Posting, more on the Round Table and a look at Hollimans in Fayette County, Alabama