From the Galaxy of Holliman Cousins - Blakeneys, Part 3

by Glenn N. Holliman

More on the Blakeneys, a branch of the Alabama Hollimans....

The last two posts, I have been writing of the Blakeney family of Fayette County, Alabama.  A distant cousin, Kenneth Bowling of Texas, wrote asking how the Holliman family is related to the Blakeneys.  The Hollimans are related in at least two ways (and probably more).

First, the eight child of Thomas Blakeney (1807-1896)  the subject of the last article in this space, was Mary 'Polly' Blakeney (1835-1896). In 1853 she married Warren C. Holliman, the son of Charles and Barbara Walters Holliman, also of Newtonville, Alabama as was 'Polly'.  This couple had eight children of whom many descendants still reside in the area.  Polly is buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery in Fayette County, but unfortunately her married last name is spelled 'Halliman' on her gravestone.

The second Holliman connection is through Thomas Blakeney's first born son, William Blakeney (see below), who died in the Civil War.   He was a 3rd Sergeant in the 41st Alabama Infantry, CSA. William came home on furlough in 1862, where, according to family tradition, he was exposed to measles. There are conflicting stories, but on his return to his unit, then outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, he became ill, developed pneumonia and died in Charleston, Tennessee in 1863.

William's widow was Elizabeth Clanton Blakeney who later married Thomas Ashcraft by whom she had another child, Thomas Ashcraft, Jr.  William and Elizabeth had given life to one daughter, Belzy Ann Blakeney who married George Washington Baker on November 27, 1878. 

In 1880, Belzy Ann gave birth to Elizabeth Baker, who in 1899 married James Monroe Holliman, a great uncle of this writer.  James Monroe was the father of the late Cecil Rhodes Holliman and Charles Baker Holliman.  Cecil's son is Dr. Rhodes Holliman who has followed in his father's footsteps in cataloguing Holliman and associated family histories.  There well could be other Holliman-Blakeney connections and this writer would welcome hearing about them. 

Below, left to right, ca 1912, Charles and Cecil Rhodes Holliman and their mother, Anne Elizabeth Baker Holliman, grand daughter of William Blakeney, great grand daughter of Thomas Blakeney.

However, let us return to Thomas Blakeney, the great, great grandfather of Reed Blakeney, who wrote the book, Sipsey.  Sipsey is the thinly disguised story of Thomas' passionate relationship with his housekeeper slave after the death of his first wife.  The unnamed person was an alluring woman of Cherokee and African-American heritage.  The couple had two children, a boy Jerry, and a girl named Sarah. 

In time, Thomas married another white woman, who quickly sent the mixed race woman packing, perhaps to an Indian reservation.  The children remained, and after the Civil War with the collapse of slavery, Thomas had them apprenticed to him so he could look after their welfare.

The late Walt O. Holliman has written in a Blakeney history that Tom, realizing his sons and particularly his step-sons, would make it untenable for the mulatto children after his death, is said to have given Jerry and Sarah a measure of gold he had buried during the Civil War.  With this generous legacy Thomas also provided them with a horse and wagon and as much farm equipment as it would carry and sent them 'off into the sunset'. 

However Jerry did not go very far and compassionately looked after his father, Thomas,  in his declining years.

Author and family historian Reed Blakeney has established that Jerry settled in North River, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and married a woman whose maiden name was 'Driver'.   Reed made contact with two of Jerry's  grandchildren - Walter and Willie, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama.  Walter Blakeney was the son of Posey Blakeney, who was the son of Jerry.

Evalina Blakeney Greene, the youngest daughter of Jerry, lived in Tuscaloosa. Reed visited her when she was in her nineties and remembers a very refined lady.  Evalina's only son, Dr. Jim Green, is a retired professor from Oberlin College in Ohio and an aficionado of art, music and literature. 

 

Walter Blakeney has told Reed that the alluring woman and mother of Jerry did come back to visit Alabama after Jerry married.  Walter chuckled and observed that on that occasion Jerry's mother spent more time with Thomas than with her children!  Thomas carried her back to the train station in his buggy.  Apparently the attraction remained.

Out of the cultural confusion and ethnic chaos of human slavery on the near frontier of the Ante-bellum South, emerged a love story and a compassionate human being, Jerry Blakeney, whose DNA can only be called American - a combination Cherokee, African, Irish and English.    Below a stately and imposing photograph of Thomas Blakeney's son, Jerry Blakeney (1857-1955).

 

 

My thanks to the late Walt O. Holliman, Dr. Rhodes Holliman and Reed Blakeney for a reading of their research and photographs on this American family.  Reed kindly shared his insights on this story of love and compassion, which he has turned into a beautiful book, Sipsey.

 

 

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!). Mrs. Peddie can assist also in any DNA research.

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Write please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.

A seminar is to be held at the Rose House Inn, Fayette, Alabama, October 18 and 19, 2013 for more serious students of Holliman and related families.  Just write me for more information. GNH



Maxine Wright makes available a Warren Holliman Family History

by Glenn N. Holliman

Holliman cousin, Maxine Wright, recently sent me a booklet prepared several decades ago by the late Mavis Williams and the late Chester Bullock, a Baptist minister.  Most of this 65 page manuscript highlights the life of Warren Holliman and his descendants in Arkansas.  Ms. Williams was a great granddaughter of Warren Holliman (1801-1876), one of the three Holliman brothers who left Lancaster County, South Carolina in 1836 to move their families to Alabama.

Warren was restless and after several years, left his brothers Charles and Cornelius in Alabama and moved his family and others by wagon train to Arkansas in 1840.  The brother, Charles Holliman, is Maxine's great great grandfather and brother Cornelius is this writer's great, great, great grandfather.

Maxine writes: "I started doing research back before computers, subscribed to genealogy magazines and wrote letters to different Hollimans. I posted queries in books and sent SASE along with family group sheets. Most always received a reply. There is a picture of Warren Holliman and his wife Barbara in a museum in Sheriden, Arkansas."

Thanks to Maxine this manuscript has now been scanned and with her permission is available by email to those who might be descendants of Warren Holliman or who wish to add to their family library. She writes that Mavis and Chester had wanted it shared with all.

Maxine is so kind to share of her collection of family history materials, and like the family of the late Walt O. Holliman, hopefully their example will encourage others to share research and memorabilia via the Internet.

For a copy of the manuscript on the life and family of Warren Holliman, please write me at glennhistory@gmail.com.  Since the last posting of this blog, several have requested manuscripts prepared by Walt O. Holliman, which I have been happy to oblige.

Walt O. Holliman Manuscripts

by Glenn N. Holliman

The late Walt O. Holliman (1927 - 2003), a native of Alabama, had an excellent mind and a bent to collect data on family.  In the pre-Internet age he did an incredible job of researching his families and those of his wife.  In the autumn of 2011, his children shipped me his 20 plus boxes of research.  With their permission I have scanned his 55 manuscripts of his related families and now have them ready to email to whomever might have an interest.  Our continued thank you to Walt's family for preserving and protecting these documents.

Walt's father was Walt Holliman, the son of Moses Holliman, the son of Warren C. Holliman, the son of Charles Holliman, who was the son of James Grantson Holliman (1750-1836), a common grandfather to many reading this blog.

Some of the manuscripts are in draft, others polished and all footnoted.  I can be reached at glennhistory@gmail.com for copies or additional information.  If you believe you are related to these families and want to have a look, I am happy to email manuscripts which are in the red color. Additional information on research items can be found in Walt O. Holliman page on the left hand side of the blog.                      

 Below four of Walt's manuscripts - the Alexanders, Beall, Blekeney and Bryan families.
.

Alexander Family – 80 pages approximately of manuscript and two large binders of research materials of Walt's wife's family from Tennessee. This manuscript has been scanned and can be emailed.

Beall or Bell Family – Approximately 60 pages of manuscript and some 30 pages of research materials; two manuscripts have been scanned and can be emailed.

Blakeney Family – 100 pages of manuscript; these manuscripts (3) have been scanned and can be emailed.

Bryan Family – 20 pages of manuscript, large binders and notebook of research by names of Bryan Family of Tennessee, Mississippi Territory and Pickens Co., Alabama; three manuscripts have seen scanned and can be emailed.

Champion Family - 7 page manuscript of an early Isle of Wight and Surry Co., Virginia family that married into the Beall family; manuscript has been scanned and can be emailed.

Curtis Family – 11 pages of manuscript and research of census records; manuscript scanned and ready for emailing.

Davidson Family plus Index– 101 pages  of manuscript plus massive research binders on Walter O. Holliman’s maternal family; manuscript ready for emailing - has Bryan, Champion, Curtis, Egerton, Emerson, Guyton, Hawkins, Judkins, Love, McKnight, Petite, Petway, Smith, Wallace, Whiteaker and other ancestors.

 Davies Family – 6 pages manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

De Mallpas Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Douglas Family – 2 page manuscript and basically research copies of Scottish newsletters from 1990s; scanned and ready for emailing

 Edwards Family – 8 pages approximately of manuscript and research  photocopies from Virginia including Surry County; scanned and ready for emailing.

 Egerton Family – 40 pages approximately of manuscript– Massive folder full of notes and photcopies; scanned and available for emailing.

Emerson Family -2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Fitzhugh Family - 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Fowlehurst Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Gonson Family  - 2 pages of manuscript

Graves Family – 30 pages of manuscript and a massive research folder of photocopies and some notes; scanned and ready for emailing.

Gray Family – 6 pages of manuscript and individual folders of research and photocopies of Grays of Virginia, N.C., S.C., KY and Alabama, hundreds of pages; manuscript only scanned and ready for emailing.

Guyton Family – 77 pages of manuscript and two hundred research pages of records, notes and photocopies; manuscript only scanned and ready for emailing.

Hall Family – 3 pages of manuscipt; scanned and ready for emailing.

Hawkins Family – 35 pages approximately of manuscript and several hundred pages of photocopies covering four states; scanned and ready for emailing.

 Hendrix Family – 20 pages approximately of manuscript and research photocopies of wills and personal notes, not in order: manuscript scanned and ready for emailing.

Holliman Family – over 200 pages of manuscript, many duplicates.  Research is extensive and included in the appendix. This manuscript is available for emailing.  Contact Glennhistory@gmail.com.

Howard Family – 20 pages approximately of manuscript and perhaps 50 pages of notes; scanned and ready for emailing.

Judkins Family – 15 pages approximately of manuscript and many research pages of notes; Scanned and ready for emailing.

Love Family – 5 pages of manuscript and research records and photocopies; scanned and ready for emailing.

Mansfield Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Manwaring Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

McBee – 2 pages of manuscript and one page of research; scanned and ready for emailing.

McKnight Family – 2 page manuscript of family history; scanned and ready for emailing.

Moore Family – 2 pages of manuscript and a research binder, at least fifty pages of photocopies, many of Surry and Southampton County, Virginia records; scanned and ready for emailing.

Nicholson Family – 3 pages of manuscript and research of Virginia Colonial Abstracts for James City; scanned and ready for emailing.

O’Dell Family – 58 pages of manuscript and a large binder of research material; scanned and ready for emailing.

Oliver Family – 67 pages of manuscript and a large research file; scanned and ready for emailing.

Below a portion of the Walt O. Holliman Collection at the ad hoc Holliman Family History Library, Newport, Pennsylvania

Pearce or Peerce Family – 18 pages of manuscript and a large file of research; scanned and ready for emailing.

Petway Family – 9 page manuscript and Surry County, VA and Granville Co., N.C. research records; scanned and ready for emailing.

Petite Family – 18 pages of manuscript and fifty pages at least of research; scanned and ready for email

Peerce (Pearce) Family - A 12 page manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing

Ridgely Family – 42 pages with duplication of manuscript and over 100 pages of research including Maryland records; scanned and ready for emailing.

Riggan Family – 18 pages of manuscript with massive file on this Monroe, Mississippi family; over 100 pages of photocopies of records from Virginia and Maryland Counties. Many personal notes all in a brown large folder.  Manuscript scanned and ready for emailing.

Roberts Family – 49 pages manuscript with a very large file (5 inches); scanned and ready for emailing.

Smith Family – 106 pages of manuscript and research on  Jonathan and Henry Smith with  photocopies of wills and estates; scanned and ready for emailing.

Spencer Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Sprigg Family – 19 pages of manuscript plus search of  Maryland photocopies of records, perhaps 75 pages; scanned and ready for emailing.

Standley Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Thompson Family – 3 pages of manuscript and research notes and census of 1790 in South Carolina; scanned and ready for emailing.

Thornton Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Trelawney Family – 2 pages of manuscript; scanned and ready for emailing.

Wallace Family – 5 pages of manuscript and several research pages including a 1965 history of the family; scanned and ready for emailing.

Walters Family – 20 page manuscript and research photocopies and notes; scanned and ready for emailing.

Williams Family – 3 page manuscript and three research pages of photocopies; scanned and ready for emailing.

Wilmot Family – 3 page manuscript and South Caroline research  records including history of state senate; scanned and ready for emailing.

Whitaker Family – 18 page draft manuscript and large binder of notes and materials; scanned and ready for emailing.

Whitten Family, Bible and Wesley Chapel Methodist Church Roles – 59 pages of manuscript and a larger binder of materials plus the Whitten and Wilson Family Bible including the Sunday School Record Book, Wesley Chapel Methodist Church, Fayette County, AL, 1851-1878. Scanned and ready for emailing.

Wilson Family – over 200 pages of manuscripts, many duplicates of this South Carolina and Alabama family.  These manuscripts have been scanned and can be emailed.

Again my email is glennhistory@gmail.com if you desire a down load of material!

From the Walter O. Holliman Archives

by Glenn N. Holliman

An Announcement -

My son, Christopher S. Holliman, writes a blog at http://the62mets.blogspot.com/ and, no, it is not about baseball.  One of his most recent blogs is a trip to the Crater at the Petersburg, Virginia battlefield where his 3 GGF and 2 GGF fought for the Confederacy.  You might check it out.  There are some photographs.


And now...
A Special Posting...
Several of you have been studying the page on the Walter O. Holliman Materials, an index of his voluminous research on his families and have asked for information.  Below I reproduce six pages of photocopies he made in the early 1990s of Johnston County, North Carolina Holliman land records.  This information may or may not be new to serious Holliman family researchers but I am happy to post this and other items as time permits.

Walt came to believe, as did Dr. Charles Holliman, that Samuel Holliman was the father of my 4 great grandfather, James Grantson Holliman (1750-1836).

A Holliman History by Walter O. Holliman, Part I

by Glenn N. Holliman

What follows are dozens of pages of critical Holliman family research prepared in 1995 and 1996 by the late Walter O. Holliman (1927-2003).  In the fall of 2011, his children shipped me his papers and since then I have been indexing and reading his marvelous research and conclusions.  In the left column of this post, one will find the Walter O. Holliman manuscripts and research folders of his voluminous work.  


With this posting, I begin publishing  his interpretation of our family's history. He prepared two documents.  The 1995 copy contains his understanding at the time of the first Holyman's in America and takes us into the 20th Century.  In his 1996 work, he omits the early Virginia Hollimans and begins with his 4th great grandfather, James Grantson Holliman, again traveling late into the last century.  For privacy sake, I cease the history with Walt's parents, uncles and aunts.  My introductory comments are in red.  Walt's pages are as he prepared them.  Click twice and the pages should enlarge.


I know I speak for his children and all who are interested in Holliman history when I say comments and critique are welcome.  As Walt himself notes, genealogy is never finished.  New information continues to come forth and alter earlier interpretations.


The Title Page - I have omitted his address. The documents are posted with permission of his children.  As far as I know he never published this tome.  This title page is from 1995.

Index - This really is Walt's table of contents.  He created manuscripts for all the families listed below, over fifty, and research on another fifty or so!  These manuscripts are available, but are not part of the series of posts that will be forthcoming immediately.

Abbreviations -Walt was meticulous as this listing of abbreviations indicates.  He belonged to Mensa International, an organization for persons with a high I.Q.  (Well, would we not except that from a Holliman!?)

The next page is missing, and it becomes impossible to separate the 1995 and 1996 editions.  However, the conversation, slightly truncated, continues below.  The pages are not always in order due to Walt's dual publications and evidently additional changes.  He provides some very useful commentary on genealogical research.

This description of the trek west to Alabama in the 1830s from South Carolina is important.  Imagine horses, cows, pigs, hand carts and wagons.  Women and children, along with young husbands and fathers, moving through near wilderness pushing ever westward.   

In the next post, we will begin Walt O.  Holliman's generation by generation interpretation of our early Holyman history. 

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