Exploring Further Holliman History in Old Virginia, Part 3

by Glenn N. Holliman

We continue to report on the descendants of Christopher Holyman (1618-1691), who live in the Isle of Wight County and Richmond, Virginia.  My thanks to the distant cousins - Sarah Barlow Wright, Janet Barlow Moore and Susan Brewer -who kindly shared their time and photographs and proof read the article.  There will be several more postings on Isle of Wight County, which to most Holymans (and  its many various spellings) is our American ancestral starting point.

 Above, the Holleman House at Mill Swamp, Isle of Wight, Virginia in 1921.  The family gathering was being held at the home of Josiah James and Augusta White Binford Holleman. Picture from the collection of Sarah Barlow Wright.

Below, Sarah Barlow Wright in her Isle of Wight, Virginia home with treasured family photographs of her grandparents, Augusta Hannah White Binford Holleman (1859-1941)and Josiah  James Holleman (1851-1937).  Sarah's grandfather gave the land for the cemetery at the Mill Swamp Baptist Church adjacent to the historic Holleman House near the Surry County border.

 

Now retired, Mrs.Wright was a teacher or principal for over 35 years.  She grew up in Isle of Wight County at Oak Crest, the Gordon Barlow Farm, five miles north of Smithfield, close to the James River.  Her mother, Gladys Hortense Holleman Barlow (1895-1996) was born at the Holleman Farm at Mill Swamp, and later married Gordon Eugene Barlow (1891-1973).

Sarah Wright's lineage in Isle of Wight extends from  at least 1661 when Christopher Holyman purchased land from George Smith along the Cypress River.  Smithfield, Virginia takes its name from this family.  Arthur Smith, a descendant of George, was the founder of the town in the 1750.

Augusta Hannah White Binford Holleman had two children by a first marriage and three with Josiah J. Holleman.  Their children were Gladys Hortense Holleman Barlow (mother of Sarah Wright), Joseph Howard Holleman, Sr. (written about in earlier posts, he is the father of Caroline Holleman Thomas and Joseph H. Holleman) and Algernon Hardy Holleman (father of William Joseph Holleman, current owner of the Holleman House).       
                                                    

Right , Augusta White Holleman

The lineage for this branch of the Holleman family

flows as follows:

Josiah James Holleman (1851-1937), son of

James Henry Holleman (1819-1858), son of

William H. Holleman (1795-1836), son of

Josiah Holleman (1771-1848), son of

Jesse Holliman, Sr. (1737-1824), son of

John Holleman (1688-1751), son of

Christopher C. Holyman (1660 ca - 1731), son of

Christopher Holyman, Sr. (1618-1691), the immigrant from Bedfordshire, England who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1650.

The 1684 plantation, patented by Christopher Holyman, Sr. eventually descended  to Wilson Holleman (1803-1873).  The current house was built by Wilson and Ann Nicholson Holleman.  Wilson left it to his son, Algernon Sidney Holleman (1838-1906), who died childless.  The House and farm then went to Josiah James Holleman, a first cousin.

Josiah left it to his son, Algernon Hardy Holleman (1902-1963), who passed the property to his son, William Joseph Holleman, who owns the home today.  His son, William Joseph Holleman, Jr. now lives on the farm, continuously occupied by Hollemans for almost 350 years.

Next posting, more on the Holleman descendants who have remained in Isle of Wight, Virginia since the Christopher Holyman arrival in Jamestown, Virginia in 1650.

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. 

 

 

Exploring Further Holliman History in Old Virginia, Part 2

by Glenn N. Holliman

Descendants of Christopher Holyman (d 1691) who reside in Virginia to this Day....

We continue to report on the descendants of Christopher Holyman (1618-1691), who live in the Isle of Wight County and Richmond, Virginia.  My thanks to the distant cousins who kindly shared their time and photographs.  There will be several more articles on Isle of Wight County, which to most Holymans (and many various spellings)  is our American ancestral starting point.

Below, Caroline Holleman Thomas and her husband, Bill, in their Richmond, Virginia home earlier this year. Caroline is the sister of Joseph Howard Holleman, Jr.,  about whom I wrote in the last post.  Both are children of Joseph Howard Holleman, Sr. and  Bessie Faircloth Holleman.  Bill and Caroline are retired educators.

Above, Caroline holds a drawing of the 1830 Holleman House located along the Blackwater River near the Mill Swamp Baptist Church in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  Caroline and Bill had their wedding rehearsal dinner by romantic candlelight in the historic home in December 1962.  The dinner party was hosted by her Aunt  Louise and Uncle Algenon (Nonnie) Holleman.   

Most persons in the U.S who bear the Holleman name (and various spellings such as Holliman, Holloman, etc.) trace their linage to this farm adjacent to the Mill Swamp near the Blackwater River in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

If there be a 'Plymouth Rock' for Hollimans, this is the place although, of course, the brick 1830 home was not built during the 17th Century.  Christopher Holyman's original home, most probably a log cabin, would have lasted only 20 to 40 years as a habitable house. Since the 1680s, Hollemans have lived on the same land patented by Christopher Holyman during the reign of King Charles II of England. 

Below, this water color is in the possession of Sarah Barlow Wright of Smithfield, a first cousin of Caroline Holleman Thomas.  Mrs. Wright has told me that the clapboard building on the right of the painting pre-dates the Federal style home, and was the Holleman home while the 1830 building was being constructed.  The out building still stands today, probably of 18th Century construction. 

 
Below, Algenon Holleman who with his wife, Louise, hosted the 1962 rehearsal dinner for their niece, Caroline Holleman, and Bill Thomas.  Algenon's son, William Joseph (Billy Joe) Holleman, owns the home today.  His son, Joseph (Joey) Holleman, lives in the historic home with his family. 

This above photograph is courtesy of Sarah Barlow Wright, whose mother, Gladys Holleman Barlow, grew up in the early 1900s at the Holleman House.  We will begin their stories in the next posting.

Next more on the Hollemans of Isle of Wight, Virginia....

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring Further Holliman History in Old Virginia, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

Descendants of Christopher Holyman (d 1691) who reside in Virginia to this Day.....

Recently in this space I wrote of Isaac and Anne Gray Holliman, the anguished story of two persons caught in the racial and cultural divides of 19th Century Virginia.  Seeking to know more of our family heritage from Isle of Wight County, Virginia, I have been fortunate enough to meet Holleman cousins of Virginia who have kindly shared family stories, lineages and photographs.  For the next several articles, with their permission, I shall be writing a synopsis of this research.

 



Recently Susan Holleman Brewer and her father, Joseph Howard Holleman, Jr., both of Richmond, Virginia, kindly shared lunch (pictured above).  The conversation deepened my understanding of the family branch that resided and still resides along the Blackwater River near the Mill Swamp in Isle of Wight County and also in Surry County, Virginia. 

Susan opened several doors which led to visits with Holleman cousins Caroline Holleman Thomas and Sarah Barlow Wright who both shared their family memorabilia and photographs.  Their stories and that of other Hollemans will be published in future articles.

To refresh memories, Christopher Holyman, the fore bearer of most Hollimans in America today, arrived in Virginia in 1650 from Bedfordshire, England, the son of a cordwainer and inn keeper, and by the time of his death in 1691, established a plantation of 1,020 acres in Mill Swamp, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. 



The farm was divided amongst his four sons - Christopher, Jr., Thomas, William and Richard Holyman. Many of their descendants had by the 1800s scattered, for the most part, to the southern and southeastern parts of the United States.  The names were altered into various spellings depending on one's literacy (and that of the county register and census taker!) as the centuries progressed.



Susan and her father, Joseph Howard Holleman, Jr. are descended from the oldest son, Christopher Holyman, Jr. who inherited and/or purchased from his brothers a significant portion of the original 1691 plantation.  Although now much reduced in acreage, the farm has remained in their branch of the Holleman line for over 300 years.

Today the land and Federal period 1830 house are owned by William Joseph Holleman of Smithfield, Virginia.

Joseph Howard Holleman, Jr. was born in 1923 on the original farm, then owned by his uncle and aunt Josiah (1851-1937) and  Augusta Hannah White Holliman (1859-1941).  Joseph Jr.'s father was Joseph Howard Holleman, Sr. (1897-1979) and his mother, Bessie Faircloth (1896-1986) of Southampton County. 



Below, Joseph Howard Holleman, Sr. in his uniform as a Virginia Military Institute cadet in the middle 1910s. This  photograph and the one below it are courtesy of Sarah Barlow Wright.

Below, a photograph taken during World War II.  The girl is Caroline Holleman Thomas, sister of Joseph, Jr. who is in the Army uniform.  Left and right are their parents, Joseph Sr. and Bessie.

 

 Joseph Holleman, Sr. purchased a Chevrolet dealership in Surry County, Virginia and entered politics.  From 1934 until 1948 he represented Surry and Prince George Counties and the City of Hopewell in the Virginia House of Delegates. 



Joseph Sr.'s long time service in the House of Delegates lead to a career opening for his son, Joseph, Jr. who became a decade's long Clerk of the Virginia House. With his vast knowledge of the Virginia legislature, Joseph Jr. wrote a definitive work entitled 'Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates 1776-1976'.



Joseph, Jr.'s daughter, Susan, pictured in the first photograph, is a law professor at a Richmond college, and continues the family's legacy of serving the legal needs of the Commonwealth of Virginia.



 Next more on the Hollemans who remained in Virginia....

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