yiij;iljiilil;:,ii]l,iili;iyillil!lllll , Gc 3 1833 01363 3596 929.2 I H731h v.l 1129678 REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION THE HOLMANS IN AMERICA VOLUME ONE 1 THE HOLMANS IN AMERICA CONCERNING THE DESCENDANTS OF SOLAMAN HOLMAN WHO SETTLED IN WEST NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, IN 1692-3, ONE OF WHOM IS WILLIAM HOWARD' TAFT, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. INCLUDING A PAGE OF THE OTHER LINES OF HOLMANS IN AMERICA, WITH NOTES AND ANECDOTES OF THOSE OF THE NAME IN OTHER COUNTRIES. DAVID EMORY HOLMAN, M. D. or Attlebobo, MASSACHnsiTTS, U. S. A. VOLUME ONE THE GRAFTON PRESS GENEALOGICAL PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Copyright, 1909, By DAVID EMORY HOLMAN — 1129678 To My Deaelt Beloved Brother FRANK HOLMAN who has aided me always by his high artistic ideals and rare memory, and by his great interest in the work and de- sire that it should not be commonplace —and to the noble and generous mem- bees of the family, who have given of their time and thought to make this record of our race more complete This Volume Is Most Sincerely Dedicated ABBREVIATIONS adm Administration g. s Grave Stone bap Baptized int Intention of Marriage, or b Born Interred B. G Burying Ground m Married ch Children m. n. (m. n.) . .Maiden Name c. r Church Record P Page dau Daughter prob. ( prob. ) . Probate, or probably d Died ref Reference d. y Died Young s Son of f Form unm Unmarried fam. b Family Bible V. s Vital Statistics f . r Family Record CONTENTS PAOE Preface xi Introduction xiii Origin of the Name xv Camdens (England) Society Publications xvi " " Lieut. James Holman, The Blind Traveller . xviii Pedigree of Holman of Exeter, Milverton and Crediton . xx Joseph George Holman, Actor and Dramatist . xxi Francis Holman, Painter ........ xxiii Some Interesting Eecords xxvi Grave Topics Found in Cemeteries xxix Ancestors of Other Holman Lines ...... xxxi Early Holmans in Virginia xliii The Descendants of Solaman Holman 1 First Generation ......... 3 Second Generation 6 Third Generation 12 Fourth Generation ......... 36 Fifth Generation 57 Sixth Generation 13» Seventh Generation 208 Eighth Generation 244 Holman Heraldry 247 Index 249 ILLUSTRATIONS David Emory Holman, M. D. Frontispiece FACING PAGE Major David E. Holman ........ xii Scenes from Wales xiv Mrs. Mary Belle (Taylor) Gait xviii Lieut. James Holman ......... xviii Dr. and Mrs. David Holman. Lieut. James Holman. Dr. Emory and IVTr. Frank Holman. Joseph George Holman, the Eng- lish Actor xxi Tapestry by Lady Anastatia Holman xxii " A Sudden Squall," by Francis Holman ..... xxiv " Old " George Holman xl Scenes from the Southern States ....... xliii Views of the Solaman Holman Farm ...... 2 The Cemetery, West Newbury, Mass 4 Views of the Lieut. David Holman Farm. Anderson Holman's House. Col. Jonathan Holman Farm. Susanna Trask's Birthplace .......... 6 Col. Jonathan Holman 13 Mrs. Susanna (Trask) Holman 14 The Birthplace of Susanna Trask . 16 Col. Jonathan Holman, and Views of His Home .... 18 Mrs. Olive (Holman) Severy. Ruins of Capt. Jonathan Hol- man's Home. Bust of Mr. Frank Holman. Col. John Jacob Holman. Mr. Oliver Holman 28 Mrs. Susan (Holman) Waters 32 Dixfield and Weld, Maine 34 Rev. Nathan Holman ......... 42 The Holman Homestead in Winter, Attleboro .... 44 Mrs. Lettiee (Morey) Holman . 46 X Illustrations FACING PAGE Major David E. Holman, and Views of his Home .... 50 Churches at Templeton and Salem, Mass., Fitzwilliam, N. H., and Eichmond and Jamestown, Va 58 Miss Mary Holman ......... 60 Mrs. Susan Holman Torrey 70 Major David E. Holman 96 The Holman Homestead, Attleboro, Mass 98 Window in the Second Congregational Church, Attleboro, to the Memory of Mrs. Charlotte Jane Holman 100 Mrs. Charlotte Jane Holman 103 Bust of Mr. Frank Holman 104 D. Emory Holman, M. D 106 Mary Amelia Holman ........ 108 Studio of Mr. Prank Holman 122 " Venice," by Mr. Frank Holman ...... 126 Cemetery, West Xewbury, Mass. Peter Holman House. Eugene Holman Home and Farm. Holman House, York, Maine . 143 Mrs. Louisa Maria Taft . .156 Honorable Samuel Morey Holman 180 Mr. Samuel Morey Holman 183 Eepresentative Samuel Morey Holman and His Family . 184 Mrs. Mary (Holman) Stone 190 Master Frank Holman. Eev. David Holman. Mrs. Charlotte J. Holman. Miss Holman ....... 302 Old Academy, Winchendon, Mass. Home of " Mary and the Little Lamb," and Twin Oaks, Sterling, Mass. Mt. Monadnock . 210 President William H. Taft 218 The Waters Mansion, MiUbury, Mass 320 Grave of Susannah Holman Houghton. Solomon Holman Home, Petersham, Mass. Grave of Stephen Holman. Stone Quarry, Fitzwilliam, IST. H 236 Holman Pedigree Between 238 and 239 Coat of Arms 246 — PREFACE From Pilgrim days of our Country's birth, stalwart and honorable men by the name of HOLMAN have cast their lives and energy into the fabric of this great Eepublie. To-day the Head of the Nation comes of this family, through his most noble and gracious mother. The South has sent out the name to all of the States of the South and West, since the early landings in the beautiful valleys of Virginia at James- town in 1607. The North has spread its character and influence through the name from pulpit, bench and honest ploughshare—from Dorchester, Boston, Salem and the fertile and lofty " Holman Hill," at West Newbury, Mass. The descendants of the name have passed through every hardship of pioneer life—fought in the battles of hostile Indians—shared in the struggles of early Colonial days—the strife of the Revolution, when sixty-five young men by the name of Holman were on the field from the State of Massachusetts the War of the Secession, with its long list of sons of the name who consci- entiously fought on either side—and even on the Battleship Maine, there was on active duty at the time of her destruction in the Harbor of Havana, Cuba, Lieut. George Frederick Warren Holman. The name has gone out to the New States—to the very mountain tops and by the seas, to the ends of the Earth. Out of all the rush of life and its thousand calls upon one's time, some may wish to look backward to their ancestral home and the beginning of their race in America, and to the place, where the very trees bending in the wind, seem to point the way to the last resting-place, where lie the bodies of Solaman Holman and his wife Mary (Barton) Holman; whose " Beautiful life barques speed on over the rippling seaa of Eternity." Majok David E. Holman. After the Portrait by Hunt, the Celebrated Painter, of Boston, Ms INTRODUCTION The time of the compiler of this volume has been so much occupied during the hours of day and evening, that the work of this printed record has been done between the hours of half-past two and six o'clock in the morning, with the exception of searching the vital statistics of towns and records of wills and deeds. Great assistance has been rendered by the willing attention of town clerks and court officials, but more especially by ME. FEANK HOLMAN, of Paris, France. ME. H. WILSON HOLMAN, of London, England, who is the Historian of the English name. ME. ALFEED LYMAN HOLMAN, of Chicago, 111., who has prepared the line of John Holman, of Dorchester, Mass. ME. FEANK NEWTON HOLMAN, of Springfield, Mass., who most gener- ously offered all of his collection of notes, although he himself was nearly ready to publish. MISS IDA B. HOLMAN, of San Antonio, Texas, who gathered many facts of the Virginia family of the name. ME. FEEDEEICK V. HOLMAN, of Portland, Oregon,—himself an author,— supplied much material of the North Carolina branch of Thomas Holman, of Surrey Co., 1730. COL. JAMES HAEDY HOLMAN, of Fayetteville, Tenn., who was authority for many of his line. ME. WALTEE DAVIDSON, a son of Judith Chase Holman,—a member of the Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass. MISS ISABELLE HOLMAN WATEES, of Millbury, Mass., who was much interested in the line of her cousin, the President, as a descendant of Col. Jonathan Holman, the Eevolutionary hero. EEV. HAEVEY MEEEILL LAWSON, of Brookfield, Mass., who gave many notes on the descendants of Dea. Thomas Holman, of Sutton, but later of Conn. ME. EAEL ELLSWOETH HOLMAN, of West Alexandria, Ohio, who showed great interest in the line of Old George Holman, who was captured by Indians. MES. EOSAMOND E. WAITE, of North Jay, Me., for her loyalty to her birth name. MES. 0. M. C. HOLMAN, of Newton, Mass., for her interest in the name, not hers by birth. — xiv Inteoduction MKS. AMELIA (DAGGETT) SHEFFIELD, for her most kind words of my father and mother. MES. IRA HOLMAN, of Leominster, Mass. ME. EUGENE and MISS ETTA HOLMAN", of Dixfield, Me. And to many others from every section of America, who have spent their time and thoughts to have their families correctly placed in this printed volume. Lack of courtesy was shown only twice to the compiler of these records, while seeking information from persons of the name. Once in New York where time is so valuable—the interview was timed by the holding of a watch in the hand. The other time was in a Massachusetts town, by a prosperous manufacturer, when both father and son, with their feet elevated to the top of the piazza railing, treated their caller much after the style of a peddler. All requests to him by letter for information were always unanswered. But in looking up their vital statistics it was found that their father was himself registered as a peddler at time of the birth of one of the children. Many errors and lack of record must in great part be laid to the careless- ness and sometimes indifference of those possessing the same, or able to ob- tain it by a little effort.