HOLLAND-L Archives

From:
Subject: My Holland Family
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 21:24:16 EST

Our Holland Family History
(Compiled by many people over many years)

“The English surname Holland is of local origin deriving from the name of
the locality or dwelling place where a bearer once lived. In this instance,
the surname can be traced to the Old English term, “at the hough.” Which
meant, an enclosed area. The first recorded instances of the name Holland
occurs in the Hundred Rolls, a document drawn up in London in 1273; one
William de Holland from Oxford, one Richard de Holland from Norfolk and John
de Holland from Essex are registered therein.” This information was garnered
from the Hisotrical Research Center.

During the English Civil War, in the early 1630s, the Holland families
supported King Charles I against Oliver Cromnwell. Cromwell’s forces won the
war, beheaded the King and began punishing his followers, including the
Hollands. Before King Charles’ death, he issued a land grant to two Holland
brothers which now comprises part of the city of Suffolk, Virginia. The
community is called Holland, Virginia and it still exists. Immediately
following the Civil War in England, these two Holland brothers claimed their
land grant and emigrated to Virginia. Several of their family members left
England around the same time.

Ship passage logs of that time include the following

Edward Holland arrived Virginia 1637
John Holland arrived Virginia 1650
Thomas Holland arrived Virginia 1651
William Holland arrived Virginia 1646
William Holland arrived Virginia 1650

(There is a well known and oft written about Gabriel and Richard and others
also but we’ve never linked them to our line with proof.)

In the early 1700s, England wanted to provide a buffer zone between the
English colony in Virginia and the Spanish in Florida. They encouraged
colonists in Virginia to occupy land in North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia to provide this buffer and the families were provided free land to
relocate.

There is some question as to where our particular line picks up. There
is oral history purporting a Jacob Wiley Holland in the 96th Colonial
District in South Carolina in 1762. However this has not been proven.
Again, family oral history has this Jacob Wiley Holland serving as a private
in a South Carolina unit during the Revolutionary War and then being granted
land in what would become Wilkinson County GA in 1803. NONE OF THIS HAS BEEN
PROVEN - IN FACT THERE IS ANOTHER THEORY NOW LISTED -

The new theory being that our line descended from Jacob Holland and his
wife Margaret (Pegga) of Edgecombe North Carolina. The Archives in Raleigh
have Will and there is a book that states that their son Jacob Jr., was
living in Wilkinson County GA in 1812 along with his sister Abra and her
husband Dury Rogers (Clark?). It’s interesting that some early marriage
records transposed Abra to Abraham making her male and Dury female. Jacob’s
will is definitive on the subject, Abra is female. I have a copy of the
hand written Will which the Archives mailed to me and it does mention this
Jacob. Additionally, the census of Wilkinson County GA shows a Jacob and
that is, of course, where our known family originated. There is speculation
that Jacob moved from Wilkinson County to either Houston or Stewart Counties.
SO, I will pick up from the knowns:



Wiley Thomas Holland was born in 1805. We know not exactly where he was
born, although the 1860 Wilkinson County census says “Georgia”. Of course,
Wilkinson County wasn’t an actual county in the year he was born. In either
case, at a young age he turned up in Wilkinson County GA. Wiley Thomas
Holland was very successful and accumulated several thousand acres of land.
In talking to an attorney in Irwinton who was in his eighties in the 1980s he
indicated that his father and grandfather, both lawyers, had closed the sale
of over 200 farms which were part of the original Wiley Holland plantation.
His Grandfather had talked of how the Holland plantation was the center of
social life in the county and “anybody who was anybody” knew Wiley Holland
and his many sons and daughters. The 1870 census showed he had $3,000 worth
of real estate and $1500 worth of personal property. This was only five
years after the end of the Civil War so logic says he must have had quite a
bit more before the war.


Wiley Thomas Holland attended Liberty Baptist Church. He was also Justice of
the Inferior Court in 1861 and served as tax collector from 1844 to 1853. In
July 1864, Wiley Thomas was appointed as Policeman to guarantee that
harvested corn was protected to provide for Confederate soliders and indigent
families. I (Julian, Jr.) spent an afternoon in Irwinton in 1994 and saw the
old Holland homestead. All that remained were the foundation and several
unmarked graves. The property is now owned by a timber company and is very
overgrown.

Wiley Thomas Holland married Irene Passmore on April 30, 1825. Irene
Passmore was the daughter of Alexander Passmore. Alexander Passmore was
married at least 5 times, perhaps 6 times. Irene Passmore died in 1842.
Wiley Thomas Holland then married Frances McKenzie in December of that same
year.

Children of Wiley Holland and Irene Passmore:

Benjamin F - birthdate unknown to me
John - birthdate unknown to me
J. Wiley T. - born 1831
Elisha Jackson - born 1833 (married Elizabeth Granade Nov. 30, 1854)
William G. - born 1835 (married Rebecca Wheeler)
Alexander - born 1837
Martha - born 1838
Sarah Ann - born 1840
A. J. Holland** - birth unknown

** child not listed elsewhere who shows up in Early Marriage records as their
son who marries a Susan Vaughn on January 16, 1873

Children of Wiley Holland and Frances McKenzie

James A. E. - born 1844 (married Sarah Branan June 11, 1865)
Joseph H - born 1846
Wiley - born 1847 (Married Rubye Ann Mahaffee Dec. 19, 1865)
David W. - born 1849 (married Annie Easom, Nov. 17 1878)
Amos Ichabod - born 1851
Joel H - born 1853
Addison R - born 1856
Samuel - born 1857
Jesse M. - born 1859
S. Arthur Andrew - born 1868
*Annie R. - birth unknwn

**child not listed elsewhere who shows up in Early Marriage records as their
daughter who marries, J. W. Kingery on Dec. 18, 1879, Sally Freeman made
notation that Hope A. child of William and Rebecca marries a Kingery so these
could be one in the same allthough the marriage records I viewed do not
mention Hope.

** there is a J. W., son of Wiley Holland and Frances McKenzie who married a
Louisa Hooks Feb 15, 1878. I can’t place this J. W. without it being
another son not listed above. However, Sally Freeman another family
researcher has said that this is John W. Holland, their son who was born in
1856. If course, unless Addison R. was a twin, she couldn’t have had
Addison, John and Samuel in that time period. Now maybe JW is John the
second born son of Irene Passmore.


Sallie Freeman mentions an article that appeared in the Millegeville Georgia
UNION RECORDER shortly before Wiley Thomas’s death that says he was a model
farmer and the father of 19 children, all boys. Now, we know there were
girls, so I’m not sure why the newspaper says that his children were all
boys.



The 1820 Census of Wilkinson County shows the following:

Holland, Jacob and in parentheses (Hancock) DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THIS
HANCOCK MEANS?

The 1840 Census of Wilkinson County shows the following:

Holland, Wiley


The 1850 Census of Wilkinson County shows the following:

Wiley Holland, 45
Frances E. McKenzie, 30, 2nd
Eilsha age 17
Wiley S. age 19
William age 15
Alexander age 13
Martha age 12
Sara Ann age 10
Children by second wife
James A. E. age 6
Jospeh age 4
Wiley age 3
David W. age 1

The 1860 Census shows the following:

Holland, Elisha J. age 27
(son of Wiley)
Wife: Anna
James age 3
Elizabeth age 2
Sampson Passmore age 12* (not child of Holland)

Holland, William G., age 25
(son of Wiley)
Wife: Rebecca
John W. age 4
Irene D, age 2
Hope A., (no age given)

W. T. Holland age 28 (according to Sallie Freeman this would be J. W. T.
Holland)
(school teacher)

Holland, Wiley age 55
(McKenzie, 2nd) age 37
James E. age 16
Joseph H., age 14
Wiley I. age 13
David W. age 11
Amos I., age 9
Joel H., age 7
David A., age 4
Samuel L., age 3
Jesse M., age 1


Please Note: Rebecca, widow of William G. Holland is also listed as
Re-marrying to a William McCullars on Dec. 16, 1866. She was the daughter of
John and Demarius Etheridge Wheeler. Her parents have actually been under
reconsideration as there are family members who say her parents were John
Wheeler and Rebecaa Nunn. I don’t know.

Three sons from the first marriage were killed in the Civil War, Wiley S.
Holland, Elisha Jackson Holland and William Holland. Alexander served and
survived. Two other Holland sons, it was said, moved to Texas where they
were killed in a boiler explosion. Several Holland sons migrated to Brazil
after the Civil War. We have corresponded with folks from there but have not
gotten very far on pin-pointing relatives. In 1890 there was only one
Holland family still living in Wilkinson County GA. Wiley Thomas Holland
died in 1884 and of the thousands of acres he had owned, only 405 acres
remained. It is interesting to note that in his Will, Wiley Thomas wrote
that Alexander never married. Of course, he did or we wouldn’t be here
today. That Holland temper I suppose (see Carrie Tatum Holland).

Alexander Pinkney Holland, son of Wiley Thomas and Irene Passmore was born in
1837. According to his wife, Carrie Tatum Holland, he was an accomplished
musician, specializing in the violin and clarinet. She also said he had more
clothes than any man she had every known. Apparently, his father Wiley
Thomas Holland, made all his sons learn some type of trade before the Civil
War. “Pink” Holland, as he was known, learned to make shoes and dress boots
which became an invaluable skill after the war.

By 1860 “Pink”, now 23 years old, was living in Webster County GA. He was
boarding in a house in Preston owned by a Methodist preacher named E. B.
Lanisfal. His vocation was listed as shoe maker. During this time he met
Carrie Tatum whom he later marrked. Her family lived in the Preston area.
On April 30, 1862 Pink enlisted in A Company 55th Georgia Volunteers and
became part of the army of Tennessee. The 55th regiment was defeated and
most members were taken prisoner at Cumberland Gap Tennessee in 1863. A few
prisoners were exchanged, but most were held as prisoners at Camp Douglas IL
until June 14, 1865 two months after the Appomattox surrender.

Whether “Pink” was exchanged or in the hospital some whare, we don’t know.
He was one of about 10 members of the regiment who were sent on detached
service as guards at Andersonville Prison. He served as a guard from March
1864 until April 1865. Pink was part of a detachment sent to Tallahassee FL
to confront Yankees who had landed on the coast and were moving North. His
unit surrendered at Tallahassee on May 10, 1865. He was paroled in Albany GA
on May 26, 1865. A. P. and Carrie Tatum had one son, Wiley Pinkney Holland.
There was oral history that said another son was born dead.

Wiley Pinkney Holland was born July 24, 1863 in, we believe, Webster County.
Following the Civil War the South was totally devastated. Pink Holland moved
to Atlanta with his wife Carrie and son. He establihed a shoe and boot
making business. Here is a good family story....

Pink would buy calf skin for $5.00. Out of this one skin he could make 2
pair of boots and 1 pair of shoes. He sold the boots for $15.00 and the
shoes for $5.00. That is a $35.00 profit on a $5.00 investment.
Unfortunately, the only people who could afford to buy new boots and shoes
were Yankees. I din’t know if Pink suffered depression but he never did
adjust after the war. Pink would sell his boots and shoes to the Yankees,
pocket the Yankee dollars, get drunk and throw the money inthe fire place at
his house. His wife, Carrie, would get on her hands and knees and scrape the
omey from the fire.

Around 1875 Carrie Tatum left Pink Holland and moved to Columbia AL.
There she raised the three children of Marie, her sister who had died.
Carrie Tatum Holland moved to Sylvester GA around 1910 and lived with her son
Wiley Pinkney Holland. She died June 20, 1922. Her estranged husband,
Alexander “Pink” Holland returned to Wilkinson County GA to live with his
father. (Thus, the old man’s reference to the fact that AP had never married
- they disowned Carrie Tatum). Pink committed suicide and apparently is
buried inthe unmarked graves in Wilkinson County. Carrie lived for 45 years
after her husband died and never remarried. Carrie Tatum Holland is buried
at New Bethel Cemetery, Sylvester GA.

Wiley Pinkney Holland was born in 1863 and was 14 years old when his
father Pink killed himself. He was living in Columbia Al with his mother
Carrie Tatum Holland who was raising her sister’s children. Wiley Pinkney
Holland went to work for the Seaboard Coastline Railroad in 1884 at age 21.
He was based in Weston GA and in Jnuary of 1885 married Alma “Allie” Blanch
Bell at her father Robert Augustus Bell’s home in Weston GA officiated by
Parson R. A. Powell. Alma Blanch Bell was 17 at the time. They had four
children:

Robert Cliffod Holland - August 4, 1889 - 1969
Mamie Lee Holland - April 16, 1891 - Nov. 22, 1923 (died during childbirth)
Roy Alexander Holland - April 5, 1896 - Nov. 2, 1916 (died in nationwide flu
epidimic)
Wiley Julian Holland - May 16, 1903 - Nov 22, 1982

Around 1888, Wiley Pinkney Holland and his wife Allie moved to Texas. They
trveled with several other families from the S. W. Georgia area in wagons
pulled by oxen. While they were in Texas, Wiley Pinkney was employed by a
rancher to break horses. It appears from the dates he was in Texas the first
two children were born there. After two years they returned to Georgia and
lived int he Weston area farming with his father-in-law R. A. Bell.

In 1891 they moved to Worth County GA. Wiley Pinkney purchased a farm on
credit in the Gordy area six miles south of Sylvester. IT took him four years
to put the land in production. In the fourth year he made four bales of
cottons. From the proceeds he paid off the note, sold the farm and took his
family back to Texas. Another good family story....

Around 1896 while in Texas Wiley Pinkney Holland has the opportunity to
purchase one hundred acres of land for $1000.00. He later told his family
that he thought it was nothing but sand dunes and he wouldn’t buy it on a
drunk. Texas suffered a severe draught in the two years he was there and he
retunred to Georgia. On the way back he had to cross that 100 acres. It was
then covered by oil well derricks. That Holland luck again!

Wiley Julian Holland was born to Wiley Pinkey Holland and Alma Blanch Bell in
Worth County GA in 1903 after his father had returned from Texas. Apparently
Wiley Pinkney Holland had never received a lengthly formal education because
of the poverty following the Civil War but did receive an extensive education
from his mother Carrie Tatum Holland. She had been highly educated prior to
the war.

Some good family lore:....Wiley Pinkney Holland was a whiz at mathematics and
was a master carpenter. He contracted to build a house for his uncle Rueben
Tatum and when the house was completed, he returned $.25 to his uncle because
he had ruined one board out of the whole house. Wiley Pinkney Holland
weighed 220 pounds and “took nothing from anybody and did not expect anything
from anybody but would give you the shirt off his back.” according to Wiley
Julian Holland, Sr. Around 1911 he had an argument with his cousin Ed Nelms
over politics. Wiley Julian Sr., said he witnessed it and only one blow was
passed. Ed Nelms hit the ground after the punch, crawled to his wagon and
horses and left with his legs hanging out of the side of the wagon.

After his mother Carrie Tatum died in 1922, Wiley Pinkney Holland moved his
family to Ware

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