Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Homer Bishop Holliman, 1919

the Fifth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

As the war came to a close, Bishop Holliman wed the girl, Geraldine Stansbery, whom he had met while on liberty in Philadelphia in 1942.  They kept in touch, and on June 26, 1945,  married in Philadelphia.  When Japan surrendered, Bishop was discharged and in September 1945, he returned to Birmingham-Southern College.  As with millions of others, he used the G.I. Bill to pay for his education and support the family.  Government subsidized housing in Elyton Village near 'Southern' provided shelter as Gerry and Bishop established their family. Bishop in 1947 started teaching at David Lipscomb Junior High. Later he taught history at the new Shades Valley High School, and in summers earned a M.Ed. from the University of Alabama.

Above, Bishop had a new wife and an old car, a 1937 Chevrolet in 1946.  Thirteen million soldiers came home, restarted their lives and caught up on family life.  Millions of babies were soon born, and the 'Boomer' generation was created.  Over a ten year period, Bishop and Gerry became the parents of three children - Glenn (1946), Becky (1950) and Alice (1956).  

Below, Lula Hocutt Caine was 88 years old when this photograph was made in 1949.  Bishop was 29, and the three year old in the bottom of the picture, was his hyper-active son, Glenn Holliman, born 1946.  Grandma Caine, as she was known, was born in 1861 and lost her own father, Manassetts Hocutt, to the Battle of Stones River in 1863.  Imagine, she lived through the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War before passing away in 1957!

And as did millions of young American families, the Hollimans moved to the suburbs - Trussville, Alabama a few miles north of Irondale in 1950.  Below, Bishop's family in 1951 - a two-bedroom, one bath home now on the Historical Register in Trussville.  The house cost approximately $7,000, or about 7 times the price of a new Plymouth or Ford. 

 In 1951, Bishop Holliman made approximately $1,500 for teaching school.  Over Christmas that year, he worked at the post office and bought the family a Motorola 17 inch, black and white television, for almost $200, a significant portion of his annual income!

The dog in the photo was named Sport, but he came down with mange, and in those days, the skin disease could not be cured.  I remember the police came to the house, took the dog to the back yard behind the garage and shot him.  Mother kept me inside.

Note: The information and opinions expressed in these family biographies are those of the writer alone. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. The purpose of these articles is to capture a period and family in American history and to pass this legacy along to future generations who share the common bond of family.

Plan now to attend the Holliman and Associated Families Genealogical Round Table at the Fayette County, Alabama Civic Center, 10 am to 3 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011. For information and reservations for lunch, contact Glenda Norris at gnorris@bcbsal.org or Glenn Holliman at Glennhistory@gmail.com.  Sessions to include Tracing the Holymans from England to Alabama, Holliman Farm Sites in Fayette County and sharing of information on Associated Families.  All invited, including the Holliman social at the Rose House Inn, Fayette, 5:30 pm to 9 pm, Friday, October 14th.

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Homer Bishop Holliman, 1919

the Fifth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

As it did for hundreds of millions who occupied the globe in the 1940s, World War II changed for ever the lives of the seven siblings of Ulyss and Pearl.  For Bishop the war meant almost four years of service in the U.S. Navy from November 1941 until September 1945.  His brothers, Melton and Ralph, sixteen years apart in age, were taken also into the service, both into the U.S. Army in 1943, both discharged in 1945.

The many letters and photographs that survive from that time tell of worry, loneliness and sacrifice on both the home front as well as the brothers who all went overseas to the European Theatre.  Walter Cornelius, the husband of Virginia Holliman whom she married in February 1942, also served in the Army.  Imagine the prayers that were lifted up from 2300 3rd Avenue by my Grandmother Holliman during those years.  Below are Pearl, age 55, and in February 1942, the only son yet in service, Bishop, during a visit to Key West, Florida, his duty station.

Bishop would become a radioman on two destroyers, the USS Barker and the USS Butler.  In July 1943, his ship participated in the Invasion of Sicily and was on the receiving end of some Luftwaffe bombs.  On D-Day 1944, he was sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar. In August 1945, he was in Norfolk, Virginia about to be assigned to the Pacific Theatre when the war with Japan ended.  A month later, he and his young bride, Geraldine Stansbery, were in Birmingham, and Bishop was finishing his last year at Birmingham-Southern College.

Bishop, as did millions of others, traveled and experienced situations that broadened his world view and challenged social conventions.  For many it had been a time of trauma and violence.  The G.I.s came home, and the country began to change rapidly.  Sadly, over 200,000 Americans and 6,000 Alabamians did not return.

Below, one of Bishop's ships in the North Atlantic on convoy duty during a war time winter.  His duty was to listen for German U-Boat signals and help triangulate their location.

The U.S.S. Barker at sea during the war.  All of 1,200 tons in size, these ships, armed with four inch guns and depth charges, escorted millions of troops and thousands of supply ships across the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic from 1941 to 1945.  Both Ralph and Melton Holliman were on these troop ships in the middle 1940s en route to and from England.  Their brother-in-law, Walter, was assigned to the Central Pacific, Saipan.

Next, the rapid Post War changes that swept over Bishop and his family....

Note: The information and opinions expressed in these family biographies are those of the writer alone. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. The purpose of these articles is to capture a period and family in American history and to pass this legacy along to future generations who share the common bond of family.

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Homer Bishop Holliman, 1919
the Fifth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

With the marriage of The Rev. Charles Ferrell to Loudelle Holliman in 1935, Bishop gained another strong influence on his life.  Charles encouraged Bishop to enter Birmingham-Southern College after graduation from Shades-Cahaba High School in 1937.  With some assistance from Robert Daly and acquiring a youth position job with the North Alabama Methodist Conference (thanks to Charles and Loudelle), Bishop was able to attend this liberal arts school, and after the interruption of war, graduated in 1946 on the G.I. Bill.

During his service with the Conference, Bishop met many young Methodist pastors, one being Paul Nelson Propst (see above) and had the occasion to attend and help conduct youth meetings in Montevalla, Alabama and Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.  In North Carolina, Bishop met another Methodist, a young lady from Greenville, South Carolina, who would in 1990 become his second wife, Anne McLaughlin.

Above is a photo taken in front of the Holliman home in 1939 on 3rd Avenue in Irondale.  Bishop (center) had just returned from a trip to East Tennessee and Western North Carolina with his boyhood friend, Charles Pugh (left) also of Irondale. The man on the right is Stewart Button, a Presbyterian minister and a great friend of the Dalys.  Button, as he was known, could hold his own humor-wise with his fellow Orange Irishman, Robert Daly, Sr. Note the streets in Irondale were not paved until World War II.

Note: The information and opinions expressed in these family biographies are those of the writer alone. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. The purpose of these articles is to capture a period and family in American history and to pass this legacy along to future generations who share the common bond of family .


Next, the War comes to the Family....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Homer Bishop Holliman, 1919

the Fifth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

The automobile gave unpresidented freedom to the generation that came of age in the 1930s. Bishop was able to travel and see parts of America that his parents could have only dreamed about. Below Bishop on the right, in 1939 traveled north to Canada and New York City to see the World's Fair. One of his Irondale friends, is on the left.

                                     

Below, Vena (far left) and Robert Daly, 3rd from left, provided transportaton for Virginia Holliman Cornelius (2nd from left) and Bishop to various state parks in Alabama during the late 1930s.

At home, Virginia Holliman Cornelius (3rd from left) and her brother, Bishop, far right, enjoyed friendships with fellow Irondale Methodist Church members.  The automobile culture extended the suburbs far beyond Irondale.  One new suburb was Trussville, Alabama, a community to which Bishop would move his new family in 1950.

Note: The information and opinions expressed in these family biographies are those of the writer alone. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. The purpose of these articles is to capture a period and family in American history and to pass this legacy along to future generations who share the common bond of family.

More of Alabama in the late 1930s and early 1940s in the next posting....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Homer Bishop Holliman, 1919

the Fifth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

America was changing dramatically during the 1920s and 1930s.  The rise of the automobile culture accelerated the national economy and gave citizens the ability to travel and observe the various parts of a large nation.  By the 1930s, even in the midst of an economic depression, paved roads and more powerful and reliable car engines began to allow middle and laboring class Americans to explore their country, previously not possible for the average family. 

 This was unprecendented, and in the life of Bishop Holliman, we can observe a young man, growing up and leaving Irondale, not just physically but intellectually and culturally (but never emotionally!).  It was a journey millions of others of his generation, including his siblings, would make with increased mobility and the exposure to other peoples that World War II and the open highway would bring.

The photo above reveals a Florida tourist camp of 1935, a typical vacation residence, one where the Dalys and Holliman children - Virginia, Bishop and Ralph - would stay during the mid and late 1930s.  The Holiday Inn was still a generation in the future.  Primitive by 21st Century standards, sans air conditioning and with little plumbing, these cabins and early Fords and Chevrolets allowed the average Alabama family to take a vacation, visit the Gulf Coast and the Southern Mountains.  The world began to grow larger to the generation that came of age in the 1930s and 1940s.

Above vacationing in Clearwater, Florida in 1936 are left to right Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary Daly Herrin, Vena Holliman Daly and Bishop Holliman. These trips, financed basically by the largest of Robert Daly, opened up new worlds to the younger children of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman.  Their lives and careers would be considerably different from their parents and grandparents.

Note: The information and opinions expressed in these family biographies are those of the writer alone. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. The purpose of these articles is to capture a period and family in American history and to pass this legacy along to future generations who share the common bond of family.


More of a Changing World and Family in the next post....