Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

More on Loudelle Holliman Ferrell, 1914 - 1998
the Fourth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman


In 1917, Ulyss moved his family to E.F. Montgomery's planned subdivision on the hill overlooking the Southern and L & N railroad yards in Irondale, Alabama.  The Hollimans first lived in a house on 2nd Avenue, just a few blocks from the center of town.  

This picture was made in 1920 a few months after Bishop Holliman's birth.  In the back are Vena and holding baby Bishop (b 1919) is Melton.  The children in front are Euhal left, and partially obscured, Loudelle. Around this time, Ulyss realized he needed a bigger house for the five children, so he purchased a lot from the Bishop family at 2300 3rd Avenue.



Below is a truly amazing photo from 1924 on the Cahawba River.  Let's see, the youngster in the foreground is my father, Bishop.  Behind his is Euhal, Loudelle, and Melton.  In the right foreground is their father, Ulyss S. Holliman, my grandfather.



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.  My thanks to Charles H. Ferrell for the loan of many of the pictures.


Next posting, more on Loudelle and the new house....

Friday, April 22, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman


Loudelle Holliman Ferrell, 1914 - 1998
the Fourth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman

Loudelle Holliman Ferrell was born in Fayette, Alabama in 1914, the 2nd daughter of Pearl and Ulyss Holliman. Ulyss worked in the nearby lumber mill, and probably walked to and from his home which was located not far from his parent's house, John Thomas and Martha Jane Walker Holliman.  In the late 1990s with Charles Holliman and his first cousin, my father, Bishop Holliman, we visited the little white frame house, perhaps a 1,000 square feet in size, where Ulyss and Pearl were raising their growing family.  The couple had been married 7 years and had four children to support.

Below is a photograph of Loudelle Holliman Ferrell as a baby in 1914, the year World War I broke out in Europe.  This war would feed the already rapid economic expansion of Birmingham, Alabama.  By the time Loudelle was three, the family moved to a new subdivision begun in an older part of Jefferson County - Irondale.


Below is a photograph, perhaps 1917, made in Fayette, Alabama.  Left to right: Loudelle (with a new haircut evidently), Euhal and Vena Holliman.  Vena hold one of her first cousins, a Cook child and a second Cook cousin on the far right.  Maude Caine, one of Pearl's sisters, married a Cook in Fayette.  As with the Holliman's, the Cooks moved also to Irondale and during the 1920s inhabited a home just behind the Ulyss Holliman house.  Around 1930 the Cook's moved to a farm near Leeds, Alabama.  Maude, who had tuberculosis of the spine as a child, was physically disabled, and died around 1940.


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 on Loudelle and family in next post...

Friday, April 15, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Jerry Holliman, a Remembrance

 Jerry in 1954, at school in Gadsden, Alabama, age 14.


My first cousin, Jerry, died in 2003 at age 62 of a heart attack while on a fishing trip in Alaska. He is the first of the nineteen first cousins of the seven children of Ulyss and Pearl Holliman to pass away. Perhaps Jerry, although too young to leave his family, died in circumstances he might have chosen - fishing in his beloved Alaska. One of the great pleasures of his father, Euhal, was joining the twin sons, Jerry and Terry, searching for salmon in Alaskan rivers.

Jerry was six years older than me, and the last time I saw him was around 1960. Bob Daly and I were teamed up against the twin brothers playing tackle football on the Daly lawn in Irondale. As a kid, it was always a thrill to be included in games with my older male cousins. While in the Army at Ft. Bragg, NC, Jerry briefly visited our home in Florence, South Carolina.

Another memory I have is of the two brothers, probably in the mid-1950s, having a brotherly tussle in the dark parking and storage area under Grandmother Holliman's house in Irondale. It was spooky and dank under the house, and I always was afraid to explore it. So I watched from the outside as the two boys engaged in fist-a-cuffs. I think their father broke up the fight.

Brothers always have brotherly quarrels, especially so twin brothers seeking their own identity. Perhaps that is what attracted Alaska to them, the 49th new state with opportunities and a chance to build a life. Our branch of the Holliman family had lived in the south since 1650, and in the early 1960s both brothers migrated to the Great Northwest. Their immigration personifies the Holliman diaspora of our generation. Terry had been stationed in the state during the service, and he must have told Jerry of the attractiveness of the Alaskan outdoors.

The above photo of Euhal, Bishop and Jerry Holliman was taken in 1985 on the porch of the old Holliman home in Irondale.


This thoughtful memorial to Jerry was published by Alaskan Airlines in July, 2003 in Anchorage.


"Jerry, 62, died July 16 of a heart attack while on a fishing vacation in Kenai with his wife, Dona Holliman, also an Alaska Airlines employee.  'We feel this emptiness in our hearts with the sudden loss of a friend like Jerry,' said Davis Burris, Anchorage CSM.  'He touched the lives of everyone he came into contact with everyday, and that was almost everyone in the Anchorage station.'


In 1995, Jerry received the highest honor that an Alaska employee can receive: Customer Service Legend.  As native of Alabama, Jerry moved to Anchorage and began his career with the airline in 1964.  He was the station's top seniority ramp service agent.  In addition to his wife, a 39 year lead CSA - air freight agent, Jerry is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Renee Holliman and Kevin McKinney, two grand daughters and several siblings, including an identical twin brother, Terry."


No doubt Euhal and Edna, both hard-working individuals, would have been proud to read how others felt about Jerry.  I know his cousins are.


Next, the Fourth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman....



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 .My thanks to Tommie Holliman Allen for the information..

Friday, April 8, 2011

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Children of Euhal and Edna Westbrook Holliman


Euhal and Edna Westbrook Holliman were fortunate to have six children, five of whom survive to this day.  
They are:

Melton Terry and Alvin Jerry Holliman, twins (b 1940) - Jerry died of heart disease in his home state of Alaska in 2003. This cute 1941 picture was taken on the Holliman family lawn in Irondale, Alabama.


Ann Holliman Phillips (b 1943) is in the right of the picture below, held by her mother, Edna.  Euhal holds newborn baby Jean Holliman.  Euhal's family lived in Gadsden, Alabama in the 1940s and through the middle of the 1950s.  This picture again seems to have been taken in Irondale in 1944.



Mary Jean Holliman (b 1944) At the 1970 family reunion at E.C. and Mary Daly Herrin's home in Irondale, this picture was taken of Jean, Billy and their mother, Edna. In the far right is Carol Daly, Robert Daly, Jr's wife, holding their son, John Daly.


Tommie Holliman Allen (b 1954), is pictured in November 2010 at the Irondale Cafe with her Uncle Bishop Holliman. Some of the space occupied by the Irondale Cafe is the same location as the Daly Hardware Store from 1944 until its closing in the early 1960s.  The store was owned by brothers Robert, Sr. (Vena's husband) and George Daly.

Billy Holliman (b 1955) - Below is the 50th Anniversary celebration for Edna and Euhal.  Left to right are Tommie, Jean, Ann, Euhal, Edna, Terry, Jerry and Billy Holliman in this 1985 photograph.








Next, An Alaskan memorial to Jerry Holliman....



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 .My thanks to Tommie Holliman Allen for pictures.