A Remembrance of Mary Daly Herrin (1931-2024)

 Ever the Family Hostess for her Generation by Glenn N. Holliman

Mary Daly Herrin, vibrant, energetic with a smile and laughter, was a constant in my family’s life and in the lives of many cousins and her aunts and uncles.

At age five, I remember the night in 1951 when Mary said her wedding vows with Elliot Clayton Herrin, Jr. in Irondale, Alabama.

My family lived in nearby Trussville from 1950 until 1952, as my father taught at Shades Valley High School. Later he accepted a position with the Social Security Administration, first in Birmingham and in time offices in Tennessee, South Carolina, and in the early 1960s in Gadsden, Alabama.

Why do I remember that evening in 1951 so clearly? A song was playing on the radio —
“Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene, I will see you in my dreams.”  To this day it echoes in my mind, just as do the many times Mary and her family welcomed us — the out‑of‑state relatives — into their homes.

Mary (1931–2024) was the firstborn child of Robert W. Daly, Sr. (1901-1959) and his young bride, Vena Holliman (1909-1990), both of Irondale, Alabama. She grew up surrounded by family stories and generations who valued being together. Her father, a Woodlawn, Alabama banker, often took Mary and the family on fishing trips to Florida in the 1930s—memories that became part of family lore.

Clearwater, Florida in 1934, left to right Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary, Vena and Bishop Holliman, this writer's father.

     

This 1939 photograph is of Mary, her grandmother Pearl, Charles H. Ferrell and Carolyn Ferrell Tatum. Pearl was 51 years old. 

       Mary poses in 1943 with her grandfather Ulyss in Irondale.  The family chicken house is pictured in the background.

                                          Mary, Vena and Mary's brother, Robert W. Daly, Jr. (1943-2024)

 

 Mary's 1951 wedding photograph announcing her engagement to Elliot Clayton Herrin, Jr. a classmate at Howard College.  Mary and E.C.’s 1951 wedding marked the beginning of a life built around hospitality and family ties. They made their homes in Irondale, and over the years it became a gathering place for generations.

In 1953, Mary posed with her grandmother Pearl (1888-1955) on the left, her mother Vena and sitting holding Mary's first borne Elliot Clayton Herrin, III. (1953-2021) is Lula Hocutt Caine (1861-1957).  Known in the family as Grandma Caine, her father died at the Civil War Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1863. Mary and E.C. would welcome three more children into their family - Linda Herrin Bradley, Suzanne Herrin Wilder and David Herrin.  

Mary and E.C. Open their Home for a Summer Reunion in 1968

The summer of 1968 at Mary and E.C.'s home in Irondale, the former home of Robert and Vena Daly.  Mary is sitting next to E.C. who is holding David Herrin on his lap. The writer is standing on the 3rd row far left, just back from passing the Army physical. Six months later I would be in Vietnam.  Mary, Vena, Motie and Loudell all wrote to me while I was overseas, just as they had done for my father, Bishop, standing far right, third row, during World War II. Pictured are Ralph Holliman and Walter Cornelius, also WWII overseas veterans. E.C. served in the Navy during the Cold War.

1970, Mary and daughter Linda Herrin Bradley at a 1970 reunion in Irondale. In the 2000s, following in the footsteps of her parents Linda has opened her home on numerous occasions for reunions of the extended families.

The 1982 Reunion 

What Mary and E.C. did in 1982 and numerous other times, was to welcome the clan to their home in Irondale, Alabama.  Mary is sitting on the back left in a white blouse with a red blaze on her shoulder. E.C., standing in the back row far left, must be wondering what his water bill would be as sixty-three relatives came for lunch!  

A Historical Note:

Every one pictured in these group photographs was descended from or in a relationship with a descendant of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, both born in Fayette County, Alabama in the 1880s, one generation after the Civil War. Both had limited educations, Ulyss only finishing the sixth grade.  They entered life before electric lights, automobiles, airplanes and radios. Ulyss's father, John Thomas Holliman (1844-1930), fought in seven battles in the Confederate Army.  None in this direct paternal Holliman line, since the arrival in Jamestown, Virginia of Christopher Hollyman in 1650 (1618-1692), ever owned enslaved persons.  The ancestors of Ulyss migrated from Virginia to the Carolinas arriving in Alabama in 1836, occupying land recently occupied by the Choctaw nation before their removal to what is now Oklahoma.

The 1996 Reunion

We were older, children had grown up, new children were present and for some marriage partners were different. Sadly the angel Gabreil had blown his horn for several aunts and uncles. Mary is middle left, now with gray hair.  For some of us, the hairs on our heads were fewer. Mary was still there—her smile just as warm. She remained the steady center, holding us together.

 Mary and Bishop Holliman (1919-2018), her uncle but more like a brother in 2011, again at Mary and E.C.'s home in Irondale.  

Mary (1931-2024) and E.C. Herrin (1930-2015)

They generously opened their hearts and homes to the descendants of the Holliman, Daly and Herrin families for which their many relatives are grateful.

From Generation to Generation

The Passing of the Grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman by Glenn N. Holliman

It is said that funerals become a time for family reunions, and so it was recently with the passing of a gentle, vibrant soul, Jean Holliman, the fourth of six children of Euhal and Edna Westbrook Holliman.  Sadly, Jean's death was the most recent of the loss of four other grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman in the past few years.

                 Euhal, Edna and Jean, 1985

 Since 2023, we have lost cousins Terry Holliman, Nancy Carol Cornelius Morton,  Mary Daly Herrin and Robert W. Daly, Jr.

To refresh memories there were nineteen children born to the seven children of Ulyss (1884-1965) and Pearl Caine Holliman (1888-1955) of Fayette County and later in life, Irondale, Alabama.  The seven children in chonological birth order are Melton (1908-1958), Vena (1909-1990), Euhal (1912-1989), Loudell (1914-1998), Bishop (1919-2018), Virginia (1922-2011) and Ralph (1924-2017).

Nineteen grandchildren of Ulyss and Pearl were born between 1931 and 1956. Thirteen survive as of this writing.

Attending Jean's funeral in Trussville, Alabama were left to right Jean's brother Bill, his family Kathryn Holliman Woods, Kyle Finley (Joey's husband). Rossi Arnold (Bill's grand daughter), Joey Holliman (Rossi's mother), then Bill's wife Beverly Holliman and Bill's brother-in-law Wally Allen, husband of Tommie Holliman.

Also present left to right, this writer, Glenn N. Holliman, Wally Allen next to his daughter Holly, Tommie Holliman Allen, Brian Allen, Linda Herrin Bradley, David Herrin and Alice Holliman Murphy.  Other family members, Nancy Holliman Justice and her husband Bobby were present but out of camera range.  Nancy lives in Southaven MS about a 5 minute drive from her mother Ann, the third born child of Euhal and Edna.  Nancy's two sons Michael and Jeffery live in Dothan, Alabama.

The family of Euhal and Edna had lost Jerry Holliman in 2003 and his twin, Terry Holliman on December 28, 2023.  Bill Holliman emailed me the following on Terry's life.

"Terry passed on Dec 28, 2023 at his home in Green Valley AZ. He joined the Anchorage, Alaska Fire Department as a volunteer while serving in the Army. His duty station in the Army was in the Federal Building in downtown Anchorage. The fire station was across the street from the Federal Building. He retired from the fire department with the rank of assistant fire chief.  He had four children with Georgi Hercha, his first wife.  Terry Ann died at birth, and three who survive him, Bronwyn, Jodi and Jason. His second wife Deborah had a child, Samantha, from a previous marrieage that Terry adopted."  Picture right are Debbie and Terry in 2001.

Like Terry and Jerry, their brother Bill was attracted to Alaska, going to college there and working in the airline industry. He returned to Birmingham to the employment of another airline and over twenty-five years was stationed at five different airports. His next career move led to being a freight customs broker, and then a position with the Customs and Border Protection agency in Memphis, finally retiring for good in 2019.

 .

The picture left is of Jerry Holliman with his nephew Brian Allen in 2002.

Terry's twin brother Jerry had entered the Army at the same time as Terry, only he was sent to Germany.  When Jerry left the Army, he joined Terry in Anchorage.  As noted, Jerry died July 16, 2003 while employed as a supervisor with Alaska Airline."

This writer, who spent the first two weeks of his life at the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman home on 3rd Avenue in Irondale in 1946, remembered a time in the early 1960s when Jean joined me on a walk on the property pointing out where Grandmother Holliman had located her chicken house. There was Christmas 1960 when Bobby Daly and I played touch football with Jerry and Terry on the Daly lawn in Irondale.  Such memories of cousins, the aunts and uncles, form the fabric of a person's life.

In my next articles, will celebrate the lives of departed cousins Mary Daly Herrin, Robert W. Daly, Jr. and Nancy Carol Cornelius Morton.

The Passing of Clayton Herrin, 1953-2021

 by Glenn N. Holliman

He was born Elliott Clayton Herrin III, the eldest child of E.C. and Mary Daly Herrin of Irondale, Alabama, February 1953.  After several years of declining health, Clayton passed away the morning of August 27, 2021, age 68.  These are a few pictures in my family album of Clayton and others through the years.

Five Generations in 1953

When he was three months old, he had his picture taken at his great grandmother's home in Irondale.  Pearl Caine Holliman, 1887-1955, is on the far left.  In the dark dress is Clayton's grandmother, Vena Holliman Daly, 1909-1990, standing next to her daughter, Mary Daly Herrin, b. 1931.  Holding the new generation is the great, great grandmother, Lula Hocutt Caine, 1861-1957.

Later that year the Herrin/Daly family came to visit our family in Johnson City, Tennessee.  I was 7 years old and remember Clayton as a baby, nestled by Mary.  Unfortunately no  photographs were taken.

A baby sister, Linda, came along in 1956.  This Christmas picture is probably from 1962,

Clayton graduated from Shades Valley High School in 1971.  Below reflecting the hair styles of the era, he sits with his mother, Mary, at Becky Holliman's wedding December 31, 1971.  Becky is the daughter of Bishop Holliman, Mary's uncle.

Also attending that party a half century ago were siblings, Suzanne

 and David Herrin. 

And then there was Clayton's 21st birthday in 1974,

 wearing a snazzy bow tie!

In 1989 another birthday party for his Grandmother Vena surrounded by Daly cousins and his siblings.

Though the decades Clayton matriculated at Montevalo and Samford Universities and was a banker before health issues slowed him up.  He married Phylis Thoni of Birmingham in 1975.  Tragically, they lost an infant child.  Elliott Clayton Herrin IV survives, an expert in the mechanics of the entertainment industry. 

Clayton was affable, kind, interested in trains and family history and a great help to his parents as they aged.  After my retirement, I was able to get back to Birmingham more often to enjoy visits with all my cousins.  Clayton once showed my father, Bishop, and me around Irondale to see how it had changed or in some cases had not changed.  

  

With his mother, Mary, Clayton waves goodbye after a visit of my father and me.

I shall miss Clayton, and I am sure I am not the only one to feel that way.

When my Grandfather was Young, Part 3

 by Glenn N. Holliman

My Grandfather made a Decision to Relocate.  The Decision reverberates to this Day.

He closed his barber shop when he married and started farming again, the worn out soil of Fayette County, Alabama.  He had married Pearl Caine Holliman in November1907.  He began engaging in civic affairs being listed as an election officer in 1910.  This interest in politics which he shared with several of his brothers would result in him running for the state legislature in the 1930s and 1940s as a Republican.  

Children came rapidly for the young couple - Melton 1909, Vena 1910, Euhal 1912 and Loudelle 1914. The clippings that follow are from the Fayette, Alabama newspaper.

1910

So in 1912, Ulyss, his wife, Pearl and his first three children moved to town, Fayette, Alabama.  My late father believed Ulyss worked in the lumber yard. 

1912

1913

The far left child is Vena Holliman Daly and Melton P. Holliman on the far right.  The remaining children may be cousins, perhaps the Lee Cook family.

 1915

Vena Holliman Daly and Loudelle Holliman Ferrell taken in Fayette, Alabama, 

1916

Occasionally, Ulyss had some fun such as this steam boat ride he took with two of his brothers in 1916.  Can you see him in the far left, 2nd row with the hat pushed back on his head?  This photograph was saved by Cecil  Rhodes Holliman (1901-1986), son of James Monroe Holliman (1876-1940), father of Cecil and grandfather of Rhodes B. Holliman (1928-2014).  Rhodes' son, Dr. Jim Holliman, resides in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  His second cousin, once removed (this writer) and wife Barbara, often visit Jim and his wife, Karen, who live an hour away from our home in Newport, Pennsylvania.  The copy in the second picture is from Cecil, a first cousin to my father, Bishop Holliman (1919-2018).

The Fateful Dinner of September 1915

Floyd Caine, the only brother of my grandmother, Pearl Caine Holliman, had moved to Irondale, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, the "Magic City" which experienced explosive growth for its first 50 years.  Floyd was labeled a doctor in this article.  That is exaggeration as he was a pharmacist who had left the farm life in Fayette County and acquired rudimentary skills of pills and tonics.  All four families recorded in the second paragraph would follow Floyd by late 1917 to reside in Irondale.  They were his parents and three sisters.  Ulyss was not in attendance; he must have been with the children.

What did they discuss that visit?  Impressed they must have been by Floyd's economic success.  Economic opportunities were limited in Fayette and the the Cooks and Hollimans had large families to feed.  By 1917 the decision was made leave Fayette, the home of the Hollimans since 1836.  Life would change forever for their children and opened up vistas for the grandchildren that would follow.

 

1918

This newspaper clipping in early 1918 confirms Ulyss had taken his family to Birmingham.

By 1918 the Hollimans and Caines made Irondale their homes.  The Cooks would follow.  Ulyss acquired a carpenter's job with the Birmingham Electric Company which owned the streetcar line.  He would work for them until retirement in 1949. Occasionally Ulyss experienced mishaps in the big city. 

 1920

From the Birmingham News

We don't know if Ulyss ever recovered this money, probably equivalent of a week's pay.  We know in 1940 his annual salary was $1,600.  Did he lose his wallet on the street car to a light fingered thief?  Perhaps.  My father remembered an occasion when his father, very ticklish, was a window seat passenger on the street car coming home holding a package of meat for the family.  A 'friend' tickled him, playfully, and Ulyss, surprised, threw up his arms and the package went sailing out an open window.  No hamburger that night in Irondale.

1960 

The Singer Barber Sings Again!

Cousin Pam Holliman, my Uncle Ralph Holliman's daughter, found this clipping from the Birmingham News.  Uylss, age 76, could still belt out a song as pictured above!  I never saw him sing; in fact I never saw him smile.  His grandchildren missed a lot.  He passed away in 1965, age 81.  Oh, I wish I could have heard him sing. - GNH

1960 

When My Grandfather was Young, Part 2

by Glenn N. Holliman

 Some More Revealing Facts on my Grandfather's Younger Years!

Above, early 1900s, my grandfather, Ulyss S. Holliman

with one of his brothers, right, Lealand Holliman.

The Singing Barber

The next two clippings are from the same front page of the Fayette Banner in 1906.  The first one describes my grandfather performing in front of his brother James Monroe Holliman's clothing store in downtown Fayette.  Were they paid to sing and perhaps dance a twostep?!

 Was the performance to drum up business for Ulyss's new enterprise, a barber shop?  Goodness, Grand Dad was a singing barber!  I remember my father speaking often that his father used to cut his hair (and his brothers).  I thought it was to save 25 cents but obviously I underestimated my Grandfather's skills!

1906

The Barber Marries and Returns to Farming

How long did the barber shop last?  Not past 1910 when the census recorded Ulyss as a farmer, married to Pearl Caine Holliman and father of two babies, Melton and Vena. That marriage occurred in November 1907 as the next clipping attests.  Martin Creek was a crossroads south of Fayette.

1907

A Republican in a Democratic South

Farmer Ulyss became the father of a son in 1908 (Melton) and a daughter (Vena) in 1909. In 1910, he had some status in the community, an election manager in an off-year contest.  This is the first public mention of my Grandfather interested in politics. In later years, he would be engaged along with his brother James Monroe Holliman and his sons Cecil R. and Charles B. Holliman (and even my father, Bishop, in 1946) as Republican nominees for state offices.   

 Above 1898 James Monroe and Elizabeth Baker Holliman; below their sons Cecil Rhodes and Charles Baker Holliman, 1911.

The Holliman family was Republican when 90% of the white population in Alabama voted Democratic after Reconstruction from the Civil War.  Brother James Monroe Holliman served as probate judge in Fayette County for many years, elected and reelected as a Republican.  Why did the family embrace the minority party that in the generation after the Civil War, the party of Reconstruction that included Black elected officials and civil rights for former slaves?

I have long speculated on this question and asked my Father and the late Rhodes B. Holliman, Cecil R. Holliman's son, that question.  Several answers might be that Fayette County was in the region of Alabama with few slaves and little of the plantation wealth that developed in areas of the state with more fertile soil. As with the neighboring counties of Walker and Winston, pro-Union or 'Tory' sentiment was not uncommon.  Uriah Holliman (1817-1862), the grandfather of Ulyss, was a prosperous farmer who by 1860 owned 900 acres and managed the enterprise with numerous children and no servants.  Caught up in the initial enthusiasm of secession, Uriah, age, 42, enlisted and tragically died of 'camp fever' along with his son, Charles (1842-1862), after the 1862 Battle of Shiloh.

Mary 'Polly' Lucas Holliman (18...-1911) mother John Thomas Holliman. We have no photograph of her husband, Uriah (1820- 1862) 

Another Uriah son, my great grandfather, John Thomas Holliman (1844-1930), joined the Confederate Army in May 1862, the same month his father died.  The Confederate government already faced a manpower shortage just one year into the war and offered young men either $50 and service with lads from their community or be drafted into the general army and no bonus.  Eighteen years old, a farm hand and poorly educated, John joined with his friends.

John Thomas Holliman, Ulyss' father

In February 1865 after seven major battles and never a leave home, he and two other Fayette County young men, hungry and cold, crossed over from Robert E. Lee's lines in Petersburg, Virginia and gave themselves up to the Union Army.  There is evidence they even joined the Union Army, but John seemed to have slipped between enlistment and being a prisoner of war.  He was sent to work on a farm in Indiana, stayed until the crop harvest and then walked home to Alabama in September 1865, barefoot, carrying his precious shoes.

James Franklin Holliman, an uncle of Ulyss

John is quoted as saying the conflict was 'A rich man's war and a poor man's fight'.  My great grandfather probably suffered from what today we call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He attended his brother James Franklin Holliman's school for less than a week that autumn of 1865, settled into farming, lost his first wife in childbirth, who bore a son, William. 

He remarried Martha Jane Walker, a daughter of a Civil War veteran, and they had five sons, the last being Ulyss. In their old age, the sons (those that could) helped support their parents.  Five of the six sons would eventually leave Fayette County seeking livelihoods in other Alabama towns and cities.  While they lived into their 80s, both parents died in poverty there being no Social Security or government safety net for the elderly until the arrival of the Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s.

Below in 1928, John Thomas and Martha Jane Walker Holliman

Next article Ulyss leaves the farm and makes the first of two moves fundamental to the lives of his children. - GNH