Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part V
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

Below, Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary Daly Herrin, Vena Holliman Daly, Robert W. Daly, Sr. and H. Bishop Holliman at Fort Walden, Florida, 1934. Stewart Button must have taken the picture.

"I have never known why Vena and Robert felt it appropriate to take me along on their trip to Florida in 1934, the first of my 'three Golden Summers'.  I can understand why they took Virginia along - Mary was just three years old, so Virginia was needed to baby sit her.  But there was no earthly reason why they let me tag along, except out of the goodness of their hearts.  Also, Mr. Button was included in this, the first of their many escapades to Florida.  I don't recall any conversations that led up to the decision to take me with them.

Almost 5 million Model A Fords were built between 1927 and 1931.  As Henry Ford said, one could have it in any color one wanted, as long as it was black! This is a plush model.  The 1934 Daly car was more prosaic! GNH

We left Irondale, Alabama on a Monday morning in July at about 3 am, riding in the Model A Ford.  I have always remembered how exciting it was to be awakened that early and to head off to Florida, the first time I was to be out of Alabama and to view the ocean.  So six of us - three adults, two young teenagers and one three year old - were stacked in the two door car.  Our suit cases were slung over the hood on each side and may have even been tied to the fender opposite the driver's side.  Remember...there was no such thing as air conditioning, no radio and no trunk to store luggage.  Only two-lane roads, no fancy rest stops and very few eating places along the way.  By today's standards it was murder!  But we did not know any better.   We were headed to Florida, and besides, gas was no more than 20 cents a gallon.

Our first stop was in Clanton, Alabama where we had breakfast at the Dixie Cafe on the main street.  The cost was $2.50 for the six of us....ham and eggs and all the trimmings.  I guess Robert paid for Mr. Button's share.  Virginia and I had no money at all.  I thought the price of our meal was astronomical, and I recall writing back home and telling Mama and Daddy how much we had already spent.  We stopped in Dothan, Alabama to visit a Daly cousin, and we may have had lunch there.

I remember Virginia and I always wanting to visit places we had read about in our Alabama geography and history books, but the adults did not cotton to that idea so we never stopped.  Our goal was to reach Panama City.  We may have spent the night at a 'tourist court', reaching the ocean the next day; I am not sure now.

Young Robert Daly and wife, Vena, enjoy the beach in Florida.  Their kindness opened up a larger view of the world to younger brothers and sister.  

Whatever the day was, I remember how 'awed' I was when I first cast my eyes on the huge body of water that was Panama City Bay.  I guess I had seen Lake Purdy, but it was not like that at all!  The next day, I was even more 'awed', when we reached the beach at Fort Walton, Florida, a fairly new resort west toward Pensacola.  There we settled for the next twelve days in a one-bath cabin, an oil cook stove, no radio.  Air conditioning had not been heard of nor television.  There were no near-by eating places, no movie houses nor other entertainment.  But we were in Florida, and the beach was a couple of miles away, over the bridge that connected the town to the beach, and we thought it was pretty nice."

Next posting, more amazing adventures of a small town American family in the 1930s....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part IV
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

"In the summer of 1933, the Robert Dalys, The Rev. Stewart Button and the Model A Ford all got together, left Irondale, Alabama and went to the Century of Progress (the World's fair ) in Chicago!  Can you imagine anything more unusual than that!!!  They left daughter Mary, now two years old, with Robert's sister, Lena and other Daly folks, on their farm, up above where Mary and E.C. Herrin live now (near the new Shades Valley High School in east Irondale).

Right, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell and her sister-in-law Ida Holliman in front of the Daly house in Irondale, a new home built by Robert Daly in the early 1930s.  The lawn on which Loudelle and Ida are standing was the shared lawn with the Ulyss Holliman home at 2300 3rd Avenue. Dozens of family photos were taken from the 1930s to 1990s at this site.

In addition, they took Loudelle with them!  I guess they were gone a week.  They must have been on the road a night each way, going and coming.  I am sure Robert paid all the expenses for gas and overnight lodging.  Maybe Mr. Button paid his hotel bill.  Loudelle would not have had any money, and she lost a week's wages because there was no vacation time nor sick leave for hardly any one at that time, and surely not for ten cent store clerks.  But this was Loudelle's time to travel with the Dalys!

To say that your relatives had gone to the World's Fair elevated in little Irondale, Alabama our prestige no end - even more so than riding in the rumble seat of the Packard!  None of us knew of anyone else who had gone to Chicago, and certainly not to the Fair. It gave us a lot to talk about.  Vena and Robert always brought souvenirs back to Virginia, Ralph and me, but I can't recall now what they brought this time.  Loudelle picked up lots of pamphlets with coupons to order stuff, and I got on many mailing lists.  Below, Vena Holliman Daly in 1934.

An interesting side bar - to add luster to this 1933 safari, the next summer, 1934, the noted gangster, John Dillenger, was shot and killed by FBI agents outside a Chicago theater.  The four from Irondale like to claim that the hotel where they stayed the summer before was just a few blocks from where the Enemy No. One was gunned down!  That gave them something to talk about (aside from being asked several times if they saw Sally Rand)!"

More exciting Irondale adventures in next post....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part III
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

"In the summer of 1933 many of FDR's programs were being developed and there was lots of news about the new President and what was happening in Washington. That summer I spent reading the 8th grade history book because I had been double-promoted from the 7th grade to the 9th. Mr. Millsap, the principal, had told me to study that book over the summer, so I did. In September 1933, I entered the 9th grade.

Below in Irondale, Alabama in 1934 are left, Ida Hughes Holliman, wife of Melton, and Loudelle Holliman. In 1935, Loudelle would marry an up and coming young Methodist minister, Charles Ferrell.

Loudelle was working at F.W. Woolworth Ten Cent Store on 3rd Avenue and 19th Street in Birmingham. She worked six days a week and made, I think, seven dollars a week! Her car fare was 14 cents day. I don't know what she did for lunch. Euhal was working in Hill's grocery store in East Lake, but I do not know how much he was paid.

Right, a restored 1926 Packard with rumble seat the type in which Euhal Holliman enjoyed riding when Robert and Vena Holliman Daly took him for a long vacation ride!

By that summer, Robert Daly had sold his Packard Roadster and bought a Model A Ford from Cecil Bunt, who lived on the same street up on the hill. I never did know why he sold the Packard, or felt the need to move down to a lower level. That was not for me to know. The two-door Ford was probably a 1931 model.

 Also in 1933, there came into Robert and Vena's life, and also into our family's lives, The Rev. Stewart Button, the new Presbyterian preacher in Irondale, one who was to impact our lives for many years.

Below, Irondale neighbor, Charles Pugh, Bishop Holliman and Stewart Button in front of the Holliman home at 2300 3rd Avenue, ca 1939.

Mr. Button, or 'Button' as Robert Daly called him, was a native of Ireland and had come to the States in the late 1920s, attended Maryville College in Tennessee, a Presbyterian institute. A well educated man, he was about the same age as Robert but as yet unmarried. Robert and Vena took him under their wings, and from then on Mr. Button was like one of the family.

 He was in and out of their house constantly, socialized with them and shared many hours of pleasant conversations. Maybe it was the Irish connection that tied them together. Anyway, he became a big part of their lives as long as they lived. Also, he had a great influence on my life as well."

Next, a Return again to the 1930s....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part II
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

"In the summer of 1929, Daddy (Ulyss Holliman 1884 - 1965) bought an electric cook stove, a rare appliance for that time and place.  Up until then Mama (Pearl Caine Holliman 1888 - 1955) had had to cook on a coal stove, which, of course, was an unbearable thing in the summer.  But not many folks in Irondale, Alabama enjoyed the luxury of such a thing at that time.

Left, a side view of the Ulyss Holliman house at 2300 3rd Avenue, Irondale, Alabama.  Constructed in 1921, the home had six rooms and no indoor plumbing facilities until 1938. This photo was taken in November 2010.

I remember this event so well because the stove was installed while Vena and Robert were on their trip to Kentucky and North Carolina.  They took Euhal (1912 - 1989) with them on this trip.  He was 17 years old, and I remember his saying when he returned that he sat in the rumble seat and waved to the girls they passed along the way!  So Euhal was the first of the family to enjoy a long auto trip with the Dalys.  Our time - and Loudelle's - would come later.

                                                                  Above Euhal Holliman, ca 1935

By the summer of 1930, the Great Depression was in full sway, though I was too young to understand the implications of any of it.  I thought folks had always been unemployed.  The freight trains that came through Irondale, which we could plainly see from our front porch, had always carried hobos as far as I knew, so I was not impressed one way or the other by the evidence around me.  If Daddy had been out of a job, as so many of our acquaintances were, I am sure I would have been more aware of what was happening.

.
Mary Daly was born in June 1931, so they did not go anywhere that summer.  At that time, 1931, they were living in the 2nd brick house (the one next to the woods) on our block. I remember Bill Fortenberry on the afternoon of June 15, 1931, who worked for his brother Ed in the local grocery store, saying to me that I was now an 'uncle'.  I thought that made me more mature than I was!

Right, Mary Daly Herrin in Irondale, 1932.

I guess the summer of 1932 was much like the previous summer.  The Depression had deepened, and the thought of taking along trip was incomprehensible to most folks.  Daddy was still working, and Euhal and Loudelle were working off and on.  Radio was a fairly new kid on the block, even though Daddy had bought a Zenith in 1928 for the prodigious sum of $219, a huge amount in those days.

I remember Mama let me stay home from school in 1929 to listen to Herbert Hoover's presidential inauguration.  In 1932 we listened to the Democratic Convention and heard the band playing over and over 'Happy Days are Here Again.'

The radio, along with the electric stove, made us among the first folks in Irondale to claim ownership of such modern conveniences."

Next more memories of the 1930s....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

Earlier this year, 91 year old Bishop Holliman, the fifth child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, penned some nostalgic memories of vacationing with his family in Florida in the middle 1930s.  My father mailed copies to numerous of my cousins, but with his permission, I place his words in this space in order to reach a larger audience.  Glenn N. Holliman


The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part I
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

Introduction -

"Several years ago, my great nephew, Clayton Herrin, suggested I
write a few words about trips my sibilings and I made to Florida with Clayton's mother, Mary Daly Herrin, and his grandparents,
Robert W. and Vena Holliman Daly in the 1930s.  He said he had heard us talk about those times, and he thought it would be good to put in writing that period of history for the benefit of his generation
and those that follow.  So that is what I have done - probably more than anyone wants to read.  But I have included many other bits of history about the family and events of those years that I think are worth recording.  Good reading!"

Above are Robert and Vena Daly, somewhere on a trip other than Florida, and most formally dressed for an outing.  In May 1932, Herbert Hoover was in the White House and the Depression was nearing its nadir.  The Democrats that summer were about to nominate the governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, as their presidential candidate.  History was about to turn again. GNH


"In the summer of 1934, I was 14 years old and had graduated from the 9th grade at Irondale school.  My sister, Virginia was 12, and Ralph, my youngest brother, was 10.  Both siblings Euhal and Loudelle were still living at home.  My oldest brother, Melton, had been married for two years, and Vena for six.  Melton worked in the drug store at Five Points in Birmingham, filling prescriptions;  Loudelle at Woolworths and Euhal for Hill Grocery Company.  Vena, Robert and their new daughter, Mary, lived next door to us, the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman house, 2300 3rd Avenue on the hill in Irondale, Alabama.  Robert had built two brick houses in the early 1930s, and lived in the one closest to our home Daddy had constructed in 1921.

Daddy (Ulyss S. Holliman) worked at the street car company (Birmingham Electric Company) full time, having lost only six weeks of work during the Great Depression in the summer of 1933.  Robert was manager of the Woodlawn Bank, a branch of the First National in Birmingham.

This wonderful 1928 picture of young Vena and Robert showing off their catch of the day was taken in Miami on their honeymoon.  The photo hangs in their daughter's home in Irondale, Alabama.  There is a startling resemblance between young Robert Sr. and son, Robert Daly, Jr.  Vena, all of age 19, is looking very coquettish in the picture. GNH 

Vena and Robert had married in June 1928 at the Irondale Methodist Church, and went to Miami on their honeymoon, driving a four-door black Dodge automobile.  This was the first of many long trips they would take during the next thirty or so years.  Before the start of the  next summer - 1929 - Robert had traded for a used Packard roadster with a rumble seat, and they drove to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky and over to the Indian Reservation in North Carolina.

I mention these little incidents to point out that in 1929 and on through the 1930s, during the Depression years, not many people, in fact, only a very few people in Irondale, could afford the luxury of driving Packard automobiles, or taking a vacation.  Or enjoying the semblance of a comfortable life like taking long automobile trips without worrying about their next meal.

 Fate had smiled kindly on Robert and Vena, and, fortunately for Virginia, Ralph and me, we shared in their good fortune! Not only did they share their goods with we three youngest children, but also with the entire family.  Robert had been in the family as long as we could remember.  He gave us gifts at Christmas even before they were married, and he continued to shower us with love and affection and presents as long as he lived.  I don't know how or why he and Vena put up with us as they did - not only with we three youngest only, but with all the family as needs and opportunities arose."

Clayton Herrin, left , who asked his great uncle, Bishop Holliman, right, to prepare some comments on the Dalys and Hollimans in the 1930s.  Here the two stand in front of the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman home at 2300 3rd Avenue, Irondale, Alabama in November 2010.  In 1956 with their children, Euhal and Edna Holliman moved into the house and lived in it to their passing.

Next: More Reminiscences by Bishop Holliman....

Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Virginia Ruth Holliman Cornelius, 1922

the Sixth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

We continue from the previous post with the printed biography of my Aunt Virginia Holliman Cornelius, a pioneer for women in Alabama banking.  Virginia lives today in Austin, Texas near her children.

Below, Vena, Ralph, Virginia and Bishop, four brothers and sisters in 1978 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Above, grand daughter, Carla Sebesta, Carol Cornelius Morton, Susan Cornelius Williams, Virginia, and an Am South executive at her retirement in 1990 in Birmingham, Alabama. The clippings from Am South through the years describing Virginia's career have been many.

                                        Below, the immediate family as of 2002 of Virginia.

Next posting, before featuring the seventh child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, we shall detour to the 1930s for a nostalgic look of summer vacations by Bishop Holliman, the fifth child.


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

Virginia Ruth Holliman Cornelius, 1922
the Sixth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

We continue to post the 2002 biography of Virginia as prepared by her family.

Continued from the previous posting...

                  Below, in 1970, Virginia, right, visits with her sister, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell.

                                                                         Photo by Glenn Holliman at Mary and E.C. Herrin's, Irondale, Alabama

                            Virginia and Walter, second from right, in happy days in the 1960s.

More Next Posting on this pioneer in Alabama business....


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  All invited, including the Holliman social at the Rose House Inn, Fayette, 5:30 pm to 9 pm, Friday, October 14th.