Return to Irondale 2013, Part 4

by Glenn N. Holliman


An Oral History of Irondale, Alabama....

Left, Bishop Holliman, born in the Birmingham suburb of Irondale, Alabama in 1919, returned in late January 2013 for a talk with the Irondale Historical Society.  While there he sat for a two hour oral history interview with Dolores Hydock, a professional story teller, who lives only a block from where Bishop grew up 90 years earlier.

Dolores has made an audio CD of the interview which can be ordered at www.storypower.org.  Her web site and talents are fascinating.  If one is interested in Alabama culture, her work and other CDs are available at her site.

Below, Dolores and Denise Tew Wight, president of the Irondale Historical Society interview Bishop at the society' museum in Irondale.  Information on the Society can be found at www.irondalehistory.org.

Below, Bishop gives a hug to Delores,  a professional actress and Yale University graduate, after the session at the Irondale Historical Society. Denise Tew Wright, director of the Society, who kindly arranged the interview and talk, is on the far right. Denise is the driving force behind the preservation of the local history of the town.

Below, Bishop and Denise stand outside of the Historical Society building.  In the background, a modern building has replaced the old grocery store where Bishop worked as a clerk in the late 1930s. 

Below, the trains which traversed the town in Bishop's childhood, still move through the center of Irondale, a major switching yard for several railroad lines. This is the view from the Historical Society's back yard looking north.

My Father, who now lives in Indiana, is grateful for the opportunity to visit his childhood home and is appreciative that so many nieces and nephews took the time to attend his talk with James Pugh in Irondale in January 2013.  GNH

Have questions about Holliman family history and associated families? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.

Announcing also a "Seminar and Site" gathering October 18 and 19, 2013 in Fayette, Alabama for Hollimans and associated families whose ancestors are from that area. Space at the Rose House Inn is limited for the occasion due to a football weekend. For information, contact me at the above email. Hope to see some of you there. - GNH

Return to Irondale 2013, Part 3

by Glenn N. Holliman

Photographs of Family and Friends....

The January 2013 session of the Irondale Historical Society turned into a mini-family reunion for the Holliman family.  Below left to right both rows are: Glenn N. Holliman, Tommie Holliman Allen, Walley Allen, Jean Holliman, E.C. Herrin, Clayton Herrin, Elliot Herrin, Glenda Youngblood Norris (grand daughter of Cecil Rhodes Holliman), Mary Daly Herrin, Nancy and Charles Ferrell, Bishop Holliman, David Herrin and Brian Allen.

Below Bishop Holliman hugs Jean Bunt Trammel of Irondale, Alabama.  The Trammel's were neighbors of Bishop's when growing up in the 1930s on 3rd Avenue North.

Below, Walley and Tommie Holliman Allen, their son Brian and Jean Holliman.  Tommie and Jean are the daughters of Euhal and Edna Westbrook Holliman who raised their family at 2300 3rd Avenue North, Irondale from 1956 to Edna's passing in 1992.

Below -  "Her name is Daly Katherine Herrin. She was born December 28. 2012. We are calling her Daly." - reports the proud father, David Herrin standing in the blue shirt.  Holding the new grand daughter is Mary Daly Herrin.  Tommie and Walley Allen are in the back ground. 

Mary is the daughter of Robert W. and Vena Holliman Daly.  Mary grew up next door to the Holliman house at 2300 3rd Avenue North.  She and E.C. Herrin, a semi-retired lawyer, married in 1951 and raised their family of four children - Clayton, Linda, David and Suzanne -  in Irondale.  David and Clayton continue to make their homes in Irondale.

Have questions about Holliman family history and associated families? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let family's genealogical work or photographs languish unread and deteriorating in an attic. Write us please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH

Return to Irondale 2013, Part 2

by Glenn N. Holliman

More Irondale, Alabama Memories....

As written in the last post, Bishop Holliman, b 1919, returned to his home town of Irondale in January 2013 to join boyhood friend James Pugh in a session before the Irondale Historical Society.  In the 1930s, Bishop called James 'Huck' and James called Bishop 'Tom'.

Below, Denise Wright, director of the Irondale Historical Society moderates 'Tom' and 'Huck' before a full house of persons interested in life in their small Alabama community during the Depression.  Bishop is left in blue and James in dark blue. Against the wall, left of the flag, audio recording the session is accomplished story teller and actress Dolores Hycock of Irondale who interviewed Bishop for two hours earlier that day.

Bishop's take on life in early 20th Century Alabama is written in this manuscript below.  Yours truly added some Irondale history and photographs donated by family members.  A copy is available by email and also on my Ancestry.com site.  Booklets were donated to the Irondale Historical Society and the Public Library.

 

Below, among those attending were Charles H. Ferrell, second row right in pale blue shirt, who is Bishop's nephew.  Wife Nancy sits to his left.  In the row behind are David, E.C. and Mary Daly Herrin, a niece.  Back row, left to right are Wally and Tommie Holliman (niece of Bishop) Allen and Jean Holliman, another niece. Bryan Allen, a great nephew, videos the session.  Dolores Hydock, professional story teller, is against the wall, right.  James and Bishop are in front.

Next posting, more photographs of family and friends at this nostalgic meeting....

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let family's genealogical work or photographs languish unread and deteriorating in an attic. Write us please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH

 

Return to Irondale 2013, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman


Memories of Irondale, Alabama....

January 29, 2013, H. Bishop Holliman, b. 1919, returned to his boyhood home to share at a meeting of the Irondale Historical Society his memories of the 1920s and 30s.  A crowd of 46 turned out to listen and ask questions.  Bishop was assisted in his talk by input from his childhood friend, James Pugh, a young 92.

Below, Bishop in the pale blue shirt at the front of the rooms listens to a remark by James Pugh to the back right of this photograph.  The meeting was held at the Irondale Public Library community room.  The distinguished head of flowing gray hair, back to camera in butter scotch colored sweater, belongs to Bishop's great nephew, Clayton Herrin.

Below, among the many relatives attending were back row - Wally and Tommie Holliman Allen and Jean Holliman, daughters of Euhal and Edna Holliman.  Far rear by the camera is Tommie's son, Brian, who videoed the event.  Front row is a brand new father, David Herrin, who brought his new daughter briefly to the meeting.  Next to him in reddish orange shirt is E.C. Herrin and his wife, Mary Daly Herrin, the first grand child born to Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman.

After the speech, Bishop, a young 93, signed copies of his book entitled "Memories of Irondale, Alabama, 1920s and 30s".  E.C. Herrin, back row, looks in stunned wonderment that anyone, anywhere possibly would want Bishop's autograph!  For a free electronic copy of the booklet, please write glennhistory@email.com.

Learn more about the Irondale Historical Society at www.irondalehistory.org .  Bishop Holliman is grateful to president Denise Tew Wright for their kind invitation to share a bit of Irondale memories.

Next post, more photographs of family and stories from Uncle Bishop's book!

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let family's genealogical work or photographs languish unread and deteriorating in an attic. Write us please and tell us of your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH

 

 

 

My Grandmother's Wall Photographs, Part 9

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Last Section....

Below is the last portion of my grandmother's, Pearl Caine Holliman, collage of photographs of family she put together in the late 1940s.  Grandmother Holliman died in 1955 of heart disease suffered at her home, 2300 3rd Avenue N., Irondale, Alabama.

 

Our identification of the framed photographs continues....

 

41. Euhal and Edna Holliman.  Euhal was the third child born to Ulyss and Pearl in 1912. 

42. Patti Holliman Hairston, daughter of Melton and Ida Hughes Holliman.

43. Ralph Holliman and his mother and father, Pearl and Ulyss, on a 1940 trip to western North Carolina. Ralph as the last of seven children, b 1924, to Pearl and Ulyss.

44. Melton and Loudelle Holliman, taken approximately 1915 in Fayette, Alabama. In 1917, Ulyss would move the family to Irondale for economic reasons.

45. Pam Holliman, first born of two daughters born to Ralph and Motie Holliman.

46. Nancy Carol Cornelius Morton, daughter of Virginia and Walter Cornelius (1922-2006)

47. Left to right – Loudelle, Vena, Euhal and Melton Holliman, perhaps 1915.

48. Virginia and Ralph Holliman, sister and brother, perhaps 1926.

49. Patti Holliman Hairston, left, with unknown girl.

50. Pam Holliman, today a professor of religion at a Chicago seminary.

51. Virginia Holliman Cornelius and Ralph Holliman were posed in 1928, dressed up for a traveling photographer, at the time of Vena Holliman and Robert W. Daly, Sr.’s wedding in Irondale, Alabama. Ralph, age 4, perhaps to his chagrin, was the flower boy.

52. Bishop Holliman and his oldest brother Melton met in New Orleans in the winter of 1942. Bishop was in the Navy, the only child yet in service in World War II. Ida and Melton had moved to Mobile, Alabama from Birmingham around 1940.

53. The photo is blurred but left to right are Jean, Anne, Jerry and Terry Holliman with their father, Euhal, behind them. This was made perhaps in 1946.

54. Ulyss and Bishop pose in Key West, Florida in early February 1942. Loudelle, Charles, Ralph, Pearl and Ulyss drove from Irondale to Key West, Florida (a long, long trip in that era) to visit Bishop during this critical time in World War II. They had no idea when (or if) they might see him again.

55. Taken in the late 1920s in Fayette, Alabama are John Thomas (1844-1930) and Martha Jane Walker Holliman (1846-1931). Interesting as the parents of Ulyss Holliman, this photo might be first, but Grandmother Holliman put it last. According to Rhodes Holliman, a Holliman family historian and a great grandson, Martha Jane had personality challenges. John Thomas seems to have suffered Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from his terrible experiences in the Civil War.  He farmed all his life and died in poverty with no savings and before Social Security and Medicare. Their sons had to financially support them in their old age.

Martha Jane’s father, Samuel Walker, went off to fight for the Confederacy in 1862 when she was 16 years old. This great, great grandfather of my generation (we have no picture of him) was at the Battles of Gettysburg, the Crater, Petersburg and Lee’s last retreat. Pearl’s grandmother who is pictured at the beginning of this frame lost her father, Manasses Hocutt, after he died in 1863 from wounds at the Battle of Stone’s River, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 

One can argue that the Holliman family did not recover from the Civil War until the advent of the generation of the children of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman – Melton, Vena, Euhal, Loudelle, Bishop, Virginia and Ralph.

 

For over 65 years Bishop Holliman (back to camera), son of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman, and his niece, Mary Daly Herrin, have studied and identified their many relatives and loved ones in the collage.  Above in January 2013 in Mary's Irondale home, the two did so together one more time.

 

 

Next week, photographs from Bishop Holliman's talk to the Irondale Historical Society on his memories of growing up in the 1920s and 30s.

 

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desablai@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

 

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let your aunt or uncle's genealogical work languish unread and deteriorating in an attic.Write us please and tell us of your items.Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH

My Grandmother's Wall Photographs, Part 8

by Glenn N. Holliman

We continue our tour of Pearl Caine Holliman's photographic collage which now hangs on the kitchen wall of Mary and E.C. Herrin in Irondale, Alabama.  E.C.'s parents, Elliot Clayton Sr. and Pyretta Walker Herrin are bottom left and his aunt and uncle, Ludi and George Herrin bottom right under the collage.  In the center are portraits of Mary's parents, Robert and Vena Holliman Daly.

Below, the next section of the collage.

30. Euhal and the family dog, Sport.       

31. Ralph, meticulous as always, combs his hair for the photographer.       

32. A studious looking Euhal presents a handsome portrait in this picture.       

33. Melton was nicknamed ‘Rosie’ by his classmates while in high school. He graduated in 1927, and went to work in his Uncle Floyd Caine’s drug store. There he mastered the      pharmaceutical trade and stayed in it all his life. Floyd (1883 – 1966) as Lula Hocutt Caine’s son.       

34.Melton Holliman in sporty dress in the 1920s.       

35. Vena Holliman Daly and her daughter, Mary Daly Herrin, on the Daly-Holliman lawn.       
36. Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman on the lawn with grandson Glenn N. Holliman, Bishop’s Son.       

37. Far right stands Pearl Caine Holliman who in the 1940s entertained in Irondale her Sunday School class for which she was a teacher. Ulyss and Pearl were very active in the Gospel Tabernacle Church of The Rev. Glenn Tingly of Birmingham. Tingly was controversial, and the first radio preacher in the city from the early 1930s. 

While he preached against vice and immorality, Tingly's emotional, end of time theology was not shared by the entire family. The Ferrells in particular, moderate Methodists, were in disagreement with Loudelle’s parents and their financial support of the Tabernacle. Robert Daly, Sr. wrote scathingly during World War II how this ministry was taking resources from Ulyss and Pearl that could have been better used supporting Lula Caine, Pearl’s mother, who lived on a small rail road widow’s pension and who took in boarders to make end's meet.

38. Andrew ‘Eck’ Holliman was one of the six brothers of John Thomas Holliman, and the first to die (1882-1926). Interesting he is the only brother of Ulyss on the picture board. He succumbed to a heart attack and is buried in Anniston, Alabama where he worked for the railroad.

39. Jerry and Terry Holliman.

40. Melton and Ida Hughes Holliman (1905-1995). 

More next posting....

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desablai@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let your aunt or uncle's genealogical work languish unread and deteriorating in an attic.Write us please and tell us of your items.Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH

My Grandmother's Wall Photographs, Part 7

by Glenn N. Holliman

This posting continues to examine the wall collage of my grandmother, Pearl Caine Holliman of Irondale, Alabama.  She and her husband, Ulyss S. Holliman, had seven children and nineteen grandchildren.  The collage today is held by the first of the cousins born, Mary Daly Herrin.  Previous sections of the collage can be seen in earlier posts.

The numbered pictures may be seen in the next photograph below.

23. Pearl Caine Holliman (1887-1955) with Robert W. Daly, Jr. (b 1943) at her feet accepts the first door to door delivery of U.S. Mail at her home at 2300 N. 3^rd Street in Irondale, Alabama. Due to her efforts, the post was delivered to Irondale homes, and one no longer had to cross the dangerous and busy railroad tracks to get to the post office. This picture ran in the Woodlawn, Alabama newspaper in 1944. My grandmother was 57 at the time.

24. Dressed in their Sunday best, Ralph and his brother, Bishop, pose by the Daly house, probably around 1937. I suspect Ralph did not enjoy that suit too long. A growth spurt would soon send him towering over all his siblings to 6’4” or more.

25. Bishop holding a football in the 1920s

26. Virginia Holliman Cornelius and a wagon in the 1920s.

The following are obscured in the numbered copy, but can be seen more clearly in the next post and of course in the clear photo above.

27. Virginia Holliman Cornelius (1922-2011) clutches her doll. Virginia was the sixth child

born to Pearl and Ulyss, and the only daughter born in Irondale. Vena and Loudelle  were both natives of Fayette, Alabama, 45 miles to the west near the Mississippi

border.

28. Anne Holliman Phillips was the first daughter born to Euhal and Edna 

Westbrook Holliman.  This is a beautiful photograph and can be appreciated in the top picture.

29. This photograph of the entire Ulyss and Pearl family must have been made around

1930. Left to right, Ulyss, Ralph, Pearl, Virginia (eye obscured in picture), Melton in

back, Bishop, Vena, Euhal and Loudelle on right.  Ulyss moved his family to Irondale from Fayette, Alabama during World War I. 

He worked until retirement in 1949 for the Birmingham Electric Company, which ran the street cars in the 'Magic City'.  His job was to repair the wooden frames and seats of the trolleys.  Four years after he retired, the last street car rolled through Birmingham, all replaced by buses.  Below, the full collage.
 

More next post....

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desablai@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Don't just let your aunt or uncle's genealogical work languish unread and deteriorating in an attic.Write us please and tell us of your items.Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you. - GNH