The "Untold Story" of our Holland Ancestors

Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know

#7 – WE ARE DESCENDED FROM THE HOLLANDS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Did you know we are related to Dicey Langston, Revolutionary War heroine? And that we have Holland ancestors buried in a historically significant cemetery near Decatur, Alabama, highlighting their Revolutionary War service? And that the house used as a haunted house in the movie “Tom Sawyer”, belonged to a cousin?

Granny Hamby’s father was Sherrod A. Williams. His mother (Granny’s grandmother), Susannah, was a Holland before she got married to Absolem Williams. Absolem and Susannah Holland Williams both died in 1857, just before the Civil War.

It was a joy to find proof of her lineage. I traced our family back to Anthony Holland, my 6th great grandfather where the Holland story begins on our continent. He was born in 1641 in London and transported to Virginia as a mere lad, presumably orphaned. He wound up in Maryland at age 9 as an indentured servant of William Burgess, mover and shaker of early times who brought Quakers from Virginia. At the end of young Anthony’s indentureship, he was given 50 acres as was the custom. Yet he died a wealthy man with an estate of 300 pounds and 1000 acres, including 600 acres named “Holland’s Choice” near Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. Executors of his will were Quakers.

We descend through Anthony and Isabel’s son Capell Holland, named after one of their Quaker friends with no heirs. Capell inherited part of “Holland’s Choice” and probably was a planter. He married Katherine Eldridge, and Capell and Katherine’s son, Abraham, was our ancestor.

Abraham Holland was a planter who inherited the portion of “Holland’s Choice” inherited by his father. Shortly after serving as a patriot in the American Revolution, he sold it and moved to Duncan’s Creek in Laurens County, South Carolina (he probably received this land as a bounty for war service). He lived from 1715-1800, and had married Asenath Spires long before the war.

Though Abraham Holland died in South Carolina, he was buried with descendants in the Holland Family Cemetery in Hillsboro near Decatur, Alabama. This amazing, historic cemetery holds Hollands, along with members of Adair and McCrary families, maternal cousins. The cemetery credits Abraham Holland for patriotic service in the American Revolution, as well as the service of various relatives. This graveyard is one of most fascinating I’ve ever heard of because there is genealogical information engraved there, including the lineage from Abraham to Capell to Richard Holland, our ancestors, with their siblings’ names etched in stone.

As I have now implied, Abraham Holland had a son named Richard, our ancestor. Richard was born in 1766 and is the father of our Susannah Holland Williams. Richard lived in Franklin County, Tennessee (where his daughter Susannah met Absolem Williams) and owned hundreds of acres, plus cash, horses, cows, hogs, and sheep. He also owned one slave, which he left in his will to our ancestor Susannah Holland Williams.

There are a couple of interesting things to note about our ancestor Richard Holland, my 3rd great grandfather. He had a brother named Thomas, also a Revolutionary War hero. One of Thomas’s grandsons married Mahala Langston, neice of “Dicey” Langston, Revolutionary War heroine who gave secrets from Loyalist relatives to the patriots on several occasions.  Thomas Holland also had a descendant who owned the “Holland House”, a two-story log home that appeared in the movie “Tom Sawyer” as the haunted house. It was named on the National Register of Historic Places, but unfortunately it has now been destroyed by fire.

One of the serendipitous joys of my ongoing genealogy project has been discovering the Holland family saga, which had been lost in memory but was clearly proven by census and will records connecting Susannah Holland Williams with her father Richard Holland!

Update of My "Crowd of Witnesses"

I don't know why I've been so blessed with passionate and faithful preaching blood. Most of the 30 pastors on my family tree (yes, that's right, 30, and that doesn't count the ones that are still alive!) are Methodist though there are those of other faith traditions as well.

It's deep in my bones to love sharing the gospel. After a couple of years of continued research, I have updated my "Crowd of Witnesses" including those pastors that are on my family tree.

I keep this list handy in my Bible and look over it when I need encouragement or when my spirit is nourished by feeling grounded in their spirits.

Steve’s “Crowd” of Witnesses

Some of the communion of saints surrounding Stephen Pierce West.

They are pastors I am related to.

Rev. Isaac Taylor

Methodist Circuit Rider in Alabama, Mississippi, 3^rd Great Grandfather on Hamby side, accused of murdering wife, name cleared when found she had left him and children for Texas

Rev. Harris Taylor

Methodist Circuit Rider, 3^rd Great Grand Uncle on Hamby side, story of shaft of light appearing on grave at funeral

Rev. William Taylor

Methodist Circuit Rider, 3^rd Great Grand Uncle on Hamby side, founder of Taylor Memorial UMC with prominent gravestone

Rev. Nathaniel Henderson Self

1st cousin 4x removed (descended from Isaac's sister Catherine), Methodist pastor

Rev. Gordon Ware

Cousin on Granny Hamby’s Taylor side, Methodist pastor, my Candidacy Mentor when I didn’t know we were related (had dinner several times)

Rev. William Blackburn

Husband of 1^st cousin 4x removed, Methodist pastor, married Isaac Taylor’s niece after clearing his name

Rev. William Thomas Hamby
Great Grand Uncle, brother of Grandpa Charles P. Hamby, Methodist pastor

Rev. Gene Malcolm “Mack” Hamby

1^st cousin once removed on Mom’s side, Methodist pastor and evangelist who traveled world

Rev. Charlie P. Hamby, Sr.

Grandfather on mother’s side, Methodist pastor and “pistol packing” evangelist, husband of poet and painter Louie Ann Williams

Rev. Warren Hamby, Sr.

Uncle, Methodist pastor, brother of my mom, pastor of Trinity UMC in Huntsville and Gallaway Memorial in Jackson, after being a DS he raised local church capital funds with GBGM

Rev. J. Pierce West, Sr.

Grandfather on father’s side, Methodist pastor who died when I was 4, descended from Garrisons on his grandmother’s Hagood side

Rev. Thomas Maxwell

Early American Anglican-turned-Baptist pastor, ancestor of Dad’s mother, persecuted and jailed, defended by Patrick Henry, historical figure

Rev. Charles Higginbotham

7th great grandfather, first missionary to Barbados, ancestor of Jane Higginbotham Maxwell, Gene Maxwell's grandmother

Rev. Robert Hill Thompson

1st cousin 4x removed, grandson of ancestor Joseph Robert Thompson of the Thompsons and Wills buried at Midway UMC

Rev. Jedediah Garrison

5^th Great Grandfather, helped found the Mt. Pleasant society in Georgia, revolutionary war soldier, ordained deacon with a number of pastor descendants

Rev. Levi Garrison

4^th Great Grandfather, ancestor of Dad’s father, early American Methodist pastor in SC, son of the older Jedediah

Rev. David Garrison

4^th Great Grand Uncle, brother of Levi and son of Jedediah, ordained by Frances Asbury, pastor in GA

Rev. Thomas Coke Prickett

Husband of 2^nd cousin 4x removed, married Louisa E. Garrison, daughter of direct ancestors Levi and Nancy Garrison, twin of Rev. Asbury Pope Prickett

Rev. Asbury Pope Prickett

Brother of husband of 2^nd cousin 5x removed, twin brother of Rev. Thomas Coke Prickett above

Rev. Jedediah Garrison

1^st cousin 5x removed, grandson of Jedediah through Caleb Capias Garrison, buried Damascas Road near Mt. Pleasant

Rev. Michael Box Garrison

1^st cousin 5x removed, grandson of Jedediah and son of Caleb Capias also, trustee Mt. Pleasant

Rev. Thomas Wesley Garrison

1^st cousin 5x removed, also grandson of Jedediah but through James Caleb Garrison, founded Wesley Chapel in Cobb Co. and donated the 4.5 acres of land for it and the school, Civil War

Rev. Levi B. Garrison

1^st Cousin 5x removed, son of David (nephew of my ancestor Levi), Methodist local pastor in GA

Rev. Levi Garrison

2^nd Cousin 5x removed, cousin of my ancestor Levi Garrison and child of Jedediah’s brother or half-brother Ebenezer, Methodist pastor, opposed slavery, freed 12 slaves from wife’s dowry once they married

Rev. David Garrison

2^nd Cousin 5x removed, cousin of my ancestor Levi Garrison, also son of Ebenezer, Methodist pastor, disagreed with brother Levi over slavery, started Corner Greek Church near Dothan, AL

Rev. Jedediah Asbury Meaders

1^st Cousin 5x removed, nephew of my ancestor Levi, Methodist pastor in GA, farmer and wagon shop owner

Rev. Andrew Jackson “Bud” Latham

Married to 2^nd Cousin 4x removed, private and ambulance driver in Civil War, Methodist pastor in GA

Rev. Jeremiah Winster

Father-in-law of 3rd great grand uncle Henry Garrison (painter, confederate private), London

Rev. Jim McKay

Uncle who was licensed as a local pastor and served for a short time, from Guin, AL

Rev. Howard Erwin

Uncle who was licensed as a local pastor and served the Philadelphia church in Guin, AL

Living relatives that will join the crowd one day are Rev. C.P. Hamby (uncle), Rev. Ed Self (cousin on Taylor side), Rev. J.P. “Pete” West, Jr. (father), Jonathan Todd (husband of Williams cousin, Susan), and my beloved wife, Rev. Sandra O’Quinn West. My wife has ancestry in the clergy, too, including her 3^rd great grandfather, John G. Jones, Mississippi church historian.

Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know
#6 – WE DESCEND FROM A LEGACY OF METHODIST CIRCUIT RIDERS IN MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA

The Methodist faith spread like wildfire on the frontiers of America because of faithful people ordained to be traveling preachers. Our Taylor ancestors were heavily involved in the spreading of Christian faith in our state. Shortly after the War of 1812, when North Alabama became open to white settlement, our ancestors George and Nancy Taylor migrated to the Clay area of Jefferson County. When their sons were baptized by a Methodist circuit rider, he prayed that all the boys would become Methodist preachers. Three of the four of them did: William Taylor, Harris Taylor, and Isaac Taylor (our ancestor). They responded to the call during the 1820’s and 1830’s.

William Taylor, our third great uncle, founded Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church in Chalkville as a circuit rider, preaching at the local Sweeny Hollow water hole. Our ancestor, Isaac, is buried next to him in the graveyard there. Their graves hold inspiring inscriptions that remind me of their commitment to the gospel.

The colorful part of the story is that our third great grandmother, Hannah Hopper Taylor, left Isaac and created a scandal in early Alabama Methodism. No one could imagine her leaving her kids, including a nursing child. Rumors began to spread that he had murdered her, and bones were found. Opponents of Methodism took advantage of this. Eventually, his name was cleared by a preacher named William Blackburn, who was traveling through Texas and saw Hannah in a store with her new husband she had eloped with.

I have traced some of our ancestor, Isaac’s, circuit riding career in Mississippi. Brandon Memorial United Methodist Church in Brandon, Mississippi, is the largest present church he once served. At that time, Mississippi and Alabama were in the same Annual Conference.

My mom (Betty West) wrote an extensive paper for the North Alabama Conference Historical Society on the Taylor legacy. I have published it on my blog for all to see. Simply click the link on the left side of this blog.

Attached is a picture of five generations, tracing our connection to the Taylors. Grandpa Hamby is on the top left. Moving clockwise, next is his daughter Willie, his mother Laura Clark Hamby holding Willie’s baby, and his grandmother, Louisa Taylor Clark. Louisa’s father was Rev. Isaac Taylor.