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!