Every Family Name has an Interesting Story

The Story of William Holland

That is the whole thing, isn’t it? To be remembered? Every human is aware that his presence on the earth is short. We know full well that we are but a slice of the larger picture.

During the eighteen hundreds, a common practice was to name the first child after both parents. It was done in the typical usage of first and last names. For instance:

Parents of the Mother: John Franklin and Mary Adams

Parents of the Father: William Smith and Anna Reese

If the first child was a son, a typical choice was: John William____

If the first child was a son, a typical choice was Mary Anna

A second son might have the name of Franklin — —

The usage of possible surnames should not be ignored.

During the middle ages, royalty maintained their status by referencing older kings and queens. Names frequently in use were William, Henry, Charles, and Edward. And queens, like Elizabeth and Mary.

I have discovered so many examples during the last several hundred years where families held fast to common usage, especially if that one person had enjoyed certain fame. The rare name “Philemon Holland” was suspect to me and other relatives.

Philemon Holland (1552–1578) was the son of John Holland (died 1578), a member of the same Norfolk family as Sir John Holland, 1st Baronet (1603–1701) that claimed kinship with the Hollands of Up Holland in Lancashire, England.

Earlier in history, the big bang in this lineage was the fact that the dukes of Yorkshire had waged war against the dukes of Lancaster, resulting in Henry Bolingbroke’s attack and the death of Richard II, a half-brother of John Holland.

Philemon Holland was an English schoolmaster, physician, and translator. Thus, when we discovered the reappearance of this unusual in a family member some hundred years later, we wondered if the family was trying to tell us that they were connected to the Norfolk lineage.

This particular problem was never resolved, however, more interesting situations arose within the same family.

There was William Holland who brought his son, Archibald to Georgia from Virginia in 1812. Other than having enlisted as a soldier during the War of 1812, and coming to Georgia, he was extremely difficult to locate. For one thing, although the port cities of St. Marys and Sunbury were protected, the war in Georgia mostly involved the Indians. William’s record revealed that he was stationed at Fort Defiance. Well, there were several Fort Defiances’ in the State, all temporary forts.

The family stories were more interesting. It seems that William was never married, although he had about seven children. His unlawful wife appeared to be from Abbeville, South Carolina, an area where William’s uncles and other relatives resided. But it was Archibald’s family that was the most telling. He named his children after cousins and other relatives. Each child had a unique name. My task was to discover the surname of Archibald’s mother, Margaret. He named a son “Harrison Ramsey Holland”, after cousin Harrison Holland of Greene County, Georgia, and “Ramsey” after ???

My hunch was that Ramsey was Archibald’s mother’s name, so I went to work researching Abbeville County records. I found Henry Ramsey, a brave Revolutionary War Soldier from Abbeville who removed to Henry County, Georgia! In those days, Fulton County was part of Henry County. And, Henry Ramsey had a daughter named “Margaret.”

As it turns out, Archibald was one of those people who named every child after a relative!

The Lineage

Gabriel Holland to Jamestown in 1624, and married 3 times. His first wife was brought from England and died young; his second wife (a widow) was killed by the Indians in the slaughter of 1623. Rebecca George, the third wife was the mother of his children. Gabriel was a Burgess and sailed a number of times to London on behalf of colony business.

John Holland, multiple land grants in Nansemond County, Virginia, now Suffolk. Today, this is Holland, Virginia, and includes Kingsale Road and the bordering areas. The complete Holland genealogy is available to members of GeorgiaPioneers.com

Capt. Henry Holland, Revolutionary War Soldier. The old Capt. Henry Holland's house was still standing in 1960, and an addition was added. It was the typical Virginia plantation house with a hallway down the middle and a very narrow staircase. The Virginia planter spent more on his barns, stables, and other outbuildings than he did on his house. Tobacco was king!

William Holland ca 1770-ca 1823. Came to Georgia

Archibald Holland of Atlanta and Dallas, Georgia

The Modern Age of Naming

Then, there are the “fads”. We seem to go through periods of time where certain names are popular. Although it is no longer popular to use the old names, finding people in public records makes up for it.