Hollier wills from the Isle of Wight

Thanks to a fellow member of the Guild commitee who visited Hampshire Record Office at Winchester, I was able to acquire copies of 19 Hollier wills from the Isle of Wight. These range from 1576 to 1850 and many have very valuable genealogical information in them, especially when childless family members made wills naming their many brothers, sisters, nephews and neices. I have had to revise some of my previous assumptions about the connections in this family, but it still doesn't answer all the questions. However, this is a big leap forward in understanding many of the Hollier connections on the Isle of Wight. The earliest IOW record I have is a Lay subsidy entry for Thomas Holier of Newchurch in 1547. It seems likely that originally these Holliers descend from those nearby on the mainland in the New Forest area. The Hants Record Office has a record of a John Hollier holding land at Sway in 1493 and most of the parishes in the area seem to have Holliers by the mid 16th century. In terms of modern Holliers, all seem to descend from the families at Fordingbridge, but parish registers only survive from 1643, so piecing together the New Forest Holliers will always be partial, I suspect.

Cyril Harry Hollier

Chris Warr wrote enquring about his Hollier ancestry. His grandfather was Cyril Harry Hollier, born in West Bromwich in 1896. He had a few facts handed down in the family and, as is often the case, some were inaccurate but all had some truth in them - usual problem of associating facts with the wrong person or generation. Although there was an extensive Hollier family in this area, they descend from the Holliers from Fordingbridge in Hampshire.

Hollyer/Vanlint

Paul Barton write enquring about the families of Millicent Hollyer who married Albert Vanlint in 1925 and her brother Benjamin Fritz Hollyer who married Florence Young in 1923. From my one-name data, I know of the Hollyer descent, but not the Vanlint, but could give him some useful information. This family came from the marriage of Benjamin Basil Hollyer and Amelia Fritz (of German descent) in 1899. Benjamin's ancestry is the "City Hollyers" - painters, glaziers and plumbers - and before that Coventry.

More Australian Holliers!

Michael Hollier, from Perth, Western Australia, contacted me about his ancestry. I had seen his Holliers in the Victoria, AUS BMD indexes, but didn't know that this family descended from John Hollier born 1813 in Lewknor, OXF. Explains why John appears in the 1841 census then disappears. Michael had failed to make the firm connection because of incorrect parents being quoted on John's death certificate of 1889. I've had lots of Australians contact me who descend from the families from nearby Sydenham, but this is the first emigrant from Lewknor that I've come across. Might there be more?

John Hollier and Sarah Leatherland

Chalmers Cursley (another Guild member) wrote to me because he had found the Banns for this couple's marriage of 1786 in the parish registers of Stowe, in Northants. It's always pleasant when a Guild member assists another in this way.

Genesreunited - 3 more contacts

An e-mail from Genesreunited brought 3 new Hollyer/Holyer contacts. Lesley from Australia provided useful information on a couple of Holdstock/Holyer families.

Francis Paine Hill md Mary Edith Hollyer 1881

This conjunction of the Hill family and my own Hollyer family has been extensively researched down the years. Shireen Shuster, who is connected to this family, wrote enquiring about what I knew and already the exchange of information has been very useful. This line, which favoured using Hollyer as its middle name led to families taking the name Hollyer-Hill. Whether the Hill family really has connections to the famous Tom Paine, as the family folklore suggests, needs more rigorous research.

Hollyer family at Henley

Michael O'Neil wrote enquiring about a Hollyer family at Henley in the 18th century. A couple of generations were at Henley, but their origins are likely to be from the other early sources of the name in that part of the world, namely Reading, Sonning, Binfield and Shinfield. Over the years I've had several enquiries about this family group, suggesting that the Westbook descendants of Ann Hollyer have prospered.

GoogleAlerts

I have added a GoogleAlert feed for the names Hollyer, Holyer and Hollier on my website here.

Frederick George Holyer (1919-1989) in WW2

Anthony Gerada sent through a newspaper article concerning the exploits of his uncle Fred Holyer in the Second World War. He served on HMS Gurkha in the Narvik episode in 1940.

Lindsay Powell

Good to hear from another Hollyer contact from 'down under'. Lindsay Powell (née Hollyer) now lives in New Zealand, as does her sister Judith who corresponded with me back in 1997. Like Carolyn Passfield from Australia (see below), this branch of the Hollyer family is another descendent line from Matthew George Hollyer, who had 13 children. Lindsay picked up a few errors in my second volume on the Hollyer family. Glad someone is reading all this!