The Holyland tribe has never tended to travel very far and there have not been many Holyland emigres from the UK. This does make life easier for the researcher who is not obliged to search through large numbers of records from across the globe!
However, one person to buck this trend was Charles John Holyland (1806 – 1865) who had several new beginnings – not only marriage and parenthood, but emigration, change of nationality and change of occupation.
Charles was the first child born to John Holyland and Mary (nee Taylor) and was baptised at the church of St Mary Somerset, London at the age of 13 months. His was an educated and fairly well-off family, his ancestors having made their money as carmen in London after moving there from Leicestershire in the mid 1700s, and in 1827 Charles inherited part of his grandfather’s £5000 estate. By 1828, Charles had moved from the family home at Broken Wharf, near to St Paul's in London, and was based in Lisle Street, near Leicester Square, where he ran a business as a gun maker. In December 1828 he married Harriet Child in Old Windsor, Berkshire and the following year his gunmaking partnership with John Probin was dissolved.
Charles and Harriet’s first child, a son called George William, was born at the end of 1831 at the family’s home in Tavistock St and was baptised in St Paul’s; according to the register, Charles was now an engraver. Both George and a second unnamed child died young (1).
Charles Holyland Harriet Holyland nee Child
Charles and his family then disappear from the UK records and although I’ve found no trace of any emigration records, by 1833, when their next child was born, they were living in New York, Charles having made the move first with Harriet joining him later (1). Charles appears in the New York directory of 1839-40, listed as an engraver and living in lower Manhattan, virtually opposite the site which more recently housed the Twin Towers.
Around 1840, the family moved to New Jersey, where another 4 children were born. The 1850 census found them in Clinton, NJ (more recently described as “the worst residential radon hotspot known in the United States”! (2). In this largely rural community of farmers and shoemakers, the Holyland’s real estate was valued at $20000, making them amongst the wealthiest families in the town. And on the 4 November 1850, Charles officially became a Free Citizen of the United States of America.
It seems that life then took a twist. Was Clinton not to the family’s liking? Or did something go wrong? The records do not tell us, but the family next appeared in the 1857 Minnesota census, living in Winona; Charles was now a brickmaker. By 1860, the family had moved back to a city – Baltimore, to be precise. Charles, now calling himself an engineer, admitted to a very modest personal estate of just $200. Four of the younger children were with Charles and Harriet, but the older children had stayed in Winona.
Charles John Holyland was just 59 when he died in Baltimore on 28 October 1865 (perhaps the radon got him!) He is buried in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore City. His wife Harriet outlived him by 28 years. Although the total number of Holylands in the USA has stayed low, Charles’s children moved across the country, from Maryland to Pennsylvania, New Orleans and California.
Permission kindly granted by Ric Springer to use photographs of Charles and Harriet Holyland from the album, “Cromwell Family Photos” .
1. Personal correspondence from Harriet Holyland; kindly shared by Ric Springer
2. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/15/nyregion/the-jersey-village-that-fought-radon-with-fans-and-won.html
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