This old screed needs to tidied up, with smoother links, nicer fonts, etc. but I'm adding it "as is" to the website today (7 June 2003) because this couple is currently under discussion on the RootsWeb and/or Ancestry.com discussion lists.

INTRODUCTION. Circa 1995 I found some Daniel Holeman related entries in the LDS (Mormon Church) I.G.I. The most interesting entry was a marriage between "Daniel HOLEMAN and Elizabeth CARTLEY, 8 Jun 1737, Cockel Town, Orange, Va." I ordered several rolls of film related to this and other entries but the original source of this material was not available.

After I saw the Cockel Town item, I posted a message on GEnie's online genealogy bulletin board. No one had any information about Cockel Town but one person cited a marriage between HOOLMAN and CARTLAY on the same date and in the same place as the I.G.I. entry; the source was the Stoever book discussed below, which I have since purchased.

SOURCE. EARLY LUTHERAN BAPTISMS AND MARRIAGES IN SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. THE RECORDS OF REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER FROM 1730 to 1779. Reprinted version with index; Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1988. Originally published as RECORDS OF REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER, Harrisburg, PA, 1896. Stoever was a traveling minister serving the needs of outlying settlements. Most of his entries are for Pennsylvania locales; there are a few Virginia entries.

Under Marriages, p. 55; under the year 1737:

June 8 [1737]. John Hodge and Elisabeth Windseeth, Jacob Thigh and Mary White, Daniel Hoolman and Elizabeth Cartlay, North River, Shenandoah. vulgo. Cockel Town in Orange county, in the Colony of Virginia.

In this case, "vulgo" may indicate one or more of these couples lived together as husband and wife prior to the ceremony. See Comments & Questions, item 1, below.

Under Baptisms, p. 12:

DANIEL HOOLMAN, (Shenandoah.) [Father of children]

Hoolman, Isaac.

_____ Rebecca.

Testes, James Guill and the

mother herself.

Virtually all baptism entries in Stoever's book include the birth and/or baptism dates of the child but there are no dates in the Hoolman entry. Shenandoah baptisms preceding the Hoolman entry are dated June 8, 1737 (one family June, 1737); a Shenandoah baptism following the Hoolman entry is dated June 7, 1737. Thus, it is my impression the Hoolman children baptisms took place the same day as the Hoolman marriage.

John Hodge of Shenandoah had children baptized on June 8, 1737; it is not clear if he is identical with the John Hodge who also married that same day. (There are no baptism entries for children of Jacob Thigh who also married that same day.)

Note: Baptisms are entered under the name of the father. A chronological order (more or less) of baptisms performed by Stoever can be determined by reading the first baptism entry under each father. Later baptisms are listed under the father's name. (I guess Stoever left room in his records under each father's name for baptisms of future children.)

OTHER NAMES.

I checked the index but found no entries for: Cathey/Cathay, Cartley, Dobkins/Dobbins (but see Dawbin below), Harrod/Herod, Holman/Holeman/Haldman/etc. (but see Halteman below). None of the few Bird/Byrd/Burd entries connect to our Holemans.

Dawbin: For Andrew Leath. Under Baptisms, p. 12:

John Dawbin testis, June 8, 1737, baptism of Thomas Guill, son of James.

Elizabeth Dawbin, testis, June 8, 1737, baptism of James Guill, son of James.

Note: Guill children Mary and John also baptized this day; Sponsor, the father himself.

JOHN DAWBIN, (Shenandoah.)

Dawbin--Thomas, b. Nov. 8, 1736; bap. June 8, 1737. Testes, James Guill.

Note to others: These Dawbins may link to Dobbins/Dobkins (married name of Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Holeman, granddaughter of Daniel Holeman; Andy Leath descends from Elizabeth).

Halteman: For Carol Stevens. Under Marriages, p. 57; under the year 1740:

"May 13. Jacob Halteman and Maria Catar. Boin, Moden Creek."

Not clear to me if Moden Creek is a PA locale or a VA locale; most of the entries in the book are PA locales.

Note to others: This Jacob, whose family was killed by Indians in a massacre at Hawksbille settlement, VA, in 1758, is NOT our Jacob, son of Daniel. Carol Stevens links to this family; more about this another time.

a. Our Daniel known to have been in Shenandoah ca. 1735/6; no other known Daniel in that area at that time.

b. Our Daniel (died ca. 1770) left a widow named Elizabeth.

c. Our Daniel had a daughter named Rebecca (m. Cathey).

d. Descendants of Isaac Holemen of NC think it possible our Daniel was the father of their Isaac. Might he be the Isaac named in the baptism?

1. Does the "vulgo" indicate a common law marriage/relationship prior to the 1737 ceremony?

Daniel Hoolman and Elizabeth Cartlay married June 8, 1737. Most likely on this same day, Hoolman children Isaac and Rebecca were baptized. If Elizabeth is the mother and she married the same day as the children were baptized, then the children would be illegitimate and would explain the "vulgo" entry on the marriage record.

Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, second Edition, Unabridged, has nineteen entries beginning with vulgar ending with vulgus. One of the recurring themes in definitions of the various entries relates to the Latin word for "common people." The entries include the word vulgo, an adjective, defined as Commonly. Stoever studied Latin according to his short biography; did he note "vulgo" to indicate the people he married that day were common? Did he mean the area was commonly known as Cockel Town? Did he note this to designate a common law marriage? Was that his way of identifying another Lutheran sect? His way of identifying a Catholic? A Presbyterian? An Anglican? See item 10 below.

2. Why are there no birth or baptism dates in the Hoolman entry? Was Stoever being discreet because of illegitimacy? Was this an oversight on Stoever's part? A translation and/or transcription error? Did Hoolman not know the birth dates of the children? Does this suggest Elizabeth Cartlay may not be the mother since she did not know the birth dates of the children? Were they illiterate?

3. Since "the mother herself" is one of the testes, does this mean, for certain, that Elizabeth Cartlay is the mother of the children (rather than an earlier wife)?

4. Who are the GUILLs? Friends? Neighbors? Relatives? James Gill is on the list of names of settlers in Shenandoah ca. 1735/6, as are Daniel Holeman and John Dobikin, Senr. [Dickinson's The Fairfax Proprietary, posted on GEnie by Andrew Leath.]

5. Is the Isaac in the baptism list identical to Isaac of NC (c. 1725-1808)? If so, he would have been about 7-12 years old at the time of the 1737 baptism. I don't know their source of his c. 1725 birth year but the Holeman/Holman newsletter folks list Isaac's first known child, Daniel, born 1750 - thus Isaac would have been born around 1730 or earlier (assuming he was 20 or older when first child born).

6. Where was Daniel's known son Jacob at the time of the 1737 marriage and baptism? Jacob had a land patent ca. 1749 in this area, thus presumably was born 1729 or earlier (assume he had to be about twenty or older to have a patent - is this a correct assumption?). Thus he would have been about age 8 or older at the time of the 1737 baptism.

7. Assuming this is our Daniel, did he have an earlier wife prior to Elizabeth Cartlay? Is this hypothetical wife the mother of Jacob? Might she also be the mother of Isaac and Rebecca?

Update: see Linda's email below re Margaret Miller info.

8. Might Cartlay be a misreading of "Cathey" by the transcriber? Just a thought - no evidence except that Cartlay is not a very common name. Cathey was a name in the Shenandoah area and a William Cathey married into the Holeman family later.

9. What about Thomas Holeman (d. ca. 1798, Wilkes Co., NC)? Descendants think he might also be a son of our Daniel. According to Holeman/Holman newsletter folks, Rachel, the first known child of Thomas was born ca. 1744. Assuming Thomas was age twenty or older at the time of this birth, he would have been born ca. 1724 or earlier. Thus he would be about age 13 or older at the time of the 1737 marriage. Is Thomas of NC a son of Daniel? Is Thomas of NC identical to the Thomas known to be in Shenandoah ca. 1746-52?

10. Does this tell us anything about the ethnic background of Daniel and/or Elizabeth? Some researchers think Daniel is linked to one of the early Holeman/Holman English lines in America. Does this marriage and the baptisms indicate it more likely this couple is Lutheran, therefore German? Or is this merely a case of accepting any clergy rather than none at all? If Daniel was German, why did fellow German Stoever enter Daniel's name as HOOLMAN rather than one of the German spelling variations of this name?

Most of Stoever's entries are orderly and consistent and presumably apply to members of the Lutheran faith. Entries that do not match the mainstream tend to indicate something unusual and this seems to apply to several Virginia entries - perhaps because they were for non-Lutherans. The Hoolman entries discussed above are examples. Another example is the entry for a May 3, 1736, marriage: "Two English couples at Opecken, in the presence of Lord Fairfax, in the county of Orange and in the colony of Virginia." (p. 55).*

11. The baptisms in the book name Sponsor/s, Testes/is, Witness/es, or Evidence/s. What do these mean? My guess is Sponsors are baptized Lutherans and official Godparents. Are Testes/is persons who testify to the accuracy of the data - are they relatives? Who are Evidences? People providing evidence? Is a Witness merely a witness to the baptism? If Daniel were a Lutheran wouldn't he want Sponsors for his children? (Note that GUILL was the Sponsor of some of his own children.)

12. What and where was Cockel Town? An early settlement of some sort? I skimmed Stoever's book and saw no other entries listing this locale.

13. Where should we search for earlier marriage/baptism records for Daniel and family? VA? PA? Other? What religious affiliation is he mostly likely to have? Were Daniel and Elizabeth German (Lutheran)? Palatinate? Scotch-Irish (Presbyterian? Catholic?)? English (Anglican? Quaker?)? Other? Knowledge of Daniel's religion/ethnicity would be a significant clue telling us where to direct our research on this family - hence all the attention being paid to this question.

14. Ditto for his son Jacob. There must be a marriage record somewhere (maybe two marriages) and probably baptism records for Jacob's children. The marriage may not have been in the Shenandoah Valley area but all or most of his children were probably born there.

*My speculation: two English couples, probably Anglican, wish to marry; there's no appropriate clergy; Stoever arrives; the couples obtain a very respectable witness; it is so unusual for Stoever to marry an English couple that he notes their nationality in his record but fails to list their names (strange omission for such an apparently fastidious fellow); however, Lord Fairfax, the witness, is noted in the record. The point I'm trying to make is that Stoever's unusual entries imply non-Lutherans and since Daniel's entries are unusual it may indicate that he was not Lutheran and therefore possibly not German.

Note: Radars were Lutheran Ref.

____________________________

For now, this note is copied into the Intro and the Cockel Town screed.

Linda Holman Swannson

June 27 1995 - from her e-mail

Hi, I came across a typewritten page written by Margaret Miller who resided in TX. Many years ago she and I had a correspondence. She believed that the Isaac and the Daniel who resided in Lincoln Co., TN (where my dad was born) were brothers and she wrote a book on the Hughes family and included a chapter about Holmans. Well, Isaac and Daniel were cousins. Daniel was the son of OLD Isaac, d 1808, son of OLD, OLD Daniel, and Isaac (b 1752) was the son of OLD Isaac's brother Thomas. The Hol(e)man Newsletter has done a great job on OLD Isaac's descendants, and of course are working on Thomas'right now. But anyway, she wrote this:

THOMAS HOLMAN of Kent Co., Md, Shenandoah Valley, VA and Rowan Co., N.C. Thomas Holman was born ca 1720 in Kent Co., Md, to Daniel and Rachel (-----) Holman. Thomas came with his parents to the Shenandoah Valley of VA, by way of Lancaster County, PA, before 1737, for in that year Daniel Holman took as his second wife ELIZABETH CATHEY, in "Old Orange" County, VA (6/8/1737).

So, this is your theory too, that Daniel's Elizabeth was his second wife. Now, she could have gotten that information out

of the Grafton Johnson book or Railey's book or ?

No sources cited; earlier notes from Linda indicate Ms. Miller not a descendant, this was a collateral line; also that Linda thinks she is now deceased.

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