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Abigail Holman

1868-1948
Born: Aurora, Dearborn, Indiana, United States
Died: Aurora, Dearborn, Indiana, United States

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1868 Aurora, Dearborn, Indiana, United States
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1880 Center, Dearborn, Indiana, United States
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1948 Aurora, Dearborn, Indiana, United States
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Story: Abigail Holman
Abigail Holman was born December 25, 1868 at Veraestau and died May 27, 1948 at Veraestau, age 79. She was the fifth and last child of Lt. Col. Jesse Lynch Holman and Jennie Smith Holman. When the family were in Kansas Abbie, age 2, wanted to go back to Aurora Indiana to see her Aunt Pem (Pamela Dean Holman Harvey). Abbie was 15 when her father Jesse Lynch Holman Jr. died and so received a $2 a month Civil War Veterans pension for one year until she reached the age of 16. (This pension however was not applied for until she was 22 and was apparently paid retroactively). Abigail graduated from the Aurora Public Schools in 1887. In 1893 she began teaching in the same school system. However, in later years she worked as a secretary in Cincinnati. She is said to have been painfully shy and blushed when spoken to. Source: John Allen Holman May 21, 2006Abbie was raised in Jesse's second house on Holman Hill and lived there with her mother until her mother's death except for a period when the two of them moved to Florida and lived with Abbie's sister Mary Holman Burnham and her husband, Alfred. In later years she lived in another house on the Hill.  It was a caretakers house on the right hand side of the lane between the WSH house and Jesse's second house.  She is the last Holman to be buried in the family plot in the Aurora cemetery. She never married.  She belonged to the Aurora Research Club, which was founded by her Aunt Mary Ann Holman Vail Stratton.    ----------------------- Letter from Frank Holman from York Alabama, to his sister Abigail Holman May 18, (no year) – on stationery that says"Frank Holman          Plantation Supplies "Strawberry Grower"Dear Abbie,"Your letter received some days ago."I wanted to come up this summer but I know I can’t. William and Miss Matt may be up sometime for a few days."I promised you the place as long as you live and then Robt was to have it."The berries have been very poor, almost a failure."Yours truly, Frank Holman    ----------------------- Letter from Frank Holman from York Alabama, to his son, Robert Foulk Holman regarding Holman Hill property and his will - dated 13 June, 1926 "Frank Holman       Plantation Supplies "Strawberry Grower      York, ALA, June 13, 1926"Dear Robert,"I’ve been thinking of you a great deal and I want to give you that place on the Hill, right away, but I want Abbie to have the tenant house as long as she lives, and the small piece of land south of the house."I wanted to will the whole place to Abbie as long as she lives and then it goes to you, but she doesn’t want it – only the tenant house is all she says she’s able to take care of.Let me hear from you. Love to all, Your Father, Frank HolmanNote by Judith A. Gale: I believe this letter was probably written by Frank’s wife, Martha Drummond Holman. The handwriting is nothing like the handwriting on Frank’s letter to his son Robert Holman dated 12 June 1926. The handwriting on the above letter matches that in other letters written and signed by Martha Holman (Miss Matt). The handwriting on Frank’s letter of June 12 is very shaky and the text less coherent. Frank died 22 June 1928. It seems likely that he dictated this letter and his wife wrote it for him.    ------------------------ 1930 census: In 1930 at the age of 61 Abigail is living alone. She owns a radio, says the value of her home is $800. and she has no occupation. Cousins Margaret Vance Hamilton and Mildred Wagonhals live at Veraestau with a hired man to help but Abigail has no servant.    -------------------------------------------------------------- The following was written by Barbara Holman Harvey on a visit she made to Veraestau in 1939. Barbara is William Steele Holman's great granddaughter.  " As I was driving up the lane I met a lady who was walking down it toward the main road and stopped to ask her where the O'Brien's lived. She told me that they lived in the first house I would come to.... I decided that the lady I had met when I was driving up the hill had been "Miss Abigail" and was delighted by the prospect of meeting a relative who might have some interesting stories to tell. So down the hill I went in search of the good lady and was fortunate enough to find her returning from town where she had gone to purchase suet for the birds.  " I picked "Miss Abigail" up, drove back up the hill and learned that she was Grandmother's first cousin. Her father and Grandmother's father were brothers and she is the Great-Aunt Abigail that the Heads speak of.   " She took me to see the house that she had lived in as a girl -- my great-great grandfather's (Jesse Lynch Holman) home. " This house, built in the late 18th century, I liked best of the three houses on the hill. It has the original, lovely old stone foundation, a singularly handsome door and, of course, a fireplace in every room. The house is clapboard above a stone foundation with original boards and chimneys still in tact.  " After a tour of inspection of Jesse's house with Miss Abigail we proceeded to the cemetery where we did not remain long because of rain. I was amused when Cousin Abigail told me that when my grandmother was a young girl she used to say that she liked to drive her horse and buggy through the cemetery because it made her feel so nice and blue. Oh, those melancholy Holmans!!" Cousin Abigail told me some interesting tales about the Masterson family. Elizabeth Masterson married Jesse L. Holman and they begat William Steele Holman who married Abigail Knapp and they begat my grandmother, Pamela Dean Holman, Great Aunt Rhoda Holman Fletcher, Will Holman and Polly and Bill's father, Paul Holman. " Miss Abigail was not precise about dates but a little research might fill in some of the empty spaces and prove to be rather interesting. " * An Englishman, Sir Guy Masterson, was sent from England to Ireland to rule the Irish. He lived in Fern Castle and ruled the Irish well. Several generations after the first Masterson was dispatched the Irish rebelled against English rule because they felt it was too severe and the Mastersons, who by now had become more Irish than the Irish, rebelled with them. The insurgents were put down by the English and the Mastersons were forced to flee to Virginia. From thence they migrated to Kentucky where Jesse Lynch Holman found his young bride, Eliza (Elizabeth).  I believe her father or grandfather had been a governor of Kentucky. Jesse Lynch Holman "read the law" with Henry Clay (Bill Holman had a framed paper bearing Clay's signature to attest to this) and subsequently became one of our first Federal Judges.)"I was amused that Miss Abigail, who must be well along in her seventies, had driven herself to Florida and back last year. She told me that she had just looked at herself in the mirror and said, "Well, if you don't go to Florida this year you won't be here much longer." So saying she packed her things and left. A gentle, mild little spirit and perfect dear, Miss Abigail appeared to be in excellent health and possessed of a remarkably plucky spirit.  "     --------------------------------------In later years Abigail became "funny". She was "more than eccentric" remembers Ralph Rees. And she could be disagreeable. Rose Marian Head remembers an instance when Abbie got confused and went down the Hill to the Baptist church on a Saturday, thinking it was Sunday. She sat there all alone in the pew for a long time before the minister came and told her it was the wrong day. Abbie went East a few times to visit her Middleton Head relatives in Lyons, New York. (Source: Rose Marian Head Bliss Dec. 30, 2005).  John Allen Holman says Abbie sold the land easement rights to the power company sometime in the 1930's when times were hard. The company apparently took advantage of Abbie and John's father Frank had to intervene when the company came to him for his easement land rights. He agreed to the arrangement only if they made it right with Abbie which they then did. Abbie didn't like Cornelius O'Brien and she set up her will so that he couldn't get her property. But he had one of his hands check on her every day. It was because of this vigilance that she was found after her death. She was apparently wearing several sets of clothing when she was found. Source: John Allen Holman, May 21, 2006.     -----------------------------------Diary of Abigail Holman, Aurora, Indiana, 1932-1947 Date of birth 25 December 1868 and date of death 27 March 1948, both in AuroraChristmas 1932Fair, a windy March day with the temperature 58 o in the shade at the north end of the house. A welcome change from the conditions of a week ago, snow, and even as low as 10 o and 12 o below zero. Another milestone passed for me. Another year and birthday rolled around. Another year of the depression nearly gone. Sunday, Jan 1, 1933Fair and frosty – thermometer 10 o above. Friday rained steadily, poured in late afternoon and evening. Late Saturday afternoon went down in basement to get some wood, but found a lake of water several inches deep. Bailed it out, carrying out the buckets of water through the back room – sixty of them – leaving a deep layer of soft mud and mire behind it. This morning have not had the nerve to gaze at the back room nor the cellar floor. However, it means a damp, cold house this winter. A trap door in the floor swollen so it will not close down completely and at least three more months of winter weather – [?Sic Semper]Wednesday, Jan 31, 1933Tomorrow ushers in the new month, practically the last real winter month. The winter has gone swiftly and rather comfortably. January has officially been 10 degrees higher than normal. My new studio couch arrived the other day – the first step in the rehabilitating or rather making livable the shack. May the fates be propitious as to my being able to carry out the rest of the plan but dividends still seem to have the habit of shrinking out of sight. Once more about a week ago, I had to bail out the flooded cellar. Must have some drains put in this spring.Apr 15, 1933A rainy day. A rainy spring. A flood – a little over 63 ft stage – in the latter part of March with 20 families’ homes inundated. The Red Cross in charge of relief, though Aurora donated much money for relief. A broad river – over the bottoms up and down the stream. Even the B+O had to stop running its trains to Cincinnati. Now it is within its banks and buildings being occupied again, some still being aired and dried. I had a slight flood myself on the Sat, Sun, and Monday that brought the river up quickly. The water rushed under the house and I bailed out 630 bucketsful. Now the wall has been fixed by Mr. [?Tresent} and his men, a ditch and drain fixed, and sincerely hope it will end the trouble. A backward month – the middle of April and the ground still too soggy to work and plant. Cold and chill the last few days. Mildred’s cherry trees are in bloom, but the zero weather of middle December killed the front buds off the peach trees. Daffodils still in bloom, periwinkles and wildflowers.Have postponed my building plans and refrigerator until I see how the country’s financial situation, especially the mortgage situation, turns out and whether it will hit me seriously. (The 5th of March all the banks of the country were closed and not opened for a little over a week.) It may behoove me to do as I was told - hold onto every dollar I have. 16-17 April 1933Rain. Pear trees in bloom. Asparagus coming up. 24 April 1933Ground too wet to work. More rain just starting.May 1, 1933Rain last night, today. Cloudy, as though thunder storms were in the offing. Little has been planted as yet. Just heard a yellow breasted chat in the bushes. Yesterday the summer tanagers’ monotonous notes and two or three days ago caught a glimpse of a brown thrasher.Have been pulling out some goldenrod under the maple tree – hundreds of them to be gotten rid of.  Saturday a baby rabbit bounced against my ankle as I dug in the garden. Spring is here.May 15, 1933Rain and more rain. Last Thursday the edge of a tornado that swept across the country near Rising Sun, with wind and rain and hail – some so large as the forefinger and thumb could not meet around them. Saturday torrential rains. The river up again – 56 at Cincinnati I heard.April 29, 1935Much has come and gone since that note of May 15, 1933. Record heat and drought – day after day of over 100o – 108 o – 109 o – 110o. Dust storms have reached us from the west. One last evening. A pale ghost of a sun sinking in the west. The river valley and town obscured with a yellowish mist or fog, dust in the mouth if opened.  A shower or two this morning has probably cleared the air somewhat.Since 1933, last summer an enclosed porch or kitchen has been added to the south end of “the shingle shack.” My garden ground is somewhat better than it was, with two loads of fertilizer either on or in the process of going on. A few radishes and onions ready for consumption. Others sowed or planted, and the sun trying to shine.Jan 27, 1936This is the winter of 1917-18 reincarnated. The winter I have been expecting and preparing for ever since 1918. A good old-fashioned winter, such as we had in my youthful days. A week of cold, bitter days – subzero weather. Last Wednesday night 18o below. Last night 12 o below zero. Snow on the ground, ice in the river, hungry birds ravening for crumbs, suet, and cracked corn. I no longer can buy sunflower seed for them. Two bitter blizzards have come. One on Christmas day and again last Wednesday.All over the country from the Rockies eastward the cold extends even down into the Southland. Reports of colder weather than in 24 years - 55 o - 30 o  - 20 o below zero. Deep snow drifts. Thee weather has really been news. At the same time down in Rio so hot eggs could be fried on the sidewalks. Dame Nature is doing herself proud. A radio – such a comfort – and a refrigerator have been added here.Before I put insulation on the rafters, a young carpenter who was working on the attic stairs told me I could use the attic to heat the house in winter instead of coal, but I have found it a good half way place to keep provisions in this weather. Jan 28, 193610 o below this morning. It looks as though weather – like history – repeats itself – every 23 years tis claimed. This morning the funeral of King George of Britain (will future historians call him George the Good?) were radioed. For hours the sound of marchers, bells, the farewell salutes of guns, and the wail of the bagpipers as he was carried into St. George’s Chapel at Windsor. As I mentally pictured the scene, always the dog of Edward VII came to my mind, the dog that played the role of chief mourner and marched behind his coffin, taking precedence over kings and the mighty of the earth. Will Edward VII’s prophecy prove true and Edward VIII be the last English king? With the enormous love and loyalty the empire has displayed for George V, it looks as if it would be Edward’s fault if it were true. Will we who wonder and speculate now ever know? I wonder. (10,000 people per hour viewed King George lying in state – a line 10 abreast four miles long waiting in the winter rain). Such loyalty – or curiosity. Feb 22, 1936The sun shining and snow melting. This has been a month of much bitter cold and snow – worse west of us than here. The worst winter in history: snow, ice, zero and below, frozen water, leaking gas mains. I have stayed indoors, but have had more trouble with coal gas in the rooms than ever before. “The winter of our discontent.”Mar 24, 1936The country (Eastern section especially) is just emerging from a record high water – some places worse than since 1917, 1913, and 1889. Pittsburgh and Johnstown, PA, Hartford, Conn, extremely hard hit. Several hundred lives lost. Thousands homeless, factories ruined, tens of millions damage done. This section not so badly hit. No local flood, simply headwaters. Supposed to get up to 55 to 60 here. Flood expected in lower Mississippi. Ohio and Missouri floodwaters.Sept 13, 1937A year and a half has sped by and much has happened. Not to me particularly, but to the world at large. Nature and natural forces have been most unkind to thousands of unhappy individuals. Unprecedented rains and floods all over the country. Here the highest flood on record 87 ft. (Though it is said there was a flood back in 1759 higher.) Mild weather and dripping skies brought the river booming up early in January, up until all the stores save one were flooded. Aurora under martial law, permits needed to get in and out of town. Processions of cars headed by army trucks, the rear brought up by army trucks, on our hill road. Red Cross on the job. Later fire and our church gutted by flames. Still standing a sorry object. Roof burned. Our windows ruined! Is that church we knew so well to utterly vanish?Abroad, Edward VIII is no more a king, but George VI reigns in his stead. The abdicated king was well loved, but is not George VI. A staider man, better suited to the nation, its people, religion, and laws, than the one who threw up his throne for the love of a twice divorced woman.War! Long drawn out, between the Communistic and Fascistic parties of Spain. I try to follow on a map, as town after town is besieged and taken. War raging in China between Japanese and Chinese, struggling bitterly at Shanghai, with the International Settlement not safe for foreigners. Truly an eventful year in history.April 9, 1938A sullen sky, chill and wet outdoors. We have passed through rather a mild winter. No zero weather. Thermometer not even down to 10 o  above and extremely little snow. But ground wet, thoroughly soaked through and through, not fit to work yet.The country as a whole has just been passing through a record breaking series of storms for the past week. Raging blizzards, north and west of us, almost clear across the continent; tornadoes and floods in the south and southwest. Here a little snow on the ground this morning and for a week weather near freezing interspersed with rain. Two very hard rains that sent the river overflowing on each side. My cellar floor wet. The [weather] is supposed to be about freezing tonight. However, so far daffodils, periwinkles, and tulips untouched. Don’t know about fruit yet.Sunday, June 2, 1940Over two years have passed since I last wrote here and seemingly passed quickly as I couldn't’t realize it has been so long. And much has happened since then. The war clouds are heavy. The German blitzkrieg has come. With the Allies (Eng, France, and Belgium) cornered in the pocket, Leopards (sic, King Leopold III of Belgium) desertion, and the historic retreat from Flanders through Dunkirk - still going on as I write this, with Italy on the verge of stepping in to help dispatch the Allies. America beginning to prepare to be able to defend herself. America with its previous tolerance of heiling [?hands] , marching silver shirts, communists with their hold on labor and whose insidious teaching through colleges have reached widely into the intelligentsia and would-be intelligentsia of the land, tinging those who desire to be “smart” all shades from light pink to deep red, is bound to have trouble, should force be necessary. My garden is late and plants small as yet because of a late, cool, wet spring through June and home-grown strawberries not yet in the market. In days gone by we always expected the first picking about May 14. Daffodils were beautiful and bountiful this year and I have a nice little woods or thicket in the back of my lot with bluebells, blue-eyed Mary, rockets ferns, wild geranium, and spring beauties growing nicely, with a few of the others: dog-toothed violets - blue and yellow ones – bloodroot twin leaf – and also bed straw galore to contend with. The winter of 1938 I fled the cold and drove, by myself, to Florida and back. I, who had never driven beyond Milan in all the years I have had a car. A delightful winter. I thought of going south this last winter and was partly packed too, but cold weather, severe cold, with attending ice and snow swooped down before I got started. A winter with zero weather down in Alabama, skating in Mobile Bay, fruit and vegetables frozen in Texas and Florida as far as Miami. I probably was more comfortable right here at home. Then last summer I went East with Fannie Marie for a few days at interesting Knollcroft and at the N.Y. fair, coming back on the Greyhound bus.So the time has passed. I wonder what my next account will be. What record breaking event.Nov 25, 1947Time – much time – has passed since the foregoing was written. Seven years -- and sad ones too -- Richard, Frank, Mary gone, and I the only one of my immediate family left. Pem (Pamela Dean Holman Harvey) still lives in Washington at the Gordon Hotel. My relatives are widely scattered. Emerine Stratton Rees has passed on. Her youngest son Hamilton and three children – whom I rarely see – are now my only relatives here. Robert Holman lives now in New York City – married (Frank’s son). My relatives are wide spread. Robert in New York City. William  and Fannie Marie in southern Alabama. Mary in Panama. Richard’s sons in Texas and Mildred Wagenhals who lived near me so long now in California.                                             End of diaryAt the back of the journal, after many blank pages, there are some entries, including recipes for maple sugar candy, coconut cream candy, caramels, butter scotch, chocolate caramels, vinegar candy, and boiled sugar for confections. Other pages have notes addressing topics such as: - getting rid of chiggers (I think) in lawns - wheatena and shredded wheat as good breakfast foods - insect spray recipe - info on various products like moth control, anti-freeze, soaps, deodorant, mouth wash, - recipes for cold cream - one page dated May 25, 1935 on billion dollars defense plan for army, navy, military bases, etc.2 pages at the end of the journal look like shorthandOn the last page she wrote: “one by one those who had injured or [?gibed] at him (Soames) had met their fate” dead or in British Columbia. Picture typical of the [book/?look] of life in the 1920s. The younger generation ate life talked too much. They ate life and threw away the rind. “Had they abandoned all interest in everything except the moment. Abandoned all belief in continuity and progress?"NB I think this may refer to Gallsworthy's "The Forsythe Saga" in which Soames is the main character. It is set in the early part of the twentieth century in England... (PG)      ---------------------------------- Aurora Newspaper, March 27, 1948 Obituary Notice Services Held for Abigail Holman "Miss Abagail Holman, 79, was found dead at her home on Holman Hill about 9 o'clock Thursday evening, May 27. She had been seen last on the preceding afternoon. A son of Fred Howlet, superintendent of the O'Brien Farm, called on an errand at her cottage Thursday evening, gaining no response. An entrance to the cottage was made by Deputy Harry Hunter and Dr. James F. Treon, county coroner, who discovered her lifeless body. Death which had occurred some twelve hours earlier was, they stated, due to natural causes.   "Miss Holman was the daughter of the late Jesse L. Holman II and Mrs. Jennie Smith Holman. She was the last surviving member, living here, of a distinguished Aurora family. "Her grandfather, Judge Jesse L. Holman, founded Aurora, laying out the town after he came here from Kentucky. He bought the large tract of hilltop land, below Aurora, overlooking the Ohio, establishing his home there, as later two of his children did. Miss Holman had lived her entire life on Holman Hill, which remained in the possession of the Holman family until recent years when it was purchased by Cornelius O'Brien. "She was also the niece of Congressman William S. Holman, representative of this Indiana district for over forty years. "A member of the Aurora Woman's Research Club for many years, she remained active, and prepared a paper read recently at the club. She, as well as all the Holman family, was a member of the Aurora Baptist Church.  "Services were held Saturday afternoon at Sitler and Williams funeral home, Rev. Charles P. Highsmith officiating. Burial was in Riverview cemetery.    ---------------------------------------------------The following is a tribute written about Abigail on her death by another member of the Research Club and a cousin, Fannie S. Foulk:    A TRIBUTE TO MISS ABIGAIL HOLMAN"It is with sadness that we record the death of Miss Abigail Holman who became the third member of the Research Club to pass on to her reward within twenty-one days. "She came into the club in 1915 and was a very faithful and appreciative member. We were enriched each year by the products of a mind -- keen, witty, understanding and up to date. "It was no effort for Miss Abbie to write a paper on any subject suggested by the program committee and it usually was prepared as soon as it was assigned. "For two years we have known her strength was failing but nevertheless her duty was performed and on April eighth her last effort was presented to the club (read by her life-long friend). In her death we feel a great loss and offer this tribute to her. Hers was a brilliant mind. Fannie S. Foulk, June 9th, 1948                                         -------------------------------------Abbie left her estate to Fritz (Frances Foulok  Head Gale) and on Fritz's demise it was to go Frank Louis Holman, Jr. Fritz was newly married to a young struggling doctor and Frank was just about to start college. They decided to split the money on the spot. Rose Marian Head Bliss says that Aunt Abbie favored Fritz over her because she believed that Rose Marian smoked cigarettes. However, it was really Fritz who smoked! Rose Marian remembers that the legacy was an old car and some old furniture. Frank Louis Holman and his sister Fannie Marie went to clear out her home. "It was pretty much of a mess." She had apparently saved everything but it was in no order. Among the papers may have been the tribute sent by the State of Indiana to the Holman family on the death of Jesse L. Holman Sr.  John Allen Holman has this document. He also has a chest that was in her home. He plans to donate the letter to the University of Indiana Library at Bloomington. Source:  John Allen Holman Dec. 30, 2005   LAST WILL AND TESTAMENTI, ABIGAIL HOLMAN, now of Dearborn County, in the State of Indiana, being of sound mind and disposing memory, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. ITEM 1 - It is my will that all my just debts be first paid out of the proceeds of my Estate. ITEM 2 - I give, devise and bequeath all my Estate, both real and personal, of every kind and description, unto my grandniece,  FRANCES FOULK HEAD, the daughter of my niece, Fannie Marie Head of Lyons, New Jersey, to have and to hold the same for and during the term of her natural life; and upon her death, the same to pass to and become the absolute property of my grandnephew, FRANK LOUIS HOLMAN,  the son of my nephew, Frank Holman, of York, Alabama.  ITEM  3 - I nominate and appoint my nephew, Robert Holman, of Aurora, Indiana, Executor of this my Last Will and Testament. IN WITNESS WHEREOF,  I have hereunto set my  hand and seal, and declared this to be my Last Wil and Testament, in the presence of Witnesses thereto, this 25th day of November, A.D. 1941.          Abigail Holman (seal)Signed by the above named Abigail Holman, and declared by her to be her Last Will and Testament in our presence and in the presence of each of us, and signed by us as Witnesses thereto in her presence, and in the presence of each other, all this 25 day of November, A.D. 1941. Chas. R. Klingelhoffer L.E. Davies WitnessesLetter from Fannie Marie Holman Head to her daughter Frances (Fritz) Foulk Head Gale from Aurora, IN, dated June 1, 1948, regarding the death and estate of Abigail Holman         June 1, 1948 Dear Frances,I don’t know if Dad has written you or not but Fannie wired on Friday morning that they had found Aunt Abbie the night before (Thursday) and they (coroner) said she had been dead for about 16 hours. I came up on the Hummingbird Friday night arriving Saturday morning in Cincinnati. I wired Frank to come if possible and he did. The funeral was 2 PM Saturday.Aunt A looked very nice, but one would never recognize her if it hadn’t been known. As Monday was a holiday nothing could be done until today but Mr. Davies asked that Frank stay over until he could go into the safety box and see if he could find the will. So we went over this morning. Now this is it.Everything is left to you for your life time and then goes to Frank Louis. Bob is named executor. Mr. Davies thinks that this can be worked out and advises that Frank be appointed guardian for Frank Louis and that everything be sold and divided 50-50. Of course her motive was to keep Mr. O’Brien from getting the property, but Mr. Davies seems to think it all right and legal to sell. If it is just kept as a trust fund you would get a very small income from it after expenses were taken out. There seems to be about $3,500 – 4,000 in stocks and bonds etc. Fannie and Frank are talking so hard and my mind if so fuzzy that I’m not very coherent I know.We went up this afternoon and started cleaning. I simply can’t describe things to you. It is unspeakable and unthinkable. We will have to work for two days more at least. Mr. Davies says that we had better take anything usable for it would not bring anything at a public sale. I don’t believe there will be much of anything that can be used – however, we will clean up and then see. We can’t take anyone out of the family in there until it is cleaned. Of course the sheriff, coroner, and undertaker went in. It was evidently a heart attack and she must have been in the kitchen where the chickens were. It was awful.I know if you were able you’d be right here cleaning up, but you’ll have to trust me.The car is in pretty good shape and you may want to adjust so that you can take it instead of all cash. Frank says it has only been run about 11,000 miles – a Plymouth, I don’t know what year it is.You will get a copy of the will soon and probably a waiver to sign about the executor. I think Frank would like to have the car for Frank L, but realizes unless you have other arrangements that you need one badly. With seat covers it would be very good looking.I’ll probably go home Sunday afternoon on Hummingbird. Frank wants to get off as soon as he can. He had planned to start his vacation on next Wednesday and this may spoil it. They are planning to come by Montgomery and maybe to Auburn to see if they can get Frank L in. They have refused him because he is out of state.I think since I am here this week that I will just come straight to Montreal, arriving night of July 4th. Then I’ll be on deck whenever John has to go to Indianapolis. I’ll write more before I go if I can. Take care of yourself. [“something illegible”] Love MotherNotes by Judith A. Gale (7 Jan 2007) relative to the above: At the time this letter was written, Frances (Fritz) Gale was pregnant with her first child, Barbara, who was born in Montreal on June 22, 1948. This is why it wasn’t possible for Fritz to go to Aurora after Abigail Holman (Aunt Abbie) died.John is Fritz’s husband, John S. Gale, who had just finished his medical internship in Montreal (where he attended McGill University Medical School) and was about to begin a residency program at the Veteran’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. It sounds like John needed to leave almost as soon as the baby was born to find a place for the family to live in Indianapolis. ME and Fannie Marie Head were living in Montgomery, Alabama at the time Fannie Marie wrote this letter.Frank is Frank Holman, brother of Fannie Marie Holman Head and Ota was his first wife. Frank Louis is Frank and Ota’s 18-year-old son. Fannie is Fannie Smith Foulk was sister of Fannie Marie’s mother, Rosa Foulk, who married Frank Holman, Abigail Holman’s brother. Fannie and Abigail lived in Aurora all their lives and were all  members of the Aurora Women’s Research Club, as well as being related through Frank Holman’s marriage to Rosa Foulk. Bob is Robert Foulk Holman, brother of Fannie Marie Holman Head and Frank Holman.Mr. Davis is Llewellyn E. Davies, who was Abigail Holman’s lawyer as well as the lawyer for Fannie Foulk, Myra Foulk Webber, and other family members’ lawyer in Aurora. He may be the same Llewellyn Davies who was William Steele Homan Jr.'s law partner in 1902. If so he was by now quite an elderly gentleman.  Mr. O’Brien was Cornelius O’Brien, who by that time had bought all of Holman Hill except the acre that Abigail owned. She devised her will to try to keep O’Brien from obtaining the last remaining acre of land.I assume the Hummingbird must be a train because I had heard that my grandmother's family used trains a lot to travel between AL and IN.  I checked the web and there was a new Hummingbird train that ran between New Orleans and Cincinnati staring Nov 17, 1946. So I think my hunch was correct. Letter from Fannie Marie Holman Head to her daughter Frances (Fritz) Foulk Head Gale from Aurora, Indiana, dated June 7, 1948, regarding the house and estate of Abigail Holman, which was left to Fritz in Abigail’s will.         June 7, 1948 Dear Frances,I’ll attempt to answer some of your questions as best I can.Llewellyn E. Davies was Aunt Abbie’s lawyer, also Fannie’s, Aunt Myra’ and all. The waiver will make the First National Bank executor.I don’t know about selling - whether it was Llewellyn’s idea to just settle it up at once or what. I think you’ll just have to get the advice of the Bank on that part. I don’t believe they can do anything without your consent and signature of course.The house has three rooms and the little porch. So not bad if it just wasn’t so dirty. It was never plastered and is just shingles. I don’t believe any of us would ever want it. But it could be used in this day of scarcity of material. Moved off its present sight (sic). Frankly it is all in such bad condition that it is hard to visualize using anything.Frank took an old dresser and crated it up here and got it down to the freight office. He would also like to have a small drop leaf table that we brought down to Fannie’s, and I’d like to see him have it if you are willing. He twisted his back and worked so hard when he was so miserable. He took an old pressure cooker, some radios, etc. Also a traveling bag and we put in some new slips and dresses thinking Ota might use them. None of us could. There were five old sterling table spoons and a ladle – not Holman pieces but belonging to Abbie’s mother’s mother, Marcia Harris Smith. I took the liberty of taking them and sending one to Bob, Frank, Richard Holman, Mary, and William (if they want them). Hope I was not out of order. You’ll have mine later and one of the generation before Marcia’s mother Ruth Aldrich, which Abbie gave me some years ago as you remember. There is a plated cream, sugar, and coffee pot marked H that you’d better keep. Fannie wanted the settee on the porch so Frank borrowed Louie Meenach’s truck and took it down. Also brought an old wash stand with marble top that Frank thought you might make a radio cabinet out of (broken door). Three tables (small), one of which belonged to Abbie’s grandfather John Smith and she said she’d give me. (2 round tops and one rectangular). Think these may fix up nicely. Then they brought down a veneer table that she opened up – one of those hinged ones that open up square top. This fell pretty much to pieces on the trip down. Two mirrors, two folding screen frames. Have to be recovered, also a small three-drawered chest (believe one drawer is broken) with a drop leaf. I don’t know what you can do with them but if you have the car and need them you can try.I felt it would be well to get rid of all the clothes possible. We burned awfully soiled things and bedding. I know you would not have blamed us could you have seen them. There are a few small table clothes (sic), sheets, quilts, etc. that could be laundered and used by some one. I don’t believe I could possibly, but they are wrapped up and we’ll look at them when we get back to Aurora. If you had seen the roaches slithering around and run up on mouse nests, I think you would have wished as I did that a match might be set to the whole place and it be purified by fire. We didn’t find the flashlight or her latest revolver.We brought down all the books except a set of Encyclopedia Britannica that was badly mouse eaten, and some old Congressional Records, and some books -- not new not old -- on agriculture, dressmaking, nursing, etc. Left these on the shelves. Fannie thought Bob might be interested in some of them.Llewellyn thought it might be settled in about six month’s time. Frank thinks they’ll try to come to Aurora the last of July if you are there. He will have to be appointed guardian.Fannie (Smith Foulk)doesn’t look very well. Aunt Myra looks fine.I hope it will be possible for you to go out to Aurora by the last week in July. You’ll have to ask the doctor of course, but I don’t want to leave Dad any longer if possible. Hob isn’t going to school if he can get a job, so I don’t know whether Dad will come or not. I sort of hate to have him drive up alone. He thought once of taking from about July 10th – 31st and then be there when we come back to Aurora and drive me home. I don’t know when you could get the car. I imagine it will have to be adjusted on a turn in value or some thing like that, but I know you would prefer it to almost anything else. It has less than 12,000 miles on it and Frank thinks is in good condition. Needs a good tuning up as they’ve adjusted it for her driving up the hill and is a little sluggish. With a good airing and fumigating and seat covers it will be fine. It still smells chickeny. We left it at Llewellyn’s request at Lisckkge’s garage. Too many people would like to have it.I hope John can find something soon but think I’d plan to stay with Fannie till he can. If the time grows too long you can come down here. I hope Fannie will be able to turn things over to us a bit. Maybe she just can’t, but I hope.I got home at 2 am today and must get to bed. Dad looks fine and so does Hobe. (He came yesterday.)Claire and Davis leave tomorrow at five o’clock.Dad and Holman wear size 11 and short. Ed 11 ½ I think.Do take care of yourself.Ann Smart’s baby came today – a little boy. Haven’t heard any particulars. Hope yours will be soon. Ask more questions. I’ll do my best. MotherNotes by Judith A. Gale (7 Jan 2007): John is Fritz’s husband, John S. Gale, who had just finished his medical internship in Montreal (where he attended McGill University Medical School) and was about to begin a residency program at the Veteran’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. It sounds like John needed to leave almost as soon as the baby was born to find a place for the family to live in Indianapolis. Fannie Marie was obviously going to travel to Montreal to stay with Fritz and the baby while John was in Indiana. Hob and Hobe are nick names for Holman Head, Fannie Marie and ME Head’s youngest son and brother of Fritz.I am not sure who Claire and Davis are.The acre on which the shingle shack was located was sold to Cornelius O'Brien, who offered and paid $400 for it, which Mr. Davies told my grandmother was more than it's value at the time. Source: Judith Ann Gale, January 9, 2007* Notes on Fern Castle and the Masterson tenure there: The Masterson Families of County Wexford, Ireland and Castle Ferns (1564-1654) by Willard M. Masterson Masterson Family Newsletter, Vol.  4, No. 4 Spring 1991/92 (excerpted)   The rebellion of 1641 was the start of a great period of strife for the Masterson clan of English descent in Ireland. One of the great injustices perpetrated upon the Irish was “The Transplantation to Connacht in 1654-1658.” In a book by Robert C. Simington by the above title, this act was carried out after the English army,  headed by Oliver Cromwell,  arrived in Ireland in 1649, and sacked Ireland and County Wexford in September and October of that year. Six hundred twenty-one (621) land owners in County Wexford lost their estates during this English imposed rule.   Three Masterson families and several families related by marriage were transplanted from County Wexford to Counties Roscommmon, Galway and Mayo, In each case the land exchanged in the Province of Connacht for that owned in County Wexford was but a small percentage of their original Wexford owned acreage.  After the transplantation to Connacht, primary  information sources on our Masterson clan dried up and in two hundred years, gravestones are not readable and most church records did not start until after 1800 and then years of  history have been lost by movements of pastors and prelates, fires and rebellions.   Thomas Masterson arrived in Ireland in 1564 and was appointed sheriff of Kilkenny in 1568. In March 1569 Thomas Masterson purchased from Captain Nicholas Heron interest in the Abbey lands of Ferns.  Captain Nicholas Heron preceded Thomas Masterson as seneschal of Ferns Castle. In 1583 Ferns Castle was granted from Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Thomas Masterson for sixty (60) years. In 1590, Sir Thomas Masterson died. He was succeeded in constableship of Ferns Castle by his son, Richard.   Castle Ferns was occupied by the Mastersons from 1583 til 1649 and records show Sir Richard repaired Ferns Castle in 1608 at considerable expense. In 1641 Ferns Castle suffered considerable damage during the rebellion of 1641 and the years following. History of the Castle following the rebellion of 1641 is sketchy, but a deposition of William Stafford says Edward Masterson “then a protestant, was dwelling at Ferns Castle after the outbreak of the rebellion of 1641 and during the first years of the wars. In 1649 Cromwell’s garrison held the castle garrison against insurgents, and that is the last historical note of the Masterson’s occupation of Castle Ferns.   * The seneschal must know the size and needs of every manor; how many acres should be ploughed and how much seed will be needed. He must know all his bailiffs and reeves, how they conduct the lord's business and how they treat the peasants. He must know exactly how many penny loaves can be made from a quarter of corn, or how many cattle each pasture should support. He must for ever be on the alert lest any of the lord's franchises lapse or are usurped by others. He must think of the lord's needs, both of money and of kind, and see that they are constantly supplied. In short, he must be all-knowing and he is all-powerful". Also “the king's representative charged with the application of justice and control of the administration.”    
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Abigail Holman was born December 25, 1868 at Veraestau and died May 27, 1948 at Veraestau, age 79. She was the fifth and last child of Lt. Col. Jesse Lynch Holman and Jennie Smith Holman. When the family were in Kansas Abbie, age 2, wanted to go back to Aurora Indiana to see her Aunt Pem (Pamela Dean Holman Harvey). Abbie was 15 when her father Jesse Lynch Holman Jr. died and so received a $2 a month Civil War Veterans pension for one year until she reached the age of 16. (This pension however was not applied for until she was 22 and was apparently paid retroactively). Abigail graduated from the Aurora Public Schools in 1887. In 1893 she began teaching in the same school system. However, in later years she worked as a secretary in Cincinnati. She is said to have been painfully shy and blushed when spoken to. Source: John Allen Holman May 21, 2006Abbie was raised in Jesse's second house on Holman Hill and lived there with her mother until her mother's death except for a period when the two of them moved to Florida and lived with Abbie's sister Mary Holman Burnham and her husband, Alfred. In later years she lived in another house on the Hill.  It was a caretakers house on the right hand side of the lane between the WSH house and Jesse's second house.  She is the last Holman to be buried in the family plot in the Aurora cemetery. She never married.  She belonged to the Aurora Research Club, which was founded by her Aunt Mary Ann Holman Vail Stratton.    ----------------------- Letter from Frank Holman from York Alabama, to his sister Abigail Holman May 18, (no year) – on stationery that says"Frank Holman          Plantation Supplies "Strawberry Grower"Dear Abbie,"Your letter received some days ago."I wanted to come up this summer but I know I can’t. William and Miss Matt may be up sometime for a few days."I promised you the place as long as you live and then Robt was to have it."The berries have been very poor, almost a failure."Yours truly, Frank Holman    ----------------------- Letter from Frank Holman from York Alabama, to his son, Robert Foulk Holman regarding Holman Hill property and his will - dated 13 June, 1926 "Frank Holman       Plantation Supplies "Strawberry Grower      York, ALA, June 13, 1926"Dear Robert,"I’ve been thinking of you a great deal and I want to give you that place on the Hill, right away, but I want Abbie to have the tenant house as long as she lives, and the small piece of land south of the house."I wanted to will the whole place to Abbie as long as she lives and then it goes to you, but she doesn’t want it – only the tenant house is all she says she’s able to take care of.Let me hear from you. Love to all, Your Father, Frank HolmanNote by Judith A. Gale: I believe this letter was probably written by Frank’s wife, Martha Drummond Holman. The handwriting is nothing like the handwriting on Frank’s letter to his son Robert Holman dated 12 June 1926. The handwriting on the above letter matches that in other letters written and signed by Martha Holman (Miss Matt). The handwriting on Frank’s letter of June 12 is very shaky and the text less coherent. Frank died 22 June 1928. It seems likely that he dictated this letter and his wife wrote it for him.    ------------------------ 1930 census: In 1930 at the age of 61 Abigail is living alone. She owns a radio, says the value of her home is $800. and she has no occupation. Cousins Margaret Vance Hamilton and Mildred Wagonhals live at Veraestau with a hired man to help but Abigail has no servant.    -------------------------------------------------------------- The following was written by Barbara Holman Harvey on a visit she made to Veraestau in 1939. Barbara is William Steele Holman's great granddaughter.  " As I was driving up the lane I met a lady who was walking down it toward the main road and stopped to ask her where the O'Brien's lived. She told me that they lived in the first house I would come to.... I decided that the lady I had met when I was driving up the hill had been "Miss Abigail" and was delighted by the prospect of meeting a relative who might have some interesting stories to tell. So down the hill I went in search of the good lady and was fortunate enough to find her returning from town where she had gone to purchase suet for the birds.  " I picked "Miss Abigail" up, drove back up the hill and learned that she was Grandmother's first cousin. Her father and Grandmother's father were brothers and she is the Great-Aunt Abigail that the Heads speak of.   " She took me to see the house that she had lived in as a girl -- my great-great grandfather's (Jesse Lynch Holman) home. " This house, built in the late 18th century, I liked best of the three houses on the hill. It has the original, lovely old stone foundation, a singularly handsome door and, of course, a fireplace in every room. The house is clapboard above a stone foundation with original boards and chimneys still in tact.  " After a tour of inspection of Jesse's house with Miss Abigail we proceeded to the cemetery where we did not remain long because of rain. I was amused when Cousin Abigail told me that when my grandmother was a young girl she used to say that she liked to drive her horse and buggy through the cemetery because it made her feel so nice and blue. Oh, those melancholy Holmans!!" Cousin Abigail told me some interesting tales about the Masterson family. Elizabeth Masterson married Jesse L. Holman and they begat William Steele Holman who married Abigail Knapp and they begat my grandmother, Pamela Dean Holman, Great Aunt Rhoda Holman Fletcher, Will Holman and Polly and Bill's father, Paul Holman. " Miss Abigail was not precise about dates but a little research might fill in some of the empty spaces and prove to be rather interesting. " * An Englishman, Sir Guy Masterson, was sent from England to Ireland to rule the Irish. He lived in Fern Castle and ruled the Irish well. Several generations after the first Masterson was dispatched the Irish rebelled against English rule because they felt it was too severe and the Mastersons, who by now had become more Irish than the Irish, rebelled with them. The insurgents were put down by the English and the Mastersons were forced to flee to Virginia. From thence they migrated to Kentucky where Jesse Lynch Holman found his young bride, Eliza (Elizabeth).  I believe her father or grandfather had been a governor of Kentucky. Jesse Lynch Holman "read the law" with Henry Clay (Bill Holman had a framed paper bearing Clay's signature to attest to this) and subsequently became one of our first Federal Judges.)"I was amused that Miss Abigail, who must be well along in her seventies, had driven herself to Florida and back last year. She told me that she had just looked at herself in the mirror and said, "Well, if you don't go to Florida this year you won't be here much longer." So saying she packed her things and left. A gentle, mild little spirit and perfect dear, Miss Abigail appeared to be in excellent health and possessed of a remarkably plucky spirit.  "     --------------------------------------In later years Abigail became "funny". She was "more than eccentric" remembers Ralph Rees. And she could be disagreeable. Rose Marian Head remembers an instance when Abbie got confused and went down the Hill to the Baptist church on a Saturday, thinking it was Sunday. She sat there all alone in the pew for a long time before the minister came and told her it was the wrong day. Abbie went East a few times to visit her Middleton Head relatives in Lyons, New York. (Source: Rose Marian Head Bliss Dec. 30, 2005).  John Allen Holman says Abbie sold the land easement rights to the power company sometime in the 1930's when times were hard. The company apparently took advantage of Abbie and John's father Frank had to intervene when the company came to him for his easement land rights. He agreed to the arrangement only if they made it right with Abbie which they then did. Abbie didn't like Cornelius O'Brien and she set up her will so that he couldn't get her property. But he had one of his hands check on her every day. It was because of this vigilance that she was found after her death. She was apparently wearing several sets of clothing when she was found. Source: John Allen Holman, May 21, 2006.     -----------------------------------Diary of Abigail Holman, Aurora, Indiana, 1932-1947 Date of birth 25 December 1868 and date of death 27 March 1948, both in AuroraChristmas 1932Fair, a windy March day with the temperature 58 o in the shade at the north end of the house. A welcome change from the conditions of a week ago, snow, and even as low as 10 o and 12 o below zero. Another milestone passed for me. Another year and birthday rolled around. Another year of the depression nearly gone. Sunday, Jan 1, 1933Fair and frosty – thermometer 10 o above. Friday rained steadily, poured in late afternoon and evening. Late Saturday afternoon went down in basement to get some wood, but found a lake of water several inches deep. Bailed it out, carrying out the buckets of water through the back room – sixty of them – leaving a deep layer of soft mud and mire behind it. This morning have not had the nerve to gaze at the back room nor the cellar floor. However, it means a damp, cold house this winter. A trap door in the floor swollen so it will not close down completely and at least three more months of winter weather – [?Sic Semper]Wednesday, Jan 31, 1933Tomorrow ushers in the new month, practically the last real winter month. The winter has gone swiftly and rather comfortably. January has officially been 10 degrees higher than normal. My new studio couch arrived the other day – the first step in the rehabilitating or rather making livable the shack. May the fates be propitious as to my being able to carry out the rest of the plan but dividends still seem to have the habit of shrinking out of sight. Once more about a week ago, I had to bail out the flooded cellar. Must have some drains put in this spring.Apr 15, 1933A rainy day. A rainy spring. A flood – a little over 63 ft stage – in the latter part of March with 20 families’ homes inundated. The Red Cross in charge of relief, though Aurora donated much money for relief. A broad river – over the bottoms up and down the stream. Even the B+O had to stop running its trains to Cincinnati. Now it is within its banks and buildings being occupied again, some still being aired and dried. I had a slight flood myself on the Sat, Sun, and Monday that brought the river up quickly. The water rushed under the house and I bailed out 630 bucketsful. Now the wall has been fixed by Mr. [?Tresent} and his men, a ditch and drain fixed, and sincerely hope it will end the trouble. A backward month – the middle of April and the ground still too soggy to work and plant. Cold and chill the last few days. Mildred’s cherry trees are in bloom, but the zero weather of middle December killed the front buds off the peach trees. Daffodils still in bloom, periwinkles and wildflowers.Have postponed my building plans and refrigerator until I see how the country’s financial situation, especially the mortgage situation, turns out and whether it will hit me seriously. (The 5th of March all the banks of the country were closed and not opened for a little over a week.) It may behoove me to do as I was told - hold onto every dollar I have. 16-17 April 1933Rain. Pear trees in bloom. Asparagus coming up. 24 April 1933Ground too wet to work. More rain just starting.May 1, 1933Rain last night, today. Cloudy, as though thunder storms were in the offing. Little has been planted as yet. Just heard a yellow breasted chat in the bushes. Yesterday the summer tanagers’ monotonous notes and two or three days ago caught a glimpse of a brown thrasher.Have been pulling out some goldenrod under the maple tree – hundreds of them to be gotten rid of.  Saturday a baby rabbit bounced against my ankle as I dug in the garden. Spring is here.May 15, 1933Rain and more rain. Last Thursday the edge of a tornado that swept across the country near Rising Sun, with wind and rain and hail – some so large as the forefinger and thumb could not meet around them. Saturday torrential rains. The river up again – 56 at Cincinnati I heard.April 29, 1935Much has come and gone since that note of May 15, 1933. Record heat and drought – day after day of over 100o – 108 o – 109 o – 110o. Dust storms have reached us from the west. One last evening. A pale ghost of a sun sinking in the west. The river valley and town obscured with a yellowish mist or fog, dust in the mouth if opened.  A shower or two this morning has probably cleared the air somewhat.Since 1933, last summer an enclosed porch or kitchen has been added to the south end of “the shingle shack.” My garden ground is somewhat better than it was, with two loads of fertilizer either on or in the process of going on. A few radishes and onions ready for consumption. Others sowed or planted, and the sun trying to shine.Jan 27, 1936This is the winter of 1917-18 reincarnated. The winter I have been expecting and preparing for ever since 1918. A good old-fashioned winter, such as we had in my youthful days. A week of cold, bitter days – subzero weather. Last Wednesday night 18o below. Last night 12 o below zero. Snow on the ground, ice in the river, hungry birds ravening for crumbs, suet, and cracked corn. I no longer can buy sunflower seed for them. Two bitter blizzards have come. One on Christmas day and again last Wednesday.All over the country from the Rockies eastward the cold extends even down into the Southland. Reports of colder weather than in 24 years - 55 o - 30 o  - 20 o below zero. Deep snow drifts. Thee weather has really been news. At the same time down in Rio so hot eggs could be fried on the sidewalks. Dame Nature is doing herself proud. A radio – such a comfort – and a refrigerator have been added here.Before I put insulation on the rafters, a young carpenter who was working on the attic stairs told me I could use the attic to heat the house in winter instead of coal, but I have found it a good half way place to keep provisions in this weather. Jan 28, 193610 o below this morning. It looks as though weather – like history – repeats itself – every 23 years tis claimed. This morning the funeral of King George of Britain (will future historians call him George the Good?) were radioed. For hours the sound of marchers, bells, the farewell salutes of guns, and the wail of the bagpipers as he was carried into St. George’s Chapel at Windsor. As I mentally pictured the scene, always the dog of Edward VII came to my mind, the dog that played the role of chief mourner and marched behind his coffin, taking precedence over kings and the mighty of the earth. Will Edward VII’s prophecy prove true and Edward VIII be the last English king? With the enormous love and loyalty the empire has displayed for George V, it looks as if it would be Edward’s fault if it were true. Will we who wonder and speculate now ever know? I wonder. (10,000 people per hour viewed King George lying in state – a line 10 abreast four miles long waiting in the winter rain). Such loyalty – or curiosity. Feb 22, 1936The sun shining and snow melting. This has been a month of much bitter cold and snow – worse west of us than here. The worst winter in history: snow, ice, zero and below, frozen water, leaking gas mains. I have stayed indoors, but have had more trouble with coal gas in the rooms than ever before. “The winter of our discontent.”Mar 24, 1936The country (Eastern section especially) is just emerging from a record high water – some places worse than since 1917, 1913, and 1889. Pittsburgh and Johnstown, PA, Hartford, Conn, extremely hard hit. Several hundred lives lost. Thousands homeless, factories ruined, tens of millions damage done. This section not so badly hit. No local flood, simply headwaters. Supposed to get up to 55 to 60 here. Flood expected in lower Mississippi. Ohio and Missouri floodwaters.Sept 13, 1937A year and a half has sped by and much has happened. Not to me particularly, but to the world at large. Nature and natural forces have been most unkind to thousands of unhappy individuals. Unprecedented rains and floods all over the country. Here the highest flood on record 87 ft. (Though it is said there was a flood back in 1759 higher.) Mild weather and dripping skies brought the river booming up early in January, up until all the stores save one were flooded. Aurora under martial law, permits needed to get in and out of town. Processions of cars headed by army trucks, the rear brought up by army trucks, on our hill road. Red Cross on the job. Later fire and our church gutted by flames. Still standing a sorry object. Roof burned. Our windows ruined! Is that church we knew so well to utterly vanish?Abroad, Edward VIII is no more a king, but George VI reigns in his stead. The abdicated king was well loved, but is not George VI. A staider man, better suited to the nation, its people, religion, and laws, than the one who threw up his throne for the love of a twice divorced woman.War! Long drawn out, between the Communistic and Fascistic parties of Spain. I try to follow on a map, as town after town is besieged and taken. War raging in China between Japanese and Chinese, struggling bitterly at Shanghai, with the International Settlement not safe for foreigners. Truly an eventful year in history.April 9, 1938A sullen sky, chill and wet outdoors. We have passed through rather a mild winter. No zero weather. Thermometer not even down to 10 o  above and extremely little snow. But ground wet, thoroughly soaked through and through, not fit to work yet.The country as a whole has just been passing through a record breaking series of storms for the past week. Raging blizzards, north and west of us, almost clear across the continent; tornadoes and floods in the south and southwest. Here a little snow on the ground this morning and for a week weather near freezing interspersed with rain. Two very hard rains that sent the river overflowing on each side. My cellar floor wet. The [weather] is supposed to be about freezing tonight. However, so far daffodils, periwinkles, and tulips untouched. Don’t know about fruit yet.Sunday, June 2, 1940Over two years have passed since I last wrote here and seemingly passed quickly as I couldn't’t realize it has been so long. And much has happened since then. The war clouds are heavy. The German blitzkrieg has come. With the Allies (Eng, France, and Belgium) cornered in the pocket, Leopards (sic, King Leopold III of Belgium) desertion, and the historic retreat from Flanders through Dunkirk - still going on as I write this, with Italy on the verge of stepping in to help dispatch the Allies. America beginning to prepare to be able to defend herself. America with its previous tolerance of heiling [?hands] , marching silver shirts, communists with their hold on labor and whose insidious teaching through colleges have reached widely into the intelligentsia and would-be intelligentsia of the land, tinging those who desire to be “smart” all shades from light pink to deep red, is bound to have trouble, should force be necessary. My garden is late and plants small as yet because of a late, cool, wet spring through June and home-grown strawberries not yet in the market. In days gone by we always expected the first picking about May 14. Daffodils were beautiful and bountiful this year and I have a nice little woods or thicket in the back of my lot with bluebells, blue-eyed Mary, rockets ferns, wild geranium, and spring beauties growing nicely, with a few of the others: dog-toothed violets - blue and yellow ones – bloodroot twin leaf – and also bed straw galore to contend with. The winter of 1938 I fled the cold and drove, by myself, to Florida and back. I, who had never driven beyond Milan in all the years I have had a car. A delightful winter. I thought of going south this last winter and was partly packed too, but cold weather, severe cold, with attending ice and snow swooped down before I got started. A winter with zero weather down in Alabama, skating in Mobile Bay, fruit and vegetables frozen in Texas and Florida as far as Miami. I probably was more comfortable right here at home. Then last summer I went East with Fannie Marie for a few days at interesting Knollcroft and at the N.Y. fair, coming back on the Greyhound bus.So the time has passed. I wonder what my next account will be. What record breaking event.Nov 25, 1947Time – much time – has passed since the foregoing was written. Seven years -- and sad ones too -- Richard, Frank, Mary gone, and I the only one of my immediate family left. Pem (Pamela Dean Holman Harvey) still lives in Washington at the Gordon Hotel. My relatives are widely scattered. Emerine Stratton Rees has passed on. Her youngest son Hamilton and three children – whom I rarely see – are now my only relatives here. Robert Holman lives now in New York City – married (Frank’s son). My relatives are wide spread. Robert in New York City. William  and Fannie Marie in southern Alabama. Mary in Panama. Richard’s sons in Texas and Mildred Wagenhals who lived near me so long now in California.                                             End of diaryAt the back of the journal, after many blank pages, there are some entries, including recipes for maple sugar candy, coconut cream candy, caramels, butter scotch, chocolate caramels, vinegar candy, and boiled sugar for confections. Other pages have notes addressing topics such as: - getting rid of chiggers (I think) in lawns - wheatena and shredded wheat as good breakfast foods - insect spray recipe - info on various products like moth control, anti-freeze, soaps, deodorant, mouth wash, - recipes for cold cream - one page dated May 25, 1935 on billion dollars defense plan for army, navy, military bases, etc.2 pages at the end of the journal look like shorthandOn the last page she wrote: “one by one those who had injured or [?gibed] at him (Soames) had met their fate” dead or in British Columbia. Picture typical of the [book/?look] of life in the 1920s. The younger generation ate life talked too much. They ate life and threw away the rind. “Had they abandoned all interest in everything except the moment. Abandoned all belief in continuity and progress?"NB I think this may refer to Gallsworthy's "The Forsythe Saga" in which Soames is the main character. It is set in the early part of the twentieth century in England... (PG)      ---------------------------------- Aurora Newspaper, March 27, 1948 Obituary Notice Services Held for Abigail Holman "Miss Abagail Holman, 79, was found dead at her home on Holman Hill about 9 o'clock Thursday evening, May 27. She had been seen last on the preceding afternoon. A son of Fred Howlet, superintendent of the O'Brien Farm, called on an errand at her cottage Thursday evening, gaining no response. An entrance to the cottage was made by Deputy Harry Hunter and Dr. James F. Treon, county coroner, who discovered her lifeless body. Death which had occurred some twelve hours earlier was, they stated, due to natural causes.   "Miss Holman was the daughter of the late Jesse L. Holman II and Mrs. Jennie Smith Holman. She was the last surviving member, living here, of a distinguished Aurora family. "Her grandfather, Judge Jesse L. Holman, founded Aurora, laying out the town after he came here from Kentucky. He bought the large tract of hilltop land, below Aurora, overlooking the Ohio, establishing his home there, as later two of his children did. Miss Holman had lived her entire life on Holman Hill, which remained in the possession of the Holman family until recent years when it was purchased by Cornelius O'Brien. "She was also the niece of Congressman William S. Holman, representative of this Indiana district for over forty years. "A member of the Aurora Woman's Research Club for many years, she remained active, and prepared a paper read recently at the club. She, as well as all the Holman family, was a member of the Aurora Baptist Church.  "Services were held Saturday afternoon at Sitler and Williams funeral home, Rev. Charles P. Highsmith officiating. Burial was in Riverview cemetery.    ---------------------------------------------------The following is a tribute written about Abigail on her death by another member of the Research Club and a cousin, Fannie S. Foulk:    A TRIBUTE TO MISS ABIGAIL HOLMAN"It is with sadness that we record the death of Miss Abigail Holman who became the third member of the Research Club to pass on to her reward within twenty-one days. "She came into the club in 1915 and was a very faithful and appreciative member. We were enriched each year by the products of a mind -- keen, witty, understanding and up to date. "It was no effort for Miss Abbie to write a paper on any subject suggested by the program committee and it usually was prepared as soon as it was assigned. "For two years we have known her strength was failing but nevertheless her duty was performed and on April eighth her last effort was presented to the club (read by her life-long friend). In her death we feel a great loss and offer this tribute to her. Hers was a brilliant mind. Fannie S. Foulk, June 9th, 1948                                         -------------------------------------Abbie left her estate to Fritz (Frances Foulok  Head Gale) and on Fritz's demise it was to go Frank Louis Holman, Jr. Fritz was newly married to a young struggling doctor and Frank was just about to start college. They decided to split the money on the spot. Rose Marian Head Bliss says that Aunt Abbie favored Fritz over her because she believed that Rose Marian smoked cigarettes. However, it was really Fritz who smoked! Rose Marian remembers that the legacy was an old car and some old furniture. Frank Louis Holman and his sister Fannie Marie went to clear out her home. "It was pretty much of a mess." She had apparently saved everything but it was in no order. Among the papers may have been the tribute sent by the State of Indiana to the Holman family on the death of Jesse L. Holman Sr.  John Allen Holman has this document. He also has a chest that was in her home. He plans to donate the letter to the University of Indiana Library at Bloomington. Source:  John Allen Holman Dec. 30, 2005   LAST WILL AND TESTAMENTI, ABIGAIL HOLMAN, now of Dearborn County, in the State of Indiana, being of sound mind and disposing memory, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. ITEM 1 - It is my will that all my just debts be first paid out of the proceeds of my Estate. ITEM 2 - I give, devise and bequeath all my Estate, both real and personal, of every kind and description, unto my grandniece,  FRANCES FOULK HEAD, the daughter of my niece, Fannie Marie Head of Lyons, New Jersey, to have and to hold the same for and during the term of her natural life; and upon her death, the same to pass to and become the absolute property of my grandnephew, FRANK LOUIS HOLMAN,  the son of my nephew, Frank Holman, of York, Alabama.  ITEM  3 - I nominate and appoint my nephew, Robert Holman, of Aurora, Indiana, Executor of this my Last Will and Testament. IN WITNESS WHEREOF,  I have hereunto set my  hand and seal, and declared this to be my Last Wil and Testament, in the presence of Witnesses thereto, this 25th day of November, A.D. 1941.          Abigail Holman (seal)Signed by the above named Abigail Holman, and declared by her to be her Last Will and Testament in our presence and in the presence of each of us, and signed by us as Witnesses thereto in her presence, and in the presence of each other, all this 25 day of November, A.D. 1941. Chas. R. Klingelhoffer L.E. Davies WitnessesLetter from Fannie Marie Holman Head to her daughter Frances (Fritz) Foulk Head Gale from Aurora, IN, dated June 1, 1948, regarding the death and estate of Abigail Holman         June 1, 1948 Dear Frances,I don’t know if Dad has written you or not but Fannie wired on Friday morning that they had found Aunt Abbie the night before (Thursday) and they (coroner) said she had been dead for about 16 hours. I came up on the Hummingbird Friday night arriving Saturday morning in Cincinnati. I wired Frank to come if possible and he did. The funeral was 2 PM Saturday.Aunt A looked very nice, but one would never recognize her if it hadn’t been known. As Monday was a holiday nothing could be done until today but Mr. Davies asked that Frank stay over until he could go into the safety box and see if he could find the will. So we went over this morning. Now this is it.Everything is left to you for your life time and then goes to Frank Louis. Bob is named executor. Mr. Davies thinks that this can be worked out and advises that Frank be appointed guardian for Frank Louis and that everything be sold and divided 50-50. Of course her motive was to keep Mr. O’Brien from getting the property, but Mr. Davies seems to think it all right and legal to sell. If it is just kept as a trust fund you would get a very small income from it after expenses were taken out. There seems to be about $3,500 – 4,000 in stocks and bonds etc. Fannie and Frank are talking so hard and my mind if so fuzzy that I’m not very coherent I know.We went up this afternoon and started cleaning. I simply can’t describe things to you. It is unspeakable and unthinkable. We will have to work for two days more at least. Mr. Davies says that we had better take anything usable for it would not bring anything at a public sale. I don’t believe there will be much of anything that can be used – however, we will clean up and then see. We can’t take anyone out of the family in there until it is cleaned. Of course the sheriff, coroner, and undertaker went in. It was evidently a heart attack and she must have been in the kitchen where the chickens were. It was awful.I know if you were able you’d be right here cleaning up, but you’ll have to trust me.The car is in pretty good shape and you may want to adjust so that you can take it instead of all cash. Frank says it has only been run about 11,000 miles – a Plymouth, I don’t know what year it is.You will get a copy of the will soon and probably a waiver to sign about the executor. I think Frank would like to have the car for Frank L, but realizes unless you have other arrangements that you need one badly. With seat covers it would be very good looking.I’ll probably go home Sunday afternoon on Hummingbird. Frank wants to get off as soon as he can. He had planned to start his vacation on next Wednesday and this may spoil it. They are planning to come by Montgomery and maybe to Auburn to see if they can get Frank L in. They have refused him because he is out of state.I think since I am here this week that I will just come straight to Montreal, arriving night of July 4th. Then I’ll be on deck whenever John has to go to Indianapolis. I’ll write more before I go if I can. Take care of yourself. [“something illegible”] Love MotherNotes by Judith A. Gale (7 Jan 2007) relative to the above: At the time this letter was written, Frances (Fritz) Gale was pregnant with her first child, Barbara, who was born in Montreal on June 22, 1948. This is why it wasn’t possible for Fritz to go to Aurora after Abigail Holman (Aunt Abbie) died.John is Fritz’s husband, John S. Gale, who had just finished his medical internship in Montreal (where he attended McGill University Medical School) and was about to begin a residency program at the Veteran’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. It sounds like John needed to leave almost as soon as the baby was born to find a place for the family to live in Indianapolis. ME and Fannie Marie Head were living in Montgomery, Alabama at the time Fannie Marie wrote this letter.Frank is Frank Holman, brother of Fannie Marie Holman Head and Ota was his first wife. Frank Louis is Frank and Ota’s 18-year-old son. Fannie is Fannie Smith Foulk was sister of Fannie Marie’s mother, Rosa Foulk, who married Frank Holman, Abigail Holman’s brother. Fannie and Abigail lived in Aurora all their lives and were all  members of the Aurora Women’s Research Club, as well as being related through Frank Holman’s marriage to Rosa Foulk. Bob is Robert Foulk Holman, brother of Fannie Marie Holman Head and Frank Holman.Mr. Davis is Llewellyn E. Davies, who was Abigail Holman’s lawyer as well as the lawyer for Fannie Foulk, Myra Foulk Webber, and other family members’ lawyer in Aurora. He may be the same Llewellyn Davies who was William Steele Homan Jr.'s law partner in 1902. If so he was by now quite an elderly gentleman.  Mr. O’Brien was Cornelius O’Brien, who by that time had bought all of Holman Hill except the acre that Abigail owned. She devised her will to try to keep O’Brien from obtaining the last remaining acre of land.I assume the Hummingbird must be a train because I had heard that my grandmother's family used trains a lot to travel between AL and IN.  I checked the web and there was a new Hummingbird train that ran between New Orleans and Cincinnati staring Nov 17, 1946. So I think my hunch was correct. Letter from Fannie Marie Holman Head to her daughter Frances (Fritz) Foulk Head Gale from Aurora, Indiana, dated June 7, 1948, regarding the house and estate of Abigail Holman, which was left to Fritz in Abigail’s will.         June 7, 1948 Dear Frances,I’ll attempt to answer some of your questions as best I can.Llewellyn E. Davies was Aunt Abbie’s lawyer, also Fannie’s, Aunt Myra’ and all. The waiver will make the First National Bank executor.I don’t know about selling - whether it was Llewellyn’s idea to just settle it up at once or what. I think you’ll just have to get the advice of the Bank on that part. I don’t believe they can do anything without your consent and signature of course.The house has three rooms and the little porch. So not bad if it just wasn’t so dirty. It was never plastered and is just shingles. I don’t believe any of us would ever want it. But it could be used in this day of scarcity of material. Moved off its present sight (sic). Frankly it is all in such bad condition that it is hard to visualize using anything.Frank took an old dresser and crated it up here and got it down to the freight office. He would also like to have a small drop leaf table that we brought down to Fannie’s, and I’d like to see him have it if you are willing. He twisted his back and worked so hard when he was so miserable. He took an old pressure cooker, some radios, etc. Also a traveling bag and we put in some new slips and dresses thinking Ota might use them. None of us could. There were five old sterling table spoons and a ladle – not Holman pieces but belonging to Abbie’s mother’s mother, Marcia Harris Smith. I took the liberty of taking them and sending one to Bob, Frank, Richard Holman, Mary, and William (if they want them). Hope I was not out of order. You’ll have mine later and one of the generation before Marcia’s mother Ruth Aldrich, which Abbie gave me some years ago as you remember. There is a plated cream, sugar, and coffee pot marked H that you’d better keep. Fannie wanted the settee on the porch so Frank borrowed Louie Meenach’s truck and took it down. Also brought an old wash stand with marble top that Frank thought you might make a radio cabinet out of (broken door). Three tables (small), one of which belonged to Abbie’s grandfather John Smith and she said she’d give me. (2 round tops and one rectangular). Think these may fix up nicely. Then they brought down a veneer table that she opened up – one of those hinged ones that open up square top. This fell pretty much to pieces on the trip down. Two mirrors, two folding screen frames. Have to be recovered, also a small three-drawered chest (believe one drawer is broken) with a drop leaf. I don’t know what you can do with them but if you have the car and need them you can try.I felt it would be well to get rid of all the clothes possible. We burned awfully soiled things and bedding. I know you would not have blamed us could you have seen them. There are a few small table clothes (sic), sheets, quilts, etc. that could be laundered and used by some one. I don’t believe I could possibly, but they are wrapped up and we’ll look at them when we get back to Aurora. If you had seen the roaches slithering around and run up on mouse nests, I think you would have wished as I did that a match might be set to the whole place and it be purified by fire. We didn’t find the flashlight or her latest revolver.We brought down all the books except a set of Encyclopedia Britannica that was badly mouse eaten, and some old Congressional Records, and some books -- not new not old -- on agriculture, dressmaking, nursing, etc. Left these on the shelves. Fannie thought Bob might be interested in some of them.Llewellyn thought it might be settled in about six month’s time. Frank thinks they’ll try to come to Aurora the last of July if you are there. He will have to be appointed guardian.Fannie (Smith Foulk)doesn’t look very well. Aunt Myra looks fine.I hope it will be possible for you to go out to Aurora by the last week in July. You’ll have to ask the doctor of course, but I don’t want to leave Dad any longer if possible. Hob isn’t going to school if he can get a job, so I don’t know whether Dad will come or not. I sort of hate to have him drive up alone. He thought once of taking from about July 10th – 31st and then be there when we come back to Aurora and drive me home. I don’t know when you could get the car. I imagine it will have to be adjusted on a turn in value or some thing like that, but I know you would prefer it to almost anything else. It has less than 12,000 miles on it and Frank thinks is in good condition. Needs a good tuning up as they’ve adjusted it for her driving up the hill and is a little sluggish. With a good airing and fumigating and seat covers it will be fine. It still smells chickeny. We left it at Llewellyn’s request at Lisckkge’s garage. Too many people would like to have it.I hope John can find something soon but think I’d plan to stay with Fannie till he can. If the time grows too long you can come down here. I hope Fannie will be able to turn things over to us a bit. Maybe she just can’t, but I hope.I got home at 2 am today and must get to bed. Dad looks fine and so does Hobe. (He came yesterday.)Claire and Davis leave tomorrow at five o’clock.Dad and Holman wear size 11 and short. Ed 11 ½ I think.Do take care of yourself.Ann Smart’s baby came today – a little boy. Haven’t heard any particulars. Hope yours will be soon. Ask more questions. I’ll do my best. MotherNotes by Judith A. Gale (7 Jan 2007): John is Fritz’s husband, John S. Gale, who had just finished his medical internship in Montreal (where he attended McGill University Medical School) and was about to begin a residency program at the Veteran’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. It sounds like John needed to leave almost as soon as the baby was born to find a place for the family to live in Indianapolis. Fannie Marie was obviously going to travel to Montreal to stay with Fritz and the baby while John was in Indiana. Hob and Hobe are nick names for Holman Head, Fannie Marie and ME Head’s youngest son and brother of Fritz.I am not sure who Claire and Davis are.The acre on which the shingle shack was located was sold to Cornelius O'Brien, who offered and paid $400 for it, which Mr. Davies told my grandmother was more than it's value at the time. Source: Judith Ann Gale, January 9, 2007* Notes on Fern Castle and the Masterson tenure there: The Masterson Families of County Wexford, Ireland and Castle Ferns (1564-1654) by Willard M. Masterson Masterson Family Newsletter, Vol.  4, No. 4 Spring 1991/92 (excerpted)   The rebellion of 1641 was the start of a great period of strife for the Masterson clan of English descent in Ireland. One of the great injustices perpetrated upon the Irish was “The Transplantation to Connacht in 1654-1658.” In a book by Robert C. Simington by the above title, this act was carried out after the English army,  headed by Oliver Cromwell,  arrived in Ireland in 1649, and sacked Ireland and County Wexford in September and October of that year. Six hundred twenty-one (621) land owners in County Wexford lost their estates during this English imposed rule.   Three Masterson families and several families related by marriage were transplanted from County Wexford to Counties Roscommmon, Galway and Mayo, In each case the land exchanged in the Province of Connacht for that owned in County Wexford was but a small percentage of their original Wexford owned acreage.  After the transplantation to Connacht, primary  information sources on our Masterson clan dried up and in two hundred years, gravestones are not readable and most church records did not start until after 1800 and then years of  history have been lost by movements of pastors and prelates, fires and rebellions.   Thomas Masterson arrived in Ireland in 1564 and was appointed sheriff of Kilkenny in 1568. In March 1569 Thomas Masterson purchased from Captain Nicholas Heron interest in the Abbey lands of Ferns.  Captain Nicholas Heron preceded Thomas Masterson as seneschal of Ferns Castle. In 1583 Ferns Castle was granted from Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Thomas Masterson for sixty (60) years. In 1590, Sir Thomas Masterson died. He was succeeded in constableship of Ferns Castle by his son, Richard.   Castle Ferns was occupied by the Mastersons from 1583 til 1649 and records show Sir Richard repaired Ferns Castle in 1608 at considerable expense. In 1641 Ferns Castle suffered considerable damage during the rebellion of 1641 and the years following. History of the Castle following the rebellion of 1641 is sketchy, but a deposition of William Stafford says Edward Masterson “then a protestant, was dwelling at Ferns Castle after the outbreak of the rebellion of 1641 and during the first years of the wars. In 1649 Cromwell’s garrison held the castle garrison against insurgents, and that is the last historical note of the Masterson’s occupation of Castle Ferns.   * The seneschal must know the size and needs of every manor; how many acres should be ploughed and how much seed will be needed. He must know all his bailiffs and reeves, how they conduct the lord's business and how they treat the peasants. He must know exactly how many penny loaves can be made from a quarter of corn, or how many cattle each pasture should support. He must for ever be on the alert lest any of the lord's franchises lapse or are usurped by others. He must think of the lord's needs, both of money and of kind, and see that they are constantly supplied. In short, he must be all-knowing and he is all-powerful". Also “the king's representative charged with the application of justice and control of the administration.”    

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Story: Robert Foulk Holman
Young Bob was raised in Alabama until his mother's death in 1907 when he was about six months old. After her death Bob lived first with his grandmother Alta Squibb Foulk and after her death with Fannie and Louis Foulk, his mother's siblings in Aurora, Indiana. Letter from Frank Holman to his son, Robert Foulk Holman, regarding a chair at Holman Hill that was in Henry Clay’s law office - dated 12 June, 1926Frank Holman Plantation Supplies Strawberry GrowerYork, ALA, June 12, 1926Dear Robert,I have been intending writing to you for some time. My grandfather studied law in Henry Clay’s office in Ky. He was a friend of Andy Jackson and was on his side when Jackson beat Clay for President. What I want to get at is that I want you to go up on the Hill when Frank is up there and get the Henry Clay chair. I have heard that Henry Clay sat in it and that my grandfather used it while studying. Mr. Jackson appointed my grandfather as Judge of Indiana. You can find out how much. You get to be [a] lawyer (sic). You must have the chair and the Hill as there have been good lawyers there for over 100 years.You may be able to read this.Your Father, F. HolmanNote by Judith A. Gale: Handwriting is very shaky and a few sentences don’t seem to make sense. Frank died 22 June 1928.  Then, the next day, there is this letter from Bob's father:  Letter from Frank Holman from York Alabama, to his son, Robert Foulk Holman regarding Holman Hill property and his will - dated 13 June, 1926"Frank Holman       Plantation Supplies "Strawberry Grower York, ALA, June 13, 1926"Dear Robert,"I’ve been thinking of you a great deal and I want to give you that place on the Hill, right away, but I want Abbie to have the tenant house as long as she lives, and the small piece of land south of the house."I wanted to will the whole place to Abbie as long as she lives and then it goes to you, but she doesn’t want it – only the tenant house is all she says she’s able to take care of.Let me hear from you. Love to all, Your Father, Frank HolmanNote by Judith A. Gale: I believe this letter was probably written by Frank’s wife, Martha Drummond Holman. The handwriting is nothing like the handwriting on Frank’s letter to his son Robert Holman dated 12 June 1926. The handwriting on the above letter matches that in other letters written and signed by Martha Holman (Miss Matt). The handwriting on Frank’s letter of June 12 is very shaky and the text less coherent. Frank died 22 June 1928. It seems likely that he dictated this letter and his wife wrote it for him.    -------------------------------------Bob worked in Cincinnati until he moved to work in Chicago and married Caroline Stemler on October 11, 1947 in Northfield, Massachusetts. They were married by Rev. Benjamin Andrews, Rose Marian Head Andrew's husband in Northfield, Massachusetts.  The couple moved to New York where he was Director of Research for Proctor and Gamble and then to Connecticut after his retirement, where he died on March 28, 1992. " Source: Steele Holman II, Rose-Gale manuscript and Connecticut Death RecordsBob used to give Proctor and Gamble sample products to the Middleton Head family in Lyons, New Jersey. They came in plain white containers or tubes and once Rose Marian Head used shaving cream to brush her teeth because the containers were indistinguishable. He took the two girls, Fritz and Rose Marian, to New York City to see plays and concerts.  Robert and Caroline lived a frugal life and left their considerable estate to their nieces Florence and Rose Marian Head, much to their surprise and pleasure. They had spent most Thanksgivings and Christmases with the two women's families in later life. Bob should have been a professor. Source: Rose Marian Head Bliss Dec. 30, 2005From niece, Judith Ann Gale Oct. 3, 2006 (Judith is the daughter of Fritz Head Gale) "Robert and Caroline Stemler Holman were a regular part of my childhood. They lived in Connecticut and we saw them every Thanksgiving as well as whenever my grandparents visited.   "My grandmother (Fannie Marie Holman Head) and Bob Holman were very close. I think he either lived in New York City at the time when my mother and Rose Marian were living in Lyons NJ (during high school) or came to visit often. My mother told me that the two sisters would take the train into NY City and meet Bob and he would take them to the symphony or plays and do special things with them. My mother loved him deeply. He was her favorite uncle." My mother and father (John Gale and Frances Head Gale) also spent one or two years in Indianapolis, where my father was doing a medical residency. They saw a lot of the Aurora family during that time. I am not sure where Bob was living at that time but I know he worked in that area for a long time, though I don't know what he did. I remember being told that he worked in one state and lived in another and so had to cross a time zone going to and from work every day." (This part of Indiana still does not keep Daylight Savings Time in 2006).  
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Young Bob was raised in Alabama until his mother's death in 1907 when he was about six months old. After her death Bob lived first with his grandmother Alta Squibb Foulk and after her death with Fannie and Louis Foulk, his mother's siblings in Aurora, Indiana. Letter from Frank Holman to his son, Robert Foulk Holman, regarding a chair at Holman Hill that was in Henry Clay’s law office - dated 12 June, 1926Frank Holman Plantation Supplies Strawberry GrowerYork, ALA, June 12, 1926Dear Robert,I have been intending writing to you for some time. My grandfather studied law in Henry Clay’s office in Ky. He was a friend of Andy Jackson and was on his side when Jackson beat Clay for President. What I want to get at is that I want you to go up on the Hill when Frank is up there and get the Henry Clay chair. I have heard that Henry Clay sat in it and that my grandfather used it while studying. Mr. Jackson appointed my grandfather as Judge of Indiana. You can find out how much. You get to be [a] lawyer (sic). You must have the chair and the Hill as there have been good lawyers there for over 100 years.You may be able to read this.Your Father, F. HolmanNote by Judith A. Gale: Handwriting is very shaky and a few sentences don’t seem to make sense. Frank died 22 June 1928.  Then, the next day, there is this letter from Bob's father:  Letter from Frank Holman from York Alabama, to his son, Robert Foulk Holman regarding Holman Hill property and his will - dated 13 June, 1926"Frank Holman       Plantation Supplies "Strawberry Grower York, ALA, June 13, 1926"Dear Robert,"I’ve been thinking of you a great deal and I want to give you that place on the Hill, right away, but I want Abbie to have the tenant house as long as she lives, and the small piece of land south of the house."I wanted to will the whole place to Abbie as long as she lives and then it goes to you, but she doesn’t want it – only the tenant house is all she says she’s able to take care of.Let me hear from you. Love to all, Your Father, Frank HolmanNote by Judith A. Gale: I believe this letter was probably written by Frank’s wife, Martha Drummond Holman. The handwriting is nothing like the handwriting on Frank’s letter to his son Robert Holman dated 12 June 1926. The handwriting on the above letter matches that in other letters written and signed by Martha Holman (Miss Matt). The handwriting on Frank’s letter of June 12 is very shaky and the text less coherent. Frank died 22 June 1928. It seems likely that he dictated this letter and his wife wrote it for him.    -------------------------------------Bob worked in Cincinnati until he moved to work in Chicago and married Caroline Stemler on October 11, 1947 in Northfield, Massachusetts. They were married by Rev. Benjamin Andrews, Rose Marian Head Andrew's husband in Northfield, Massachusetts.  The couple moved to New York where he was Director of Research for Proctor and Gamble and then to Connecticut after his retirement, where he died on March 28, 1992. " Source: Steele Holman II, Rose-Gale manuscript and Connecticut Death RecordsBob used to give Proctor and Gamble sample products to the Middleton Head family in Lyons, New Jersey. They came in plain white containers or tubes and once Rose Marian Head used shaving cream to brush her teeth because the containers were indistinguishable. He took the two girls, Fritz and Rose Marian, to New York City to see plays and concerts.  Robert and Caroline lived a frugal life and left their considerable estate to their nieces Florence and Rose Marian Head, much to their surprise and pleasure. They had spent most Thanksgivings and Christmases with the two women's families in later life. Bob should have been a professor. Source: Rose Marian Head Bliss Dec. 30, 2005From niece, Judith Ann Gale Oct. 3, 2006 (Judith is the daughter of Fritz Head Gale) "Robert and Caroline Stemler Holman were a regular part of my childhood. They lived in Connecticut and we saw them every Thanksgiving as well as whenever my grandparents visited.   "My grandmother (Fannie Marie Holman Head) and Bob Holman were very close. I think he either lived in New York City at the time when my mother and Rose Marian were living in Lyons NJ (during high school) or came to visit often. My mother told me that the two sisters would take the train into NY City and meet Bob and he would take them to the symphony or plays and do special things with them. My mother loved him deeply. He was her favorite uncle." My mother and father (John Gale and Frances Head Gale) also spent one or two years in Indianapolis, where my father was doing a medical residency. They saw a lot of the Aurora family during that time. I am not sure where Bob was living at that time but I know he worked in that area for a long time, though I don't know what he did. I remember being told that he worked in one state and lived in another and so had to cross a time zone going to and from work every day." (This part of Indiana still does not keep Daylight Savings Time in 2006).  

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Story: Dr. Allen Hamilton To Cornelius O'Brien 1940
Dr. Allen Hamilton33 West WayneFort Wayne, Indiana November 20, 1940 Cornelius O'Brien, Esq. Lawrenceburg, Indiana Dear Mr. O'Brien: Thank you for your very kind and interesting letter. The Holman papers all went to Miss Mildred Wagenhals. At the time she left Veraestau I asked my sister to write her that we would be glad to have any or all of them and would pay any reasonable price, but we heard nothing. My two grandfather's letters (Allen Hamilton) are at my sister's home in Connecticut. There are a vast lot: I have begun going through them, but it will take a long time. I doubt if there is much that would interest you, but it is possible. I found a number written from Aurora in which he speaks of being at this summer home, as if it was his habit of spending his summers there. That was in the 50's when he was largely retired. My grandmother (Emerine Holman Hamilton) loved the place, she thought the climate had wonderful health properties and when anyone was ill she would bundle them in a carriage and take them to Veraestau, one of her children died there. (Emerine Jane Hamilton) Jesse L. Holman did acquire his land in 1810, but he did not move there until shortly after the birth of my grandmother (Emerine Holman Hamilton) which was near Carrollton, Ky., Dec. 10, 1810. I do not know how far back your interest goes, the history of the family is somewhat given in "History of Woodford County" by Wm. E. Railey, Roberts Printing C., Frankfort, Ky. The Holmans came from Kent County, Maryland in 1774. I have thought of trying to find some trace of them there. Jesse L. Holman came to Indiana because he was an abolitionist; when he left Kentucky he freed his wife's slaves, but several would not leave (not two children) and went to Veraestau. One was a woman, a real Guinea black who was a "fetish" woman", she had her fetish in a box and was able to terrorize the negroes with it. She was my grandmother's nurse and she was much attached to her; I think it must have been this woman to whom Miss Holman referred. My grandmother loved the blacks, she said she was greatly indebted to them for her care in childhood, and gave them their church here and always took interest in doing what she could for them.   You mention Captain Vance. My grandfather, Allen Hamilton, came to Lawrenceburg about 1820 to look up his first cousin, James Dill, a lawyer and, at that time, Clerk of the Dearborn County Court. Several years ago Mrs. Dill, wife of Clarence Dill, U.S. Senator from Washington, came to me about her husband's Hamilton ancestry. She told me that James Dill's wife was a relative of the Vances, Harrisons, and Sinclairs. My grandfather was a great friend of the Vance family; when Capt. S.C. Vance was appointed Register of the Land Office of Fort Wayne my grandfather came as his deputy.  The first land he bought was with Arthur Sinclair Vance. My grandfather was supposed to be fond of  Margaret Vance and named his daughter for her.  They have descendants, I think, in Indianapolis. I never heard of troubles with the Harrisons, but there were plenty of disagreements in early times, I think more in the days when neighbors were few and far between than today. Capt. Vance is mentioned in some of the papers I have seen in the Indiana Historical Review. My son, Holman, told me you were interested in the novel that Jesse L. Holman wrote; last year he saw a copy in New Orleans, he found it poor stuff and said he coud see why the author thought it might be unadvisable for young to read it; that was the reason he recovered all copies he could. My son told me you had located a copy, I think, in North Carolina, should you obtain one I would like to see it. It was written and printed in Kentucky. I have seen some of his verse and am sure the prize for the bum poet should go to him. Your invitation was very kind. I expect to be in California until summer, but in June, if convenient, I would be glad to call upon you. If anything new comes to light on subjects I think you might be interested in I will let you know. I am glad the place has fallen into hands that are keeping it up and care for its associations. Sincerely yours, Allen Hamilton I have wondered if Jesse Holman Jones, the R.Y.C. head, was of our trirbe and if not how he got his name.   
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Dr. Allen Hamilton33 West WayneFort Wayne, Indiana November 20, 1940 Cornelius O'Brien, Esq. Lawrenceburg, Indiana Dear Mr. O'Brien: Thank you for your very kind and interesting letter. The Holman papers all went to Miss Mildred Wagenhals. At the time she left Veraestau I asked my sister to write her that we would be glad to have any or all of them and would pay any reasonable price, but we heard nothing. My two grandfather's letters (Allen Hamilton) are at my sister's home in Connecticut. There are a vast lot: I have begun going through them, but it will take a long time. I doubt if there is much that would interest you, but it is possible. I found a number written from Aurora in which he speaks of being at this summer home, as if it was his habit of spending his summers there. That was in the 50's when he was largely retired. My grandmother (Emerine Holman Hamilton) loved the place, she thought the climate had wonderful health properties and when anyone was ill she would bundle them in a carriage and take them to Veraestau, one of her children died there. (Emerine Jane Hamilton) Jesse L. Holman did acquire his land in 1810, but he did not move there until shortly after the birth of my grandmother (Emerine Holman Hamilton) which was near Carrollton, Ky., Dec. 10, 1810. I do not know how far back your interest goes, the history of the family is somewhat given in "History of Woodford County" by Wm. E. Railey, Roberts Printing C., Frankfort, Ky. The Holmans came from Kent County, Maryland in 1774. I have thought of trying to find some trace of them there. Jesse L. Holman came to Indiana because he was an abolitionist; when he left Kentucky he freed his wife's slaves, but several would not leave (not two children) and went to Veraestau. One was a woman, a real Guinea black who was a "fetish" woman", she had her fetish in a box and was able to terrorize the negroes with it. She was my grandmother's nurse and she was much attached to her; I think it must have been this woman to whom Miss Holman referred. My grandmother loved the blacks, she said she was greatly indebted to them for her care in childhood, and gave them their church here and always took interest in doing what she could for them.   You mention Captain Vance. My grandfather, Allen Hamilton, came to Lawrenceburg about 1820 to look up his first cousin, James Dill, a lawyer and, at that time, Clerk of the Dearborn County Court. Several years ago Mrs. Dill, wife of Clarence Dill, U.S. Senator from Washington, came to me about her husband's Hamilton ancestry. She told me that James Dill's wife was a relative of the Vances, Harrisons, and Sinclairs. My grandfather was a great friend of the Vance family; when Capt. S.C. Vance was appointed Register of the Land Office of Fort Wayne my grandfather came as his deputy.  The first land he bought was with Arthur Sinclair Vance. My grandfather was supposed to be fond of  Margaret Vance and named his daughter for her.  They have descendants, I think, in Indianapolis. I never heard of troubles with the Harrisons, but there were plenty of disagreements in early times, I think more in the days when neighbors were few and far between than today. Capt. Vance is mentioned in some of the papers I have seen in the Indiana Historical Review. My son, Holman, told me you were interested in the novel that Jesse L. Holman wrote; last year he saw a copy in New Orleans, he found it poor stuff and said he coud see why the author thought it might be unadvisable for young to read it; that was the reason he recovered all copies he could. My son told me you had located a copy, I think, in North Carolina, should you obtain one I would like to see it. It was written and printed in Kentucky. I have seen some of his verse and am sure the prize for the bum poet should go to him. Your invitation was very kind. I expect to be in California until summer, but in June, if convenient, I would be glad to call upon you. If anything new comes to light on subjects I think you might be interested in I will let you know. I am glad the place has fallen into hands that are keeping it up and care for its associations. Sincerely yours, Allen Hamilton I have wondered if Jesse Holman Jones, the R.Y.C. head, was of our trirbe and if not how he got his name.   

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