Uncle Mart and Holland Family

Martin Holland and Rosille Rosetta King

Martin Holland was my 2nd Great Grandfather, but was generally known to most people as Uncle Mart.  He was married to my 2nd Great Grandmother, Rosille Rosetta King.

Grandpa Mart was quite a character, and was always entertaining someone with his antics.  There are many stories about him. 

The story below tells a little bit about the Holland family history as well as Grandpa/Uncle Mart.


The following "Wagon Train" story was provided via the research of Cora Burton, and was written by an unknown author in 1984: 
"In either 1875 or 1876 about five families of Hollands who were all farming in Kentucky decided to join a wagon train headed for California. It is known that at one time before the Civil War the Hollands owned two-thirds of Wolfe County, Kentucky. 

Uncle Mart, his wife and children, Wesley, Harrison, and Lou Alice then three years old, were about to eat their breakfast when the wagon train pulled up. Rossille later recalled to her granddaughter, Bertha, how Mart didn't give them time to eat. He said to get the kids and go. She picked up Lou and left a new pair of shoes sitting on the stair step and Mart left a fine breed mare standing in the stable. 

Also known to be on the same wagon train with them were Mart's father and mother, several brothers including Elisha and wife, Sarah, and probably one sister. It is unknown how many families or different families were on it but it is estimated the Hollands were maybe two years on the road before eventually settling in Arkansas.

It is passed down that Lou Alice remembers her dad telling her in 1930 when he (Uncle Mart) was 104 years old and visited Texas, the wagon train stopped close to Dallas and camped in the Trinity River bottom and the river was dry. While they were camped there they were robbed by white masked men. The robbers took all the men's money including Uncle Mart's. Some of the women had money hidden on themselves and he remembered Sarah and Elisha's money.

Some of the familes that didn't have any money to continue to California stayed there and founded a part of what is now Dallas. Although one of the Holland families must have stayed, the others decided to return to Kentucky. When this small wagon train reached Washington County, Arkansas, Mart's father, Jack and family decided to remain there. Mart and Lish and their families continued on to Mountain Home, Baxter County, Arkansas. Lish and Sarah's last known child, Mollie, was born in 1879 in Arkansas. Soon thereafter Lish, Sarah, and all their children except the oldest son, Taylor Holland, went back to Kentucky. Taylor married Sallie Faut on December 17, 1891, and moved before or after that to Oklahoma to settle and raise his family there. Mart and Rossille also had a child born in 1879. William Franklin was born on the fifteenth of November in Mountain Home. They also had twin boys (or girls Arminnnie & Armannie?) born in Baxter County and both died when they were small. They are buied at the Hort Cemetery on the Old Highway 5 - southeast of Mt. Home on the James Baker place. A son Floyd Lonzo born in February, 1888, and their last child a daughter, Julia Ann born on January 24, 1891, concluded their family of six children.

Rosie and Johnny-Lordy How They Could Love

The Beautiful Rosie Mae Smith Johnson

The Tall, Dark, and Handsome Lawrence Gerald Johnson, aka John or Johnny

My Dad's Aunt Ola and Uncle Wesley Meek lived across the street from my Grandmother and Grandfather Smith, and my Mom. My Dad used to visit his Aunt and Uncle.  That is how Rosie and Johnny met.  After they met, he was a more frequent visitor.

My Dad used to tell the story of how he saw this beautiful girl with golden hair across the street.  When he saw her up close, he also saw that she had the most beautiful green eyes.  He said that he decided right then and there, that he was going to marry her someday.  They were 17 years old when they met.

They had a very fiery, passionate love with all of the ups and downs.  There would be times that they would fight like cats and dogs, and at other times they were all lovey, and couldn't get enough of each other.

Rosie and Johnny married at the age of 19. I was born 9 months later.  My Dad had been drafted to join the Army and had to leave shortly after they were married for boot camp.  My Mom was upset because she didn't get the big wedding she had always dreamed of.  The wedding was rushed because of my Dad being drafted. 

They were very much like Frankie and Johnny in the Elvis Presley movie by the same name.  They couldn't live with each other and they couldn't live without one another.  

Rosie And Johnny"

  Rosie and me we were lovers
Oh lordy how we could love
Swore we'd be true to each other
Just as true as stars above
I was her man, she caught me doing her wrong

They were soooo beautiful....

The Joke was on Us-Grandma Pulled a Fast One!

As a child growing up, my maternal grandmother took care of my sister and me while our parents worked.

I loved my Grandma and Grandpa Smith so much.  I probably spent more time with them than I did with my own parents.  I would follow my grandmother everywhere she went.  I must have listened to them more when they were talking than I knew at the time.  I say this because I can remember quite a bit of family history that I could only have picked up from them. 

My Grandparents and their kids, as well as, other family members immigrated to California from Oklahoma about 1940 or 1941.  They eventually settled in a little town called Poplar in Tulare County.  Before settling in Poplar, they lived in various labor camps staying in places for short periods of time.  They went where the work took them.  Yeah, they were Okies. 

Our parents worked very hard in the fields, hoeing cotton, picking cotton, picking fruit, and whatever  kind of work they could scrounge up.  We were very poor.

Anyway, Grandma always told us that her name was Stella Marie.  I don't know how many times I heard her say that her name was Stella Marie.  Her maiden name was Holland. 

Grandma and Grandpa had six kids, and 30 grand-kids.  I was really close to both of them because they took care of me for so long.  The other grand-kids lived much further away.  

When the grand-kids started having kids, some of them started giving their daughters the name of Marie for their second name.  You can imagine how many great grand-kids they had with 30 grand-kids!  So there are all of these little girls running around who are descended from Fred and Stella Smith with the middle name of Marie.

When my turn came around, of course, I named my daughter Lauren Marie!  My Grandma was in the hospital because the doctors thought she had suffered a stroke.  I was in the hospital because I had given birth.  I spoke to my Grandma several times while we were both in the hospital.  I told her that I had named the baby after her.

I didn't realize how sick my Grandma was.  She never went home from the hospital.  She passed away on February 14th, 1985.  My daughter was 11 days old.  I was devastated.  My beloved Grandmother would never meet my daughter.  What was I going to do without my Grandma?  I was almost 30 years old, and didn't know what I was going to do without my Grandma....

It was after Grandma passed away, and I was reading her obituary that I was even more shocked than I was already from her passing.  In her obituary, it said that her name was Stella Ethel Smith.  I am thinking, Ethel? Ethel?  Where did this Ethel come from?  I called my Aunt Thelma who was responsible for including the Ethel in Grandma's obituary.  She confirmed that Ethel, was indeed,  Grandma's name.

On the SS death index, it has Grandma's name as Stella Ethel Smith.  There was no mention of Marie on the index.  I am not sure if Grandma gave herself the name of Marie and ignored the name of Ethel because she didn't like it, or what happened with Grandma's name.  All I know is that when Grandma said her name was Stella Marie in front of Grandpa, in front of God, in front of her kids, and anyone else who would listen, not one soul spoke up.  Nobody asked her if she wasn't forgetting that she had another name of Ethel. 

I bet when Aunt Thelma got to Heaven, she got a good butt whuppin' for adding that Ethel in there!  She may still be getting them. 

At least we didn't name a bunch of her great granddaughters Ethel!....I'm sure Grandma is happy about that, since she went to such great lengths to never mention the name.

I Met a New Cousin at Findagrave.com

The world sure does work in mysterious ways.  Call it serendipity, or is it help from beyond the grave?  Sometimes, I am convinced that I am getting a helping hand that is not of this world.

When I was researching my Jump line, I was looking on the web for information on Sylvester Jump.  I was led to findagrave.com.

It was there that I found the contact information for my fairly newfound cousin, Tammie.  I sent her an email not holding out much hope that she would get back to me.

Tammie responded within a couple of hours and has been quite helpful with the Oklahoma part of the Jump line.  She and I have become pretty good friends considering I live in California, and she is in Oklahoma.  We are Facebook friends and have talked on the telephone, have exchanged family information, and photos.

Tammie provided some of the more pertinent information that I needed to complete my DAR application.  I joined under our 4th great grandfather William Jump who was the son of John Jump.  5th Great Grandfather John Jump was the patriot, but I was the first person to apply and to be accepted under William.  It was a lot of work, but once I proved everything, it was very satisfying. 

There is nothing like the feeling of knowing that your Ancestors helped to win the freedom of this Country. 

Our Ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War had to have some Hell Raiser in them, don't you think?

On the 4th of July, please remember our Patriots who have fought for the freedom of our country and raise a glass to them!

http://www.findagrave.com/

Surnames

        

My family has been in this country for a long time.  Many of my lines have been here since the early to mid 1700s.  I have been able to trace some to the mid 1600s.  I have decided that the best way for me to group the numerous surnames is to put them under each of my Grandparent's surname. 
That will show whether it is my maternal side or paternal side of the family.

                       

                                                        Me- Helen J Johnson

Lawrence G Johnson                                                       Rosie M Smith

Lawrence E Johnson          Cora L Meek                Fred B Smith      Stella E M Holland

My Dad's Side

Johnson Surname Group

Areas Family Lived in

Johnson

Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, California

Beard/Baird

Virginia

Fleming

Kentucky

Griffin

Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Jump

Maryland, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma

Knight

Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri

Logan Pascal, Paschal, Paschall

Virginia, Missouri North Carolina, etc.

Perryman

Maryland, North Carolina, Missouri

Robertson

Scotland, Virginia, Missouri, Tennessee

Sharp

Virginia, Tennessee

Simpson

Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee

Wilson

Illinois, Oklahoma

My Dad's Side
Meek Surname Group Areas Family Lived Meek Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma Appling England, Virginia, Georgia Baze Virginia, Missiouri, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma Bolton Virginia, Georgia Dennis New Jersey, North Carolina Dunlap South Carolina, Arkansas Faver/Favor/Favors Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas Fortner South Carolina Paschall England, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee Sears Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee
My Mom's Side
Smith Surname Group Areas Family Lived  Smith Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, California Arnold Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas Adams Virginia, Texas Brewer England, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina Frisby Ireland, Tennessee Lanier England, Virginia McGill Georgia
My Mom's Side
Holland Surname Group Areas Family Lived Holland Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, California Brewer England, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky Capshaw Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina Chambers England, Virginia, North Carolina, Crawford Kentucky King England, Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas Kirkland South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missiouri, Arkansas Maloney North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky Stone England, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas Tubb/Tubbs England, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee Wright Maryland, Indiana