Home > Overseas > USA

USA

The USA was a magnet for immigrants during the 19th and early 20th century. However, there were earlier settlers than this, in particular the Louisiana and Virginia Holliers which have their own articles.

At least three Hollyers were forcibly transported to America from Britain in the 1660/70s.

The UK origins of some US immigrants are not known. For example, Christopher Columbus Hollier emigrated froom England to Illinois sometime around the turn of the 19th century and he had descendants in Illinois and Montana, notably Lewis Samuel Hollier (1853-1921) who was mentioned Montana, Its Story & Biography.

The most important groups of Hollyers to settle in the USA were the three brothers Samuel, James and Alexander, sons of Samuel Hollyer described on the Hollyer page. They emigrated around 1855. While Samuel never had any family, James and Alexander have many descendants in the USA today.

The other significant group of Hollyers are the descendants of the brothers Gregory and William Stanley, both artists, who had arrived in the USA via Canada.

Walter Ernest Hollyer, born in Poona, India in 1876, son of Walter and Rose Hollyer, is said to have deserted from the Boer War. We do know he emigrated from Dublin to the USA in 1910 and served in the Great War. He was living in Detroit in 1920.

George Holyer and his family left Woodchurch around 1850 and emigrated to New York. His son Thomas Bishopp Holyer, also a butcher, had a family of 7 in New York.

Another major US Holyer family was originally from Sweden, where it is said that the name was Helgerson. They are associated with Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota.

Further information on families in the USA can be found here and here.