Warren Holliman and His Chair

About three weeks ago we traveled to meet a very special lady from Arkansas.  For safety purposes I won't give you her name, but she is a cousin of mine whom I had never met in person before then.  She and I have carried on email and snail mail correspondence since 1998.  Her great-grandfather, Elijah Holliman and my g-g-g-grandfather, Warren Holliman were brothers and brothers-in-arms fighting for the Confederacy in the 41st Alabama regiment.  Here is Warren's picture:

Warren was born in 1835 and died in 1908.

Sometime, most likely after the war, he built a rocking chair for his young niece, Mary Elizabeth Holliman, Elijah's daughter.

The cousin I told you about is the granddaughter of Mary Elizabeth Holliman.  The chair was passed down in her family, and now it belonged to her.

This lady graciously gave me this rocking chair.  The rockers are missing, and the wicker seat does not look very strong, but this is a priceless treasure fashioned by the hands of my g-g-g-grandfather!

(My dear wife is taking the picture)

We spent about 2 hours at the Burger King on the Cherokee Turnpike.  That was our meeting place as we drove from Guthrie and she drove from Mountain Home, AR.

She showed us a lot of her family tree research that she and I share.  We had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet her after years of correspondence.

And I love the chair!