What is a Holland?

"What is a Holland?" produced and narrated by Tim L Holland
Posted by Fred L. Holland, Dallas, Texas, August 2013

The Holland Reunion is on August 11 in Fairplay Texas at 10:00 AM. Each year for the past four years, I have attempted to distribute something of the Holland Family history and this year I am returning to a video that Tim L Holland did years ago called "What is a Holland?" It was my first attempt to present the Faces and Voices of the past at the reunion. Last year, I presented a CD containing the Holland Family History Scrapbook that Bev Bevelyn Holland Shepherd prepared as an actually scrapbook, which she photographed for me. I am gifting Steve Holland with a very special shotgun that holds a link to the family past, much like the axe that Steve has from the Gilbert Holland, who is his Great, Great Grand Father Holland, whose family celebrates with a Reunon in Fairplay each year. Year before last I was pleased to present a DVD of a video that Sister Mary Yamagata, Ian Yamagata's mother, produced with my father Doctor V.M. Holland narration of "Holland Trails and Tales: The Migration Story of Hollands from Tennesse to Texas." It was one of her first videos produced after she graduated from SMU with her Communications degree.

My mother always told me to remember that there was a Holland at the Alamo...

Tapley Holland at the Alamo

Thursday is the 176th anniversary of the beginning of the siege of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.

START OF THE SIEGE

More than 1,000 Mexican troops under Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived in San Antonio on Feb. 23, 1836, a...nd laid siege to the Alamo after Texas rebels inside answered a surrender demand with a cannon shot. During the siege, on March 2, delegates at Washingon-on-the-Brazos adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence.

FALL OF THE ALAMO

Those inside (estimates vary but generally are around 200 Texans, Tejanos and American volunteers) held out for 13 days, until March 6. All of the defenders were killed.

THE COURSE OF COMBAT

The fall of the Alamo was followed on March 27 by the Goliad massacre, in which more than 300 prisoners of war were slaughtered by Mexican troops, and April 21 by the Battle of San Jacinto, where Texans and Tejanos under Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna’s army and secured Texas’ independence.

TRAVIS’ LETTER

Alamo commander William Barret Travis’ letter appealing for reinforcements (but vowing to not surrender) is showcased in the lobby of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building in Austin weekdays through March 30.

Leland Holland , Sam Holland, Bill Holland and Margarite Holland at the home of David M. Holland in Fairplay, TX

Leland, Sam, Bill and Margarite at Fairplay, TX

Leland Holland , Sam Holland, Bill Holland and Margarite Holland at the home of David M. Holland in Fairplay, TX