Week 30 - Free Space - Holland, Thomas (brother of Elizabeth Holland Sheridan)

My maternal great-grandmother was Elizabeth (Holland) Sheridan. Elizabeth was the youngest child of Thomas and Mary (Shevlen) Holland both of which were Irish immigrants. She had an older sister Minerva and an older brother Thomas Holland, Jr.

Her brother Thomas, Jr was born April 12, 1854, in Union, Cook County, Ohio.  By 1870 the family had moved from Ohio to Fulton, Gratiot County, Michigan where Thomas, Sr took up farming on 80 acres of land next door to the Patrick Sheridan family. (Now you know how our great-grandparents Michael and Elizabeth met)

Thomas, Jr married Lillian Aurilla Fairchild at the young age of 19 on September 25, 1873, in Ithaca, Gratiot County, Michigan.  By the 1880 census they were living on a farm in Fulton and were the parents of four children: John, Charles, Minerva and George.

The call for free land and open space must have caused them to want more for their young family. They sold their farm, packed up and followed along with others going West. This travel would have entailed the Railroad to Omaha, Nebraska that would have taken only a couple of days, but then the final push would have been by wagon as the railroad ended there. That would have entailed purchasing a wagon and supplies first and then a 2–3-week journey over harsh, unforgiving prairie.

A journey all the way to western Nebraska. Where lands had opened up by the government for free. All you had to do was build a home, work the land, and stay there for five years. The brochures and advertisements said that when you accomplished all those steps, you would be the proud owner of 160 acres. That simple. A new life for you and for your family. 


Flyers used to entice future land holders to help settle the west
1860-1880 era

What it didn't tell them was that western Nebraska demanded more resources, endurance, and luck than they had anticipated.  Houses were made of sod with thatched roofs or a dugout built into the side of a dirt hill. There were no towns or what was there were primitive and wild and the population was small. You could go miles and never see another person. Rainfall was intermittent. Plowing the prairie grasses was hard work and took hours and days to do a small area. 

While living in Nebraska three more children were born: Pearl (1883), Maude (1888) and Ella (1890) all in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, located on the very western border. Based on their birth years, the Holland family stayed in Nebraska about seven years. Long enough to get title to the land, but instead they sold and decided to go back East. The why of that choice has been lost over the years.

They made it to Illinois by January 1892 as daughter Bessie Marie Holland was born there. And then they arrived back in Michigan at some point as their last child Thomas Holland III was born June 2, 1898, in Fulton (Perrinton), Michigan.

They returned to Michigan and settled back alongside of their families. Thomas was elected Village Marshall of Perrinton as of the 1900 census. In the 1910 census he is listed as a 'ditcher'. He is back living on a farm with his wife and youngest son and after researching it, he may have been working on his own property doing drainage work as it states that he owns the land free. Lillian passed away October 16, 1930, and Thomas died December 16, 1942. They are buried in Fulton Center Cemetery in Perrinton, Michigan.

Lillian Fairchild Holland

This was a story that happened so very often during the years between the 1870s and 1900—the powerful lure of the land and the hope of a better future. Across America, families made the difficult decision to leave behind familiar homes, relatives, and communities in search of opportunity. They were driven by the desire to own land, build something of their own, and provide their children with more than they themselves had known.

For many of our ancestors this was a journey of courage, sacrifice, and determination. They traveled by wagon, train, and sometimes on foot, carrying with them only what they could take, along with their hopes and dreams. They faced unfamiliar landscapes, harsh weather, isolation, and the challenges of starting over in places that were often still being settled. Only to find that they weren't cut out for it. That it had been a mistake, and they had to make other decisions. Stay or go home.

Lillian and countless women like her carried much of the unseen burden of these migrations. They created homes wherever they landed, cared for their children through uncertainty, and supported their husbands as they pursued opportunities for a better future. Her journey from Michigan to Nebraska and eventually back east tells a story of resilience, adaptability, and the quiet strength of a woman willing to follow a dream for her family.

Barbie


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