John Morgan Holland is the son of Lewis F. Holland and Ruby Cecile Bland born inColumbus Mississippi onMay 2, 1889. Ruby Cecile Blandis the daughter of Charles Morgan Bland and Mary Frances Yeates. Her grandfather, Robert Galbreth Bland married Frances Morgan Wilkinson, daughter of Dr. John Wilkinson of Virginia and Lucy Pennick. Dr. Wilkinson’s great-great grandparents were John Wilkinson and Sarah Royall, daughter of Joseph Royall and Katherine Banks.
Charles Morgan Bland was born in Perry County, Alabama in 1857. His widowed mother, Frances, moved the family to Webster Co. Mississippi after the Civil War. Charles, a piano distributor in Mississippi, moved his family to Dallas, Texas at the turn of the century. The family settled on Rose Avenue next door to Mayor Jim Thurmond and the Bland family became members of the Grace Methodist Church in Dallas on Junius Street. Mary Frances Yeates Bland, as Vice President of the Dallas Women’s Club, was instrumental in the construction of the first filtration plant in the city of Dallas for pure water. The Blands bought a farm in Grand Prairie, Texas from S.A.Fishburn. Mary Frances named the property “Sunnyside.” The farm had a sloping hill covered with bluebonnets and pecan trees. There she wrote her poems that were published by the Dallas Morning News. In 1915, she wrote a poem that her daughter, Ella Mae, set to music. The song, entitled “Bluebonnet,” won $500 for the best song about Texas and was published. Charles & Mary Frances sold “Sunnyside” after their young son Oliver.K. died there.
Charles M. Bland was the son of Robert Galbreth Bland and Frances Morgan Wilkinson. Robert Bland’s forefathers were the Bland’s of Northern Virginia. His ancestor James Bland was born in Penrith, St. Andrew’s Parish, Cumberland County, England in 1661. James sailed from England to the Province of East Jersey in 1684, settled in Virginia by 1687 and became a planter. He died in Stafford County Virginia in 1709. His great-grandfather was also named James Bland who was born in Cumberland County (now called Cumbria) England in 1575.
Ruby Cecile Bland’sgreat grandfather, John Wilkinson, originally of Amelia County, Virginia married Lucy Penick of Prince Edward County, Virginia. The Virginia Genealogist magazine traces Dr. John Wilkinson’s family back to John Wilkinson, born about 1640 in Charles City, Virginia and Sarah Royall, daughter of Joseph Royall and Katherine Banks. Lucy Penick Wilkinson descends from Edward Penick (1686-1734) of New Kent County, Virginia and his wife Elizabeth.
Joseph Royall arrived in Virginia aboard the ship “Charitie” on the 22nd of July 1622. By the census of the following year, he was settled at Neck of Land in Charles City, Virginia. Joseph earned a considerable amount of land in Virginia through head rights and patented a tract of land in Henrico County, Virginia that he named “Doghams”. The plantation, located on the north side of the James River above the Shirley, remained in the Royall family for over 200 years.
Katherine Banks Royall remarried, her second husband being Henry Isham. Their daughter, Mary Isham married William Randolph, making Ruby Cecile Bland cousins to Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee.
(John Wilkinson and Sarah Royall died quite young, leaving behind them minor children. William Randolph became their son, John’s legal guardian. John Wilkinson Jr. grew up with the Randolph family and later married Frances Elam.)
