March 6, 1836 Tapley Holland died at The Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a

pivotal event in the Texas Revolution.

Dr. V.M. Holland never found a link in his Holland family research to Tapley Holland who died at The Alamo on March 6, 1836. What seems to be true is that Colonel William B. Travis, who commanded the Alamo never drew a line in the sand and asked for volunteers to defend The Alamo to their death; therefore, Tapley Holland never stepped across it saying, "I regret having but one life to give for Texas!"

HOLLAND, TAPLEY (1810–1836). Tapley Holland, Alamo defender, one of six children of Margaret (Buck) and Francis Holland, was born in Ohio in 1810. His father had migrated from Canada to Louisiana and moved to Texas in 1822 as one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred settlers. Tapley Holland, a resident of the Washington Municipality (present-day Grimes County), took part in the siege of Bexar. Later he served in the Alamo garrison as a member of Capt. William R. Carey's artillery company. Tapley Holland died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976). Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Bill Groneman, Alamo Defenders (Austin: Eakin, 1990).

My father, Dr. V.M. Hollland, of Fairplay, Texas was born today.

His father was David Mordie Holland. His mother was Louise Allison. Into a farming family in Fairplay, Texas, which is between Carthage, Texas and Henderson, Texas, he was the oldest of five children.

He is shown here with his family in Hobbs, New Mexico, where he was a physician, next to him is his son Frederick Leon Holland, his wife Evangeline Neal Dennard Holland, who is holding his daughter Mary Marie Holland. Dad was 72 when he died. What my mother told me was that he had been working out at the farm at Fairplay clearing a blocked sewage line to a septic tank on a white house where Bob Tatum, who was laying claim to being one of Mother's Dennard relatives,  and his  aging mother were staying. It was a cold October day and dad had gotten back after dark and was sitting in the kitchen drinking hot tea when he died suddenly and quickly in his work overalls and muddy farm boots, in his own home. This blog is dedicated to Dr. V.M. Holland, who grew up in East Texas, traveled around the world in the US Navy during World War II and ended up back in Panola County with the neighbors and family he grew up with during the Great Depression of 20th Century America. He was a young man during WWII and joined what has been called "The Greatest Generation" however, he would have argued with that assessment of his generation.