the Hill family of Kilbarchan

[blacksmithy]

Hi
Just wondering if someone can turn a stone over for me and head me in the right direction.

I have located 2 HILL brothers: William born abt 1835 and John born abt 1838 as part of my extended family but am sadly lacking information on William and both their parents. 

I have traced John and his wife Margaret Wright and their children who carried on John's Bakery business in Kilbarchan and also one who was a Dr in England.  I have used John's death cert to confirm I have the right parents.

I have found the OPR marriage for Parents John Hill and Janet Welch and they were booked for proclamation of marriage in 1834 Kilbarchan.
They then appear in the Scotland Census of 1841 with their 2 boys, which is where I have taken their dates of birth from.

In the 1851 Census William is with his grandparents Mary Caldwell and John Welch at New Street Kilbarchan.  William's occupation is apprentice Taylor.
After much searching I discovered his brother John at Houston Village as a Baker.

I have found no further reference to the boy's parents (John Hill and Janet MS Welch) past the 1841 census - nor can I find a death reference for them.  What happened to them??

Also what happened to William our Taylor??

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I am about to write up my findings on this part of the family.

Thanks for your time and reading this.
Pauline

[loobylooayr]

Hi Pauline,

Unfortunately if John Hill and wife Janet died pre-1855 (when statutory records began) there may be no documented evidence of their deaths. Sometimes you can strike it lucky and find a burial record in the Old Parish Records - this might record the use of the mortcloth or record which area of the graveyard they were buried in.

William Hill born 1835 approx. There are 2 William Hills born Renfrewshire , one circa 1834 the other circa 1836 on the 1861 Census . Both are in Tradeston Lanarkshire (part of the city of Glasgow).
With William's occupation in 1851 of tailor , it's not impossible that he would go to the city for better work opportunities.
I would also maybe look for a marriage for William - his marriage record (if there is one and he married after 1855) should have his parents names recorded. Other option is of course that you are looking for a young death   

Good luck,
Looby

[Rosinish]

Hi Pauline,

Another theory..........there was a lot of migration in the late 1840's, is it possible they emigrated 

Annie

[blacksmithy]

Hi Looby and Annie
thanks for your thoughts. 
I have just done a search of your suggestions, but to no avail.  The name is just too common to be sure of any hunches.  I am picking that a dob of 1836 for William may be more accurate than my 1835 calculation though.
Regarding emigration, yes that is a possibility for William as a number of his cousins left for Canada and New Zealand but that was not until the 1870-81 period.

Again my 'thoughts' are an early death for the parents as the William is an apprentice living with his maternal grandparent's (I haven't located anyone else in the tailoring trade) and John is about 13 and also an apprentice for a baker.  So I guess someone needed to look after these young lads.

Again thanks for your thoughts 
Pauline

[loobylooayr]

Pauline,
Another idea is to look for the deaths of the 2 Grandparents with whom William lived in 1851. If one /other or both died after 1855 it would be interesting to see who was the informant of their deaths. If it was William Hill grandson , then that might give an indication of William still being alive/in Scotland at that time.....However they could have more than one grandson called William Hill 
I take it you have ruled out the 2 Tradeston William Hills? If so it looks from the Census results on Familysearch that William Hill was not in Scotland or had died by 1861
Sorry can't think of any other suggestions. As Annie said he could have emigrated - possibly to your side of the world but also to either USA or Canada.

Good luck with your research Pauline,

Looby

[blacksmithy]

Thanks to you both for your thoughts
It looks like the Tradeston Williams are not the ones I am looking for. Hamilton seems to consistently be the place of birth and the parents don't match sadly so it looks like I will have to consider an unregistered pre SDR death   

Regarding the grandparents, the informant of his death it was the son (uncle to William) and for her it was her daughter-in-law.

oh well I have done really well to get this far - off to the next person on my list to investigate.
Thanks again
Pauline