Hill Family

This page will, eventually, cover the ancestors of Margaret Ella Hill, my paternal grandmother but at present little progress has been made on her line

Margaret Ella Hill was the daughter of John Hill and Mary.  Information about her was scarce - other than that contained in the recollections of my father and what I have gleaned from Census records. 

Although John and Mary Hill lived at Lustleigh they do not appear to have come from there.  

The 1881 census has them at the Lodge, Homelands, St Marychurch, Torquay with Margaret, then aged 6.  Margaret Ella was born on the 10th August 1874 and thet were already at the lodge at that time.  A brother, Edmund John, was born the following year but as he does not show up in later censuses it must be presumed that he died in his infancy.  Another brother Frederick James was born in 1879 and sister Dora followed in 1882.  By 1888 when Clement was born they had moved.

At the time of the 1901 census they were living at Combe Lodge, Lustleigh with their youngest son Clement. who had been born at Dawlish.  Margaret herself was born in Torquay so the family had moved about.  John was a gardener so presumably the movements were work-related.

The 1901 census shows that John was born in Hazelton, Gloucestershire in 1842 or 1843; the 1881 census gives Cheltenham and 1843 or 1844.  Similarly,  Mary A Hill was born in either Deptford or Greenwich in 1846 or 1847.  It is believed that her maiden name was Lowen.

Fortunately, the internet being the wonderful place it is, someone has put up transcripts of the C19 censuses for various Cotswold parishes.  In 1851 we can find a 7 year-old John Hill in Hazelton with his family - and no other Hill families! 

Looking at all of the census entries for the family it is apparent that we should not, necessarily, take all the census details at face value, especially the places of birth, as these show some variability.

  1851 1861 1871
Edmund Hill 47 - South Cerney 57 - South Cerney 68 - South Cerney
Mary Hill 47 - Ablington 56 - South Cerney 67 - Arlington
William Hill 14 - Baunton 24 - Arlington  
Eliza Hill 10 - Cherington    
John Hill 7 - South Cerney    
Edmund Hill 5 - Frampton 16 - Baunton 25 - Frampton

Edmund (or Edward as he appears in the 1871 Census) was an agricultural labourer which might explain some of his apparent moves around Gloucestershire.    By 1861 both Eliza and John would have been old enough to have left home.

John was, in fact, at Kemerton near Tewkesbury in 1861 a servant of the farmer Henry Butt.

A visit to the Gloucester Records Office complicated the picture.  No Births could be found for either of the parents in any of the places listed above - and these places also revealed no Marriage.

Two of the children's baptisms were, however, located:

Looking for Eliza, at Cherington, drew a blank but did reveal the parents' marriage.  On 1st February 1830 Edmund Hill married Mary Ann Moulder.  Mary was stated to be "of this parish" but a search of baptismal records for 1760-1820 revealed no Moulders at all - so she, and the witness to the marriage Samuel Moulder, presumably came from elsewhere.  Samuel may be her father or brother.

On the census returns we have three "birthplaces" for Mary: South Cerney, Arlington and Ablington.  The latter two are not parishes but villages in the parish of Bibury.  Mary's baptism there has not yet been located but her that of a Samuel Moulder has been - 3rd August 1806 - parents John & Sarah Moulder.  Assuming that he was Mary's brother then we have her parents too.  Another visit to Gloucester beckons!

Edmund Hill provided the biggest surprise as he was stated to be "of the parish of Oaksey in Wiltshire".  This parish is just over the border!

.  Soon after the 1861 census - on 15th November 1861 - William Hill married Maria Robinson at Great Barrington, Gloucs.  Their eldest son William was born in about 1864 at Clay Field in Gloucestershire but at the time of their daughter Rose's birth three years later they were in Cox Green, Berkshire.  By 1871 they had got to Wisley Surrey where they had at least four more children.  In 1881 the family were living at Hyde Cottage, Wisley and William was a Stockman.

 In the 1871 census Edmund (junior) was a road labourer and in 1881 we find him, unmarried, working as an under-gardener for the Humphreys family at Woodland, Malpas, Monmouthshire.

 

LOWEN

John Hill and Mary Ann Lowen must have been married between 1867 and 1876 but this marriage has not yet been found

Mary Ann Lowen was born 3rd January 1846 and baptised on the 8th of March the same year at St Paul's Deptford.  Her parents were John Lowen and Susannah (nee Porter).  On her birth certificate John's occupation was described as "carter to a wholesale cheesemonger".

By 1861 the family appear to have moved to Devon.  The household of Agnes Beatson, a gentlewoman residing at Weston Lodge, Lower Gabwell, Stokeinteignhead includes John, Susan and Mary A Lown - a domestic servant, cook and house-maid respectively.  Susan and Mary are both down as born in Crayford, Kent; John was from Enfield, Middlesex.  One might surmise that getting the details about servants accurate on the census return was not a high priority for their employer.  Interestingly, Agnes Beatson and the Marines family who also lived in the house were all from Woolwich and Camberwell so they might well have moved to Devon taking the Lowns (or Lowens) with them.

It is possible that Mary Ann Lowen had a brother.  A George John Lowen was born in the first quarter 1848 but his birth certificate has not yet been checked.  In 1881, when he would have been 33 the census gives a George Lowen (born in Deptford and of the correct age) living in Dale Street, Marke in Guisborough, Yorkshire.  He was an iron miner living with his wife Georgina (from Woolwich) and their six children.  All were born in Yorkshire so George and Georgina must have moved there before 1872.  If he was Mary Ann's brother, where was he in 1861 when aged 13 if he was not with his parents?