THE HILLMANS OF ELGIN COUNTY

Hannah Hillman

2008-07-01T16:14:00.003-04:00

When doing a one name family tree we often fall into the trap of forgetting that there are many more other names in one’s family tree. After all there are all those other grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents. Sometimes they have very interesting stories.

My grandfather’s mother was Hannah Hillman(né McKay). She was born July 1, 1860 to Henry McKay and Martha McKay(né Shoemaker). She married John David Hillman Sept 2, 1879. The children were Henry Hillman (1880-1949), William Wallace Hillman(1883-1966), Martha Hillman(1885-1984), Olive Hillman(1889-1988), Ida Hillman(1890-?), Jennie P. Hillman(1895-?), Mildred Hillman(1896-?), and Bruce Hillman(1903-1976).

Henry McKay was born May 28, 1830 in Scotland. Martha Shoemaker’s data is not yet available but I do know that her family were Mennonites originally from Pennsylvania. Henry converted to the Mennonite faith and was the preacher to the Bethel Mennonite Church from 1875 to 1902. He also lists himself in the 1911 census as a mason. Bit of a change from the English/Scottish Baptists I usually find in the family tree.

The photo is of Hannah Hillman and little John A. Hillman(my father) sometime in the late summer or fall of 1920(from my personal collection).

Bruce Ivan Hillman

2008-06-19T20:34:00.002-04:00

Bruce Ivan Hillman was born on October 12,1921 the youngest son of William Wallace Hillman and Corlena Peckham. He died in a train accident at Lawrence Station on July 14, 1945 just a month or so after he returned home from service overseas.

In the late 1930’s and the early 1940’s Dutton was a hockey powerhouse in the Ontario Rural Hockey League. Bruce was very much with his brother John Arnold Hillman a part of the Dutton Thistles' success. I have included a photo of the Dutton High School hockey team that won a championship in the 1940/41 hockey season. Bruce is the goalie though that was never his favorite position.

He joined the Royal Canadian Air force on May 6 1941. He trained as a pilot in London, Aylmer, Trenton, and Hagersville. He left oversees Feb. 18 1943 and was attached to the RAF’s 65th squadron, where he flew Spitfires and Hurricanes.
He married Betty Alice Horsburgh Jan.1, 1945 while stationed in England.
The middle photo is of members of the 65th squadron taken sometime in 1944.

James Hillman

2008-06-18T23:08:00.001-04:00

James Hillman (George Hillman and Elizabeth Harman)was born on Jan. 12, 1821 in Westbury, England and died on Mar. 17, 1900 in Michigan, US. He married #Mary May Before 1851. Mary was born in 1827 in Scotland and died on Sep. 4, 1898 in Michigan, US.

Children of James Hillman and Mary May:
Mary J. Hillman was born in 1850 and died on Nov. 28, 1880 in Emmett, St. Clair Co, Michigan.
George Henry Hillman was born on Apr. 15, 1851 in Euphemia, Ontario, Canada and died on Mar. 17, 1938 in Deford, Novesta Twp, Tuscola Co, Michigan..
James Hillman was born in 1855 and died on an unknown date.
John Alexander Hillman was born in 1857 and died on an unknown date.
Daniel Hillman was born in 1859 in Michigan, US and died on an unknown date.
Isaac Hillman was born in Aug. 1860 in Emmet, St. Clair Co, Michigan and died in 1936 in michigan, US.
Jacob Hillman was born in Aug. 1861 in Emmet, St. Clair Co, Michigan and died After 1938.
Wellington Hillman was born on Jul. 24, 1864 in Emmet, St. Clair Co, Michigan and died on Feb. 24, 1914 in Evergreen Twp, Sanilac Co, Michigan..
Washington Hillman was born in Aug. 1864 in Emmet, St. Clair Co, Michigan and died After 1938.
The birth dates for Wellington &Washington are not set in stone as I suspect that they are twins. Even in the 1881,1991, and 1901 census they cannot seem to agree on their birthdates.
Isabella Hillman was born in 1867 in Michigan, US and died Before 1938.

Hugh Hillman

2008-06-07T12:10:00.000-04:00

#HUGH HILLMAN was born on Feb. 11, 1844 in Ontario and died on Jun. 3, 1894 in Aldborough Tp.., Elgin County. He married #SARAH CAMBELL on Nov. 30, 1870 in Wardsville, Ontario. Sarah, daughter of #James Campbell and #Catherine, was born on Jul. 9, 1851 in Aldborough Tp. and died on an unknown date.

Children of HUGH HILLMAN and SARAH CAMBELL :
HUGH ALBERT HILLMAN was born in 1872 and died on an unknown date.
WILLIAM ARTHUR HILLMAN was born on Jul. 13, 1877 in Ontario and died on an unknown date. He married #Laura Maude Pearl Page on Dec. 2, 1903 in Aldborough Tp.., Elgin County. Laura Maude Pearl, daughter of #William Page and #Nancy Amanda, was born in 1878 in Fingal, Elgin County and died on an unknown date.
CATHERINE ELIZABETH KATIE HILLMAN was born in 1877 in Ontario and died on an unknown date.
BELLA HILLMAN was born on Jan. 15, 1879 in Aldborough Tp. and died on Mar. 16, 1881 in Aldborough Tp..
ARDELLA HILLMAN was born on Sep. 22, 1881 in Aldborough Tp. and died on an unknown date.
INFANT HILLMAN was born on Aug. 10, 1883 in Aldborough Tp. and died on Aug. 10, 1883 in Aldborough Tp..

New York New York part2

2008-06-06T16:40:00.000-04:00

The prices on the menu are great fun to read. The most expensive item is $1. Oh how things have changed.

New York New York 1945

2008-06-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

Also found in my father's things were two playbills of the musicals Bloomer Girl and Up In Central Park. Along with a menu from Club Ritz which must have been somewhere close to the theaters on Broadway. I suspect that they belonged to my mother(Audrey June Steele of London, Ontario). My father John Arnold Hillman would have still have been in the airforce hospital recovering from injuries sustained after his brother's car hit a train at Laurence Station. Besides which they were not married until 1947, and father is more of the beer and hockey type.

Dutton High School Newsletter part3

2008-06-06T16:26:00.000-04:00

Dutton High School Newsletter part2

2008-06-06T16:22:00.000-04:00

Dutton High School Newsletter part1

2008-06-06T16:11:00.000-04:00

While going through my father's things I found a student newsletter dated June 1940.
The three-floor central portion of the high school was built in 1927 and served as a high school until June, 1952. Both my father and his brother Bruce Ivan Hillman attended Dutton High School. This newsletter would have belonged to Bruce(more about Bruce Ivan Hillman in a future post).

Why After a John?

2008-05-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

What’s in a name? Anyone who is researching the Hillman family tree will quickly find John’s by the bucketful. I can’t help but wonder why? Many of the reasons probably go back too far for us to really do little but speculate. John originates from the Hebrew apparently meaning “Yahweh is gracious“. Clearly though its popularity as a name is owing to two saints ,John the Baptist and the Apostle John.
John was the most popular name given to male children in the United States up to 1924. Judging by the number of John’s I have to deal with on my family tree it might be safe to say the same holds true for Ontario as well.
Perhaps it has to do with religion. Or maybe over the centuries it becomes viewed as a family name. Certainly I am guilty. My eldest got stuck with it simply because both of his grandfathers were Johns. There was no great philosophical reasoning behind it. Oh well maybe this is one of the great unanswered riddles of history. I just wish some of my ancestors could have considered a second name to make my genealogical research easier.

William James Hillman

2008-05-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

George Hillman m. Elizabeth Harman
Westbury, Wiltshire, England
Children: George Hillman, James Hillman b.1800

George Hillman(2) m. Susanna Browne Dec. 24, 1818
Immigrated to Upper Canada about 1829
Children: John (Dec.4, 1819 Westbury: died Oct.3, 1906 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County.)
James(Dec.1, 1821 Westbury: died ?)
William (Nov.3, 1824 Westbury: died Aug.10, 1888 St. Clair County, Michigan)
Elizabeth (Sept.30, 1826 Westbury: died ?)
Reuben( Oct.20, 1828 Westbury: died?)
Nathaniel(Jan.6, 1840 Euphemia Tp, Upper Canada: died 1935)

John Hillman m. Isabella May (May22, 1822-Sept.17, 1906)
Children: Daniel Duncan(1840 Upper Canada: died?)
George( 1842: Died?)
Hugh(Nov.2, 1844: died mar.6, 1894 Aldborough Tp, Elgin County, Ontario)
Mary(1846: died?)
William James(June 20, 1849 Upper Canada: died 12 Jun 1922 Mosa Tp.)
John Davis(June6, 1850 Upper Canada: died 1936 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County, Ontario)
Isabella(1852: died?)
Susana(Dec.5, 1854 Euphemia Tp, Upper Canada: died?)
Margaret(1856: died?)
Christie(1858: died?)
Harriett Hattie(1860: died?)
Angus(1862: died?)
Nathaniel(Dec8, 1865 Aldborough Tp., Ontario: died?)

William James Hillman m. Margaret Patterson(May26, 1850-?)
Children: John Henry(1871 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County: died?)
Duncan(1875 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County: died?)
Daniel(Nov.6, 1877 Aldborough Tp. Elgin County: died 1977)
Nancy(1880: died?)
Mary B.(June15, 1881 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County: died?)
Margaret Maggie(October19, 1885 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County: died?)
William A(Feb.16, 1889 Aldborough Tp., Elgin County: died ?)

Ontario Genealogy Conference

2008-03-30T15:49:00.000-04:00

The Ontario Genealogical Society conference will be held this year in London, Ontario May 30th to June 1st.
Labeled “Wired Genealogy” it will have 46 presentations and feature such personalities as members of the TV show “Ancestors in the Attic” and Dick Eastman of Eastman’s Online Genealogical Newsletter. It will be a well attended event for this city to host.
http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference/index.html

HILLMAN FAMILY TREE

2008-02-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

Wiltshire, England
George m. Susanna
Hillman Browne
?-d.1854 ?=d.1877

Children:
John b.4/12/1819-d.3/10/1906
James b.1/12/1821
William b.3/11/1824-d.10/8/1888
Elizabeth b.30/9/1826
Reuben b.20/10/1828
Nathaniel b.6/10/1840
Immigrated to Upper Canada(Ontario)sometime between 1829-1830

John m. Isabella May(Scottish)

Children
Daniel
George
Hugh b.2/11/1844-d.6/3/1894
Mary b.1846
William James b.2/6/1849
John David b.6/6/1850
Isabella b.1853
Susana b.5/12/1854
Margerit b.1857
Christy b.1859
Harriet b.1860
Nathaniel b.8/12/1865

John David m. Hannah McKay(Scottish)

Children:
Henry Arthur b.1879-d.1949
William Wallace b.25/12/1883-d.25/2/1966
Martha Anne b.1886-d.1985
Olive May b.1889-d.1986
Jane Pearl b.1893
Mildred b.1897-d.1977
Hazel b.1900-d.1987
Bruce b.1907-d.27/8/1973

The Fenian Raids 1866-1870

2007-10-02T14:16:00.000-04:00

A Fenian Soldier

The Fenian Brotherhood started in Ireland to promote armed rebellion against British rule there and quickly spread to the United States where it met with sympathy from state and federal politicians. As the rebellion in Ireland failed to develop, the American wing began to see British North America as a potential object of attack. The Frontier Police force in Canada was soon re-organized to deal with this new threat and began collecting information on both sides of the border relating to the activities of the Fenians.

Despite dreams of large scale invasions, the Fenians never mounted more than small border raids, the largest being at Fort Erie in June of 1866.
One thousand men crossed the Niagara River and moved inland until they ran into a body of militia. After a short skirmish at Ridgeway the militia retreated. Within a day, news of approaching militia and British regulars convinced the invaders to retreat over the border again.

Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley, who served in Canada for nine years, assessed the country's military preparedness at that time: "The Canadians are a splendid race of men and they make first rate soldiers; but officers accustomed to command, or who were even instructed in the art of commanding were then few." Nevertheless, the Canadians took up their positions at the border and waited.

Due in some part to the unifying effect the Fenian threat had on their Canadian subjects, the British passed the British North America Act in 1867, creating the Dominion of Canada. Shortly after the new nation was established, the British government began to withdraw the Regular garrisons at Kingston and Quebec. Clearly the Dominion of Canada was expected to provide for its own defense. Accordingly, Canada passed the first Militia Act in 1868, under which an administrative system was established to train and organize a 40,000-member militia force.

John David Hillman’s obituary in the Rodney newspaper refers to his service in 1870. I am still working on finding out what militia company he served with.

The effects of the Fenian raids were profound. They provided the impetus to create the Canadian union in 1867. Also, the response by Canadians to recruitment speaks of a change in the views of Canadians. By the 1860’s many Canadian families like the Hillman’s were second or third generation. Their focus and energies was in Ontario not England or Scotland. I tend to view the Fenian raids and one step towards a Canadian nationalism that became evident by the time of Vimy Ridge in 1917.

John David Hillman

2007-09-18T15:48:00.000-04:00

John David Hillman was born to John Hillman and Isabella May on June 1, 1850 in Mosa township. He married Hannah McKay sometime before 1880. He eventually took over the family farm in Clachan.

Hannah’s family is deserving of some further research. Her mother’s maiden name was Shoemaker. The family’s take on this is that she came from Pennsylvania Dutch background; however, I have read a reference to her mother being a Mormon. He father was from Scotland.

All together they had 9 children Henry(1880), William Wallace(1883), Martha(1886), Olive(1889), Ida(1890), Jennie(1893), Mildred(1897), Hazel(1900), Bruce(1904).

As a young man he served in one of the Elgin militia units during the Fenian raids. That would probably have been in 1870 since the Elgin units were stationed in either Windsor or Sarnia in that year. The Fenian raids were an event that can be very frustrating for the family historian. Little documentation remains on the identity of members of the militia units that took part. The best we can hope for is for is for some of the pay lists of militia units to survive. Nevertheless, the Fenian raids represent the first direct military threat to the Canadas since the War of 1812. The turnout for the militia rosters was remarkable. It would be interesting to know how many of the young men were born in Canada. John David, and his brothers and sisters, were the first generation born in Canada in this family. I would suspect that his first motivation was not Empire but protecting his family, and what they had built in Aldborough. Historians like to place the birth of Canadian nationalism to the battle of Vimy Ridge. I am not so sure of that. I suspect that at least in my family a Canadian view begins with John David’s generation. Most of the early settlers in Aldborough Township were highland Scots who were difficult to sway towards any pro-empire adventures. I think that their attention was mostly inward, towards their land and their families.

John David like his parents was a member of the Plains Baptist Church.

To Aldborough

2007-09-11T19:05:00.000-04:00

John Hillman married Isabella May probably in Mosa Township. She was born in Scotland May 22, 1822, and died in Aldborough Township, September 17, 1906. Her family seems to emigrated from Scotland to Port Stanley, and from there to Euphemia Township in Lambton County. They had twelve children; Daniel(1841), George(1942), Hugh(1844), Mary(1846), William James(1848), John David(1850), Isabella(1853), Susan(1855), Margaret(1857), Christie(1859), Harriet(1860), Nathaniel(1865).
In 1851 John Hillman purchased 125 acres in north Aldborough Township at concession 2 lot 2 almost on the corner called Clachan. Purcell cemetery where most of the early settlers were buried is almost directly across the road from the farm. Yet another log house was built. By the end of the century the frame house that my father remembers as part of the home farm was built. I suspect one reason for the move was a desire for more land - as even then 50 acres was not enough to live on.

At that period the Hillman family were Baptists. They were also farmers to the core. It was not until my father’s generation after the Second World War that the young men in the Hillman family left the farm to find jobs in the city.

A New Life

2007-09-11T11:53:00.000-04:00

The first mention of John Hillman is in the 1878 Middlesex County Atlas. He is shown to have owned 50 acres in Mosa Township purchased in 1831. We can infer from that that he arrived in Upper Canada in either 1830 or 1831. Mosa Township is just west of Glencoe, and the largest village at that time was Newbury. John Hillman occupied Lot 13 of Concession 5.

In the 1830’s this area was a part of the Talbot Settlement.

In the 1830’s one has to picture forests and little else in that area. John Hillman would have had to build a log house, and clear land for crops. His was a true pioneering spirit as I can imagine that it was not an easy life.

The Beginings in Canada

2007-09-10T20:28:00.000-04:00

This family of Hillmans originally came from Westbury in the county of Wiltshire, England. I am still working on the exact year that John Hillman emigrated to Canada; however a short history of the 1830’s in that part of England is relevant to the reasons for that emigration.

In the mid 1830's Wiltshire was in the grip of a severe economic depression Crops were poor from 1828-1830. In 1830, riots swept Southeast England. Labourers protested the introduction of new threshing machines, which jeopardized their livelihood. They fired rocks, smashed the machines and sent threatening letters to farmers. They invented a Captain Swing as their leader, and he became a figure of fear to the landed gentry. On 21st of November 1830 riots started in Wiltshire. Along with many other farms in the county, machines in Downton, Whiteparish and West Dean were destroyed. The harsh government response saw 153 men tried and deported to Australia. Their protests crushed, the remaining labourers were thoroughly demoralized.

To parish officials, it began to look as if no end was in sight. Something had to be done.
Someone came up with the idea that the poor could be sent to the colonies. On March 15, 1835 the parish power brokers met to discuss the issue. On March 20th, Reverend Clark received a circular from the Poor Law Commissioners stating how money could be borrowed to pay for emigration. In early May of 1835, the first group of people left for Canada. They probably caught the weekly wagon from Salisbury to Southampton from where they caught a sailing vessel to Portsmouth to be placed on the American ship Louisa. They stayed at the Quebec Hotel. The receipts indicate passage was paid for 25 people. They bought things for the voyage such as 200 pounds of pork, chamber pots, stockings, tobacco, blankets, kettles and other provisions for life in the new world.

Our original ancestor who came over was named John Hillman. He was born on the 6th of September, 1819. His parents were George Hillman and Susanna Browne. He had four brothers, James, William, Reuben, and Nathaniel(who was born in Canada) and a sister Elizabeth. I am sill working on exactly what year he came over, and whether, which seems likely that he was the first followed by the rest of his family. Certainly by the 1850’s all of the family was in south-western Ontario. He settled first in Zora township in the Talbot Settlement.