You briefly met my great grandfather William Hill in an earlier post.

William Hill was the son of an Irishman named William Hill, the cousin of William Hill, the father of (George) William Hill and the grandfather of… you guessed it, William Hill.

In 1937, one of the Williams featured in a handful of news articles. When I scratched beneath the surface, I found a family legend that 85 years after the articles were published, it’s still causing a ruckus!

I’m sure we’d all like to stumble across a massive family inheritance, but in this case it seems that some elusive Irish records from the 1700s were standing in the way of William claiming an unnamed person’s estate – I simply love it that a few ‘cousins’ were keen to help.

So, who were these Hills and was there really a fortune waiting to be claimed?

The snips below are from the shipping record of William’s grandparents, Alexander and Elizabeth Hill. It shows they were a farm labouring family from Clough, in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Alexander’s parents were listed as Hugh and what looks to be Devina, and her maiden name isn’t shown. A note in the record says “paid 8 pounds for self and family”. I’ve often wondered did Alexander actually pay that himself, or was it some kind of bounty funding? And if he paid it himself, does that suggest wealth?

The Hills were one of the first families to settle in the NSW village of Yarramalong which is near Wyong on the central coast of NSW. Their farm was in the family for about the next 150 years.

Alexander Hill died in Yarramalong in 1878 and that is the moment when a few shenanigans crept in to the family story… and it wouldn’t be an Irish story without a few shenanigans, would it.

When Alexander died in 1878, his son William informed that Alexander’s parents were Hugh Hill, a soldier, and not Devina, but Lavinia, formerly Hamilton. Might Alexander have married twice, or might Devina and Lavinia be variations of the same name?

In the 1937 newspapers, William Hill claimed that his great grandparents were Mr Hugh Hill… and not Devina, but Lady Lavinia Hamilton!

The stew thickens… Ancestry.com is awash with Hill family trees. Many of them claim that Alexander was the son of Lady Lavinia Hamilton and not Mr… but Major Sir Hugh Hill!

The claim to descend from a Sir and a Lady has caused a bit of a donnybrook amongst those who are researching the Hill family history in the 21^st century – there are three distinct camps – the fierce believers, the casual tree copiers and the sceptical un-believers.

I once asked a couple of the fierce believers to help me to understand how they came to their conclusions but so far… no reply has properly explained it or I’ve received no reply at all.

I want to point out I’m not exactly an unbeliever… I’m open to any possibility… but I am a genealogist, and of Irish descent on both sides. I need some evidence – to be sure, to be sure.

I’ve been doing some good old-fashioned research, but all I’ve found so far are tantalising clues, frustrating dead ends and a load of old malarky. This is where I’m up to…

There really was a Sir Hugh Hill of Brooke Hall, of County Londonderry Northern Ireland. Sir Hugh, 1st Baronet, was born in 1727, he married Mary Hodgson and then Hannah McLintock. His children are listed, but none were named Alexander.

According to Alexander’s age on his shipping and death records, he might have been born about 1798 or about 1812. Sir Hugh died in February 1795 which suggests that Sir Hugh couldn’t have been Alexander’s father – but ages given on shipping and death records are sometimes wrong.

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland has the Hill (of Brooke Hall) Papers. Sir Hugh owned property in County Antrim where Alexander Hill was from. – Is that a clue or a coincidence? I can’t establish a link between Sir Hugh and my Alexander Hill.

As for Lady Lavinia Hamilton, she doesn’t appear in the peerage. I can’t establish a link between Hugh Hill and Lavinia Hamilton, with or without titles. Alexander Hill named one of his sons Hamilton – is that a smoking gun or a red herring?

At this point, I don’t think I’ll ever find an Irish record that would connect Hugh Hill to Lavinia Hamilton, or link those two to my Alexander Hill.

I had hoped that DNA might shed some light, but, Murphy’s Law, its only confused the situation for me. I don’t know what this means but as you can see below, I have 17 matches through Devina but only one through Hugh! I had expected it would be the other way around, or that I would have no matches through Devina at all.

By now you’re probably all wondering whether William Hill had the luck of the Irish? Did the historical societies of Ireland find Hugh and Lavinia’s marriage record in 1937 and did William claim back the family’s lost pot of gold from the leprechauns?

According to my mum, there were barely two coins to rub together in the Hill household but William had all the wealth he needed – a loving wife and a happy family.

I’ll end with a little Irish blessing… May your heart be light and happy, may your smile be big and wide, and may your pockets always have a coin or two inside!