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Another one for the experts cos this one has got me stumped

Linked to the couple in my other thread this morning, this is the eldest daughter of George Hills and his first wife Mary Ann Brown (she died in 1848 of typhus fever)

I cannot find anything.
I have a copy of her birth cert that confirms the above details, father is a Carpenter. In the 1851 census George is living with his mother and his son is living with his grand parents on the Brown side.

George and his mother are both listed as widows which ties in with the information I have gathered.

On this there are two grandchildren Mary Ann Hills Born 1847 and Mary Hills born 1848: There are GRO records for possible births but none in the area they where living and could be children of Georges older siblings.

But Priscilla has me stumped! Would George changed her name in honour of his wife after her death? is that something people did?

Name Priscilla Hills
Registration Date 1847
[1847]
Quarter of the Year Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration Place Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, England
Volume 14
Page 109

Unless George’s brothers married women with the same maiden name as HIS wife, they can’t be their children. MMN is on the GRO website

What is the child’s exact DoB?

Mary Hills on 1851 was born Exning, Suffolk. What does Priscilla’s birth certificate say about WHERE she was born?

Priscilla Hills
19th August 1847 Fordham
Father George Hills: Carpenter
Mother MMN: Mary Ann Brown

These are the GRO indexes for Mary or Mary Ann Hills for the time period there are a couple that are possibilities based on the location of where the family lived.



HILLS, MARY -
GRO Reference: 1848 S Quarter in ELY UNION Volume 14 Page 60
HILLS, MARY JOSLIN
GRO Reference: 1848 D Quarter in COSFORD Volume 12 Page 303
-
HILLS, MARY ANN PEACOCK
GRO Reference: 1849 D Quarter in THE NEWMARKET UNION Volume 14 Page 112
HILLS, MARY LOUISA -
GRO Reference: 1848 M Quarter in THE NEWMARKET UNION Volume 14 Page 120


freeBMD
Births Mar 1848 (>99%)
HILLS Mary Louisa Newmarket 14 120

Ive just purchased the digital image BC for Mary Louise Hills born 1848 her mother is Eliza Hills and no fathers details

George's sister is an Eliza Hills born 1828

so this one is accounted for.

Exning is a village next to Newmarket so looks right

I don't usually do much on helping to find ancestors but just in case you don't know Fordham (Priscilla's birthplace) and Exning (Mary's birthplace) are very close - I think it's less than 4 miles.

Thanks Vera, it is, ironically, I live in the area so know the area very well. My son was born in Burwell.

The census clearly shows that the grandchild Mary Ann was born Fordham and Mary was born Exning

I am starting to believe for some reason that Mary Ann Hills b 1847 (according to census) and Priscilla Hills b 1847 are the same child, both born in Fordham and he changed her name in honour of his wife who died at just aged 20

Fordham and Exning are in the registration district of Newmarket

Priscilla would not have been 4 years old when the census was taken on 30th MARCH


What children did George have living with him in 1861?

she would have been 3yrs 7 month old and would they round this up to the nearest year which was 4?

Mary L Hills was 11th March 1848 so would have been marked as 3 because thats the nearest year.

We know these documents are not always 100%

Thank you very much for your help today. I have to go out now. <3

The enumerator asked HOW OLD any given individual was on the day of the census.
He didn’t ask when they were born……

The only census where rounding was employed was 1841

The year of birth shown on TRANSCRIPTIONS is estimated. The census sheet, which does NOT have birth years….only ages, is supposed to be accurate, but it assumes that people knew how old they (and their children) were.

Depends on who was asked for the age. My father always had to ask us our birthdates and probably our ages. My response was always that he should know as he was there. Probably not there there but aware of the day at the time ;-)

1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census
39, Mission Street, Shoreditch, London & Middlesex, England

George Hills Head Married Male 36 1825 Carpenter and joiner Cambridgeshire, England
Margaret Hills Wife Married Female 29 1832 - Westminster, Middlesex, England
Charles Hills Son Unmarried Male 14 1847 - Cambridgeshire, England
Margaret Hills Daughter Unmarried Female 13 1848 - Cambridgeshire, England
Lucy Hills Daughter Unmarried Female 3 1858 - Shoreditch, Middlesex, England
George Hills Son Unmarried Male 2 1859 - Shoreditch, Middlesex, England

HILLS, CHARLES HENRY BROWN
GRO Reference: 1846 J Quarter in THE NEWMARKET UNION Volume 14 Page 130

HILLS, LUCY EVANS
GRO Reference: 1857 J Quarter in SHOREDITCH Volume 01C Page 228

I rather think that the enumerator could not read his own writing when he transferred the info from his original sheets to the census record

George's wife was MARY ANN..................and the elder daughter shown above may well have had the same name.

Marriages Dec 1855 (>99%)
Evans Mary Ann Bethnal G 1c 629
Hills George Bethnal Green 1c 629

Thanks it may look like a recording mistake.

I do have the birth cert for Priscilla Hills so maybe she was recorded wrong in 1861

Cannot find her in 1851or 1871 census and no marriage or death records for her either, I wonder if she was informally adopted. :-(

Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
HILLS, PRISCILLA BROWN
GRO Reference: 1847 S Quarter in THE NEWMARKET UNION Volume 14 Page 109