Tag Archives: Charles Hill

Old-Timey Family Occupations

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People in my family have liked to transport goods for a really long time.

Thanks to Ancestry I know that in 1901 my great grandfather Charles Edmund Hill was listed as a “Carter.” He and his new bride lived in Moon’s Cottage in “Long Ditton, Surrey.” I had always believed that Charles was an “ag lab” or agricultural labourer, as that was what he had done when he came to Canada but the census shows differently.

The 1901 Census from County Surrey, Civil Parish Long Ditton, has 21-year-old Charles E Hill listed as occupation Carter.

What is a “carter” you ask?

Carter is of Irish, Scottish and English origin and is an occupational name given to one who transports goods by cart or wagon originally believed to be of Gaelic and Celtic origins. (per Wikipedia)

I know from pictures that my great-grandfather Charles really loved his horses. Could this have tied from his past working as a carter?

When I dug a little deeper, I was able to find the marriage record for Charles’ parents – George Hill and Jane Wattingham. At the time of their marriage, George and Jane were both living in “Ham”, a little over an hours walk away from where Charles and Ada would end up living in 1901. It was a wonderful document to find because it listed another occupation you may not be familiar with.

Jane’s father is listed as William Wattingham – occupation Drayman.

The marriage record for George Hill and Jane Wattingham in 1874 has Jane’s father William Wattingham listed as a “Drayman.”

What is a “drayman” you ask?

A drayman was historically the driver of a dray, a low, flat-bed wagon without sides, pulled generally by horses or mules that were used for transport of all kinds of goods. Now the term is really only used for brewery delivery men, even though routine horse-drawn deliveries are almost entirely extinct. Some breweries do still maintain teams of horses and a dray, but these are used only for special occasions such as festivals or opening new premises. There are some breweries still delivering daily/weekly using horses, Hook Norton in Oxfordshire being one of them. (per Wikipedia)

Is it any wonder that many members of my Hill family ended up driving trucks or running trucking companies and are still involved to this day? My uncle ran a very successful trucking company until he retired and passed the reigns to his daughter. Several of my dad’s brothers ended up as drivers for local and long haul deliveries as well. My father took a slightly different route and decided to do repairs to vehicles to keep them moving and has enjoyed “turning wrenches” for the last 30 years.

What are some interesting occupations you have come across in your family tree? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

Hill Family Descendants

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On Sunday August 17, 2014 all of the descendants of Charles Hill and Ada Woolgar met for the 54th Hill Family reunion.

The reunion held at the Rockmosa Community Centre in Rockwood, Ontario brought members of the Hill family together from all across Ontario to share stories, learn about our history and to create some new memories.

At the gentle urging of my father, Howie Hill, I put some of my genealogy work to good use. I put together a descendant chart for Charles Edmonds Hill and Ada Elizabeth Woolgar. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I knew that it was possible.

Utilizing Family Tree Maker, which links to my account with www.ancestry.ca, it was fairly easy to pull together all of the information. By playing with all the settings and getting all the names on the chart I was astounded to see the number of pages needed to lay out the chart. 102 pages! All laid out hit was asking for 102 horizontal 8 1/2 x 11 pages. I played around with the settings, changed the orientation to vertical and I was able to fit it all onto 43 pages.

43 pages of family. My family.

All the names of the descendants of Charles Hill and Ada Woolgar took up a lot of space at the Hill family reunion in 2014
All the names of the descendants of Charles Hill and Ada Woolgar took up a lot of space at the Hill family reunion in 2014

At the top were my great-grandparents Charles and Ada followed by their 13 children:

  1. Kate Gertrude Hill (1901-1972)
  2. Albert William Hill (my grandfather) (1903-1960)
  3. Charles Edmond Hill (1905-1923)
  4. Lillian Gladys Hill (1907-1996)
  5. Minnie Mary Hill (1909-1985)
  6. Frank George Hill (1910-1998)
  7. Jane Maria Hill (1912-1999)
  8. Ada May Hill (1914-2007)
  9. James Stewart Hill (1916-2008)
  10. Amy Elizabeth Hill (1918-2005)
  11. Stanley Roland Hill (1920-2009)
  12. Donald Richard Hill (1925-2004)
  13. Edward Alexander Hill (1927-2006)

Each of those children had children of their own save one, Charles Edmond Hill, who passed away at a young age due to scarlet fever. Those children had children and even those children had children. The Hill family has grown exponentially since arriving in Canada back in 1908 and nothing proved it more than rolling out the pages across the room for everyone to see.

The chart seemed to keep going and going and as members of the Hill family walked along to find their name it made one thing clear: this wasn’t everyone. Pencils and pens were brought out and the new names of the next generation were added. Issues with spelling and further details were added and the tree continue to grow. In all, 47 extra names were added to the tree.

Looking back over the chart, it is astounding to think of all the names and relationships in the Hill family. 604 names. 604 descendants. I knew the Hill family was big, but I had no idea it was that big. I wonder how many more names will be added next year at the 65th Hill Family reunion, 3rd weekend in August, Sunday in the same location and at the same time. Our family hasn’t been in Canada long but we have sure helped to populate it!