12.2 Tracing the children of John Hill & Mary Kemp

My 4xgreat grandparents John Hill and Mary Kemp married in Elsted, Sussex, on 16 February 1801. Six months later, they baptised their eldest daughter Mary Hill on 23 August 1801, in Elsted parish church. The image of the record at FamilySearch (extract below) gives no other information about the parents:

Mary Hill next appears in the records when she would have been about 21 years old, marrying William Knowles in Elsted on 19 May 1823.

The image at FamilySearch (extract above) shows that William Knowles was able to sign his name, whereas his bride made ‘her mark’. The witnesses are James Kemp and Jemima Kemp, relatives of her mother Mary. Although married in Elsted, the couple seem to have moved to Hampshire soon afterwards. At the time of the 1841 census, they are living at Empshott, Hampshire, with seven children aged 2-15. Ten years later, in the 1851 census, their address is given as Lampolds, Empshott; eldest daughter Hannah Knowles, aged 27 (b1824) is unmarried and still at home. Her birthplace is shown as Newton Valence, Hants, whereas her six younger siblings were all born in Empshott. In both censuses, William’s main occupation is Agricultural Labourer, but in the 1851 census he is also ‘Parish Church Clerk’. They are living next door to Empshott Vicarage, where Yorkshireman Robert Tyndall is the Vicar. Their address in the 1861 census is given as Lambolls, Empshott, the vicarage no longer enumerated next door. William and Mary have only their unmarried son James Knowles, aged 24, at home with them on census night.

William Knowles’ death was registered in the first quarter of 1866. His widow Mary is living with her son Charles and his family next door to the Vicarage at Empshott at the time of the 1871 census. She is now aged 72 and her occupation is initially written as ‘Pauper Out Doors’, which has been crossed through and ‘Labourer’s widow’ inserted. She was presumably receiving some form of poor relief from the parish. By the end of 1871 she has died, her death registered in the last quarter of that year. Their children largely remained in Hampshire, the males working as Agricultural Labourers, Gardeners and Shepherds, the females marrying men undertaking similar work, apart from the youngest, Jane Knowles, born 1842, who built a career as a servant and nurse in the households of professional men – a magistrate, solicitor, estate agent – around the country, before heading her own household in Woolwich with boarders in 1901. By the 1911 census, she is living with her brother James, a Gardener, described as of ‘private means’ – presumably she was able to save from her earnings and taking in boarders over the years. She died in 1927, in her 80s.

The youngest of the three children of John Hill and Mary Kemp was James Hill, baptised at Elsted Church on 14 December 1806, ‘son of John Hill and Mary his wife’, as shown in the extract from the parish register at FamilySearch:

By the 1841 census he is still living at home with his parents in Elsted, working as an Agricultural Labourer. FamilySearch also has an image courtesy of West Sussex Record Office from the parish register at Elsted (extract below) showing that he married a year later, on 30 July 1842. His bride was Mary Parr, a Servant from nearby Harting, Sussex. Neither could write their names in the Register; their witnesses were John Collins and Mary Marsh. His father is shown as John Hill, Shepherd.

James and wife Mary are living in Elsted with his parents at the time of the 1861 census. An 11 year old boy (first name unclear, surname Parr) is described as ‘nephew’, but is presumably a relative of Mary Parr. Ten years later, the couple are living in Elsted, next door to older brother John Hill and his family, and have two visitors with the surname Parr, both born in ‘Middlesex, London’. James is working as a Shepherd. He died a year later, in 1862, aged 56. His widow died in 1872, and they do not appear to have had any children.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view