Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

William and Robert Hammill, circa 1750

Antrim

I am looking for the origin/parents of William and Robert Hammill of County Antrim, Ireland. William was born 14 September 1752. Almost certainly of Protestant faith but no idea of the Parish. I am not sure if Robert was an older or younger brother.; he was probably born between 1750 and 1757. William moved to Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, USA around 1771, probably with his brother. I do not know whether theirparents also emigrated. The source for this scant information is an application for a pension for William's service as a Revolutionary War soldier, the application submitted in 1832. In that application he names his birth date and place of birth, his age upon moving to Cherry Valley, and his brother's name (William took the place of Robert, who was drafted).

dcoon@post.har…

2 replies

Hamill/Hammill is a very common name in and around Co. Antrim. In the 1901 Irish census there were 2275 of them, with 42 named Robert and 83 named William. If you don’t know where in Antrim the family originated it would be hard to know whether you had found the right family or not. An additional problem is that very few churches have records for the 1700s. So even if you do find where the family lived there may not be any record of them to search.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you, Elwyn.  It doesn't sound hopeful.  It is so interesting that it is a common name there!  In my family it is a middle name that has been passed down for about 5 generations and it was only a year or so ago that I found that it was the surname of my GGGG-grandmother.  It is that uncommon here!

Thanks for responding.

Deborah Coon 

dcoon@post.har…

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.