Death certificate information often contains mistakes because by its nature the information is 3rd hand. Whereas with a marriage certificate the bride is giving first hand information. In most cases she’s going to know her father’s name and get it correct. So I would regard Thomas Hill as being much more likely than Joseph on the death cert. Her father was evidently dead by 1857 and his widow Catherine was running the farm. The Robinson witness at the wedding is helpful too. Points to it being the right family.
I see a death in Stranorlar for a Catherine Hill in 1873 aged 90. (Volume 7, page 310). That could be her. (The age might be out by a few years. Informant’s best guess and often out by 10 years or so for someone of that age). The death cert should have the place of death, and it might be interesting to see who the informant was.
It looks to me as though the farm remained in Hill hands as there is 1 Hill farm in Carricknamanna in the 1911 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Donegal/Killygordan/Carricknamanna/508469/
Looking at the census I see widower George Hill and 3 children. His son George was born 2.2.1905 at Carricknamanna. Mother was Catherine Kincad (Kincaid). George was a surface man on the Co. Donegal Railway. (The railway ran through Killygordon). Informant was Catherine Kincaid, grandmother. Catherine Mary Hill was born 10.6.1906. Father was a farmer at this date. The mother was the informant. James Hill was born 15.9.1907 at Carricknamanna. Father was a ganger on the railway. William John was born 26.3.1909. Father was a surface man on the railway. Mother was Cassie Kincaid.
Cassie Hill (nee Kincaid) died 27.1.1910 at Carricknamanna, aged 32 of a premature birth.
George Hill & Cassie Kincaid married on 14.4.1904 at Donaghmore COI. His address was Carricknamanna and his father was George Hill, farmer. Catherine (Cassie) was a blacksmith’s daughter and lived in Killygordon. Her father was also named George. This looks to be Catherine in the 1901 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Donegal/Killygordon/Killygordon/1198672/
The 1901 census for Caricknamanna appears to be lost.
George Hill senior died 19.2.1908 at Carricknamanna aged 65, of gangrene. His son George was the informant. So it looks as though George junior inherited the farm on his father’s death and was able to give up his work on the railway then.
George Hill senior is of an age to be a brother to your Margaret Hill who married Andrew Boyd. Looking at the likely marriages and noting that Fanny Hill was born in Co Tyrone, I’d speculate that George Hill married Fanny Doragh in Castlederg in 1860 Volume 3, page 430. Might be worth getting that to see if his father was Thomas Hill. That might tie it up nicely.
Fanny Hill died 22.1.1916. She was a widow, and wife of George Hill.
According to Griffiths Valuation, Catherine Hill had plot 8 in Carricknamanna. That was just over 15 and a half acres. That’s about half a mile north of Killygordon. It’s shown on Griffiths maps as being in Halftown. I had a quick look at it on Google Earth and there appears to be nothing there today but farmland. The buildings seem to be down and the road into it overgrown, though presumably there’s a farmers track for access. It looks as though you might have to walk over a couple of fields to get to it.
The Hill family were Church of Ireland. This is what records exist for that church according to the PRONI guide:
Donaghmore [Earliest registers destroyed in Dublin]
Baptisms, 1818-19, 1824-9, 1884, 1886 and 1896- 1902; marriages, 1817, 1825-8 and 1845-1917; burials, 1825-8 and 1898-1984; vestry minutes, 1815- 70; register of members, 1907-10; registers of vestrymen, 1870-1948.
So you aren’t going to find Margaret’s baptism (or that of any siblings). The records were burned by accident in the civil war in 1922. (Ironically they had been sent to Dublin for safekeeping).
You are lucky to find the 1820 Hill-Robinson marriage. Donaghmore Presbyterian marriages only start in 1819. Here’s what exists for that church:
Baptisms, 1835-1961; marriages, 1819-42 and 1845- 1905. (Copy in PRONI).
So if you are looking for graves for the Hill family, I would try Donaghmore Church of Ireland. Robinson graves may be in Donaghmore Presbyterian.
Searching the PRONI e-catalogue, I came across a document that might be helpful. The reference is D1825/E/6. It’s dated 1865 and is described as: “Survey and valuation of the Killygordon estate, Co. Donegal, by Charles H. Swiney, with lists of tenants, details of their holdings, notes on leases, etc., in townlands of Bohanboy, Calhame, Mullingar, Whitehill, Cavan Lower, Corcam, Cavan Upper, Carricknamanna, Leaght. [small vol.]” The document itself isn’t on-line so if you are interested in it, you either need to go to PRONI in Belfast and view it in person, or pay them (or a researcher) to copy it.
I know you have the baptisms for the 2 Boyd children but Thomas's birth in 1865 was after the start of birth registration so you can also see his birth cert on this link:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1865/03585/2321715.pdf
I expect you know this but from the names and denominations the Hill, Boyd & Robinson families are likely to be descendants of Scots who settled in Donegal in the 1600s. Ulster-Scots as they are known in Ireland, or Scotch-Irish in North America.
