Notes for THE HILLIERS OF NEWFOUNDLAND:
Introduction
The Hilliers of Newfoundland is an outgrowth of a family tree study initially begun in Lamaline, Newfoundland, in 1995, in search of my own Hillier ancestors. The downstream trail of family history soon led me and my husband to various communities on the Burin Peninsula, elsewhere in Newfoundland, throughout Canada and the United States. The upstream trail, difficult as it appeared to be, and indeed still is, hints at undocumented overseas locations in England, Channel Islands, and perhaps even Continental Europe.
Thanks to many dedicated genealogy researchers along the heritage trail, we have been enriched with a wide horizon of family history of the Hillier surname in Newfoundland. Our appreciation of them culminated in a personal visit to Lamaline in August of 1999 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of St. Mary's Parish; there we had the precious opportunity to meet many of them.
My personal family tree has grown to a family forest deep within which we continue to search for ancient roots of the Hillier surname and the relationships of all the Hilliers/Helliers/Hylliards in Newfoundland and overseas. Over the years we have realized that the only way we can reach our objective is through cooperation and exchange of data with other genealogy researchers regardless of degrees of relationship. It is for this reason that we offer data so far collected here to you, family history researchers, hoping you will find a link, and we another relative or friend.
Hope Hillier Michael and Jerry Michael
THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF SURNAME HILLIER
(Abridged from Hall of Names, Great Britain, Hillier Coat of Arms. Courtesy of Peter Hillier, Rugby, England. Copy of original on file).
The history of the most ancient Anglo/Saxon surname of Hillier reaches far into the chronicles of the Saxon race. The Saxon Chronicle, compiled by monks in the 10th century, now reposes in the British Museum.
Different spellings were encountered in the research of (Hillier) name: Hilliard, Hilyard, Hillard, Hildheard, and these variations in spelling frequently occurred between father and son. Scribes and church officials, often traveling long distances, ... frequently spelt the names phonetically. As a result, the same person would be recorded differently on birth, baptismal, marriage and death certificates.
The Saxon race gave birth to many English surnames ... including that of Hillier. The Saxons were invited into England by the ancient Britons of the 4th century. A fair skinned people their home was the Rhine valley, some as far northeast as Denmark. They were led by two brothers, General/Commanders Hengist and Horsa. The Saxons settled in the county of Kent on the southeast coast of England. Gradually, they spread north and westward, and during the next four hundred years forced the Ancient Britons back into Wales and Cornwall in the west, and Cumberland to the north. Under Saxon rule England prospered under a series of High Kings, the last of which was Harold.
The Hillier name emerged as an influential name in the county of Yorkshire. They were anciently descended from Robert Hilheard of Normanby in Yorkshire recorded in the 1109. Robert was Lord of the manor of Normanby and the family later branched to Patrington in Yorkshire, Wynestead, and the East Horsely in the county of Surrey. They also branched to Flintham in Nottingham where Thomas Hildyard was High Sheriff of Nottingham.
During the turbulent years of Cromwellianism, many English families, persecuted, emigrated or were banished for religious reasons. Members of the family name Hillier sailed aboard the huge armada of three masted sailing ships known as the "White Sails" which plied the stormy Atlantic. These overcrowded ships such as the Hector, the Dove, and Rambler, were pestilence ridden, many of the passengers never reaching their destination.
Among the first settlers in North America, which could be considered a kinsman of the surname Hillier, was John and Gregory Hilliard who settled in Virginia in 1623; Charles Hilliard, also in Virginia in 1635; George Hilliard settled in Virginia in 1659; William Hilliard settled in Boston in 1635; Samuel Hilliard settled in Maryland in 1741.
From the port of entry many settlers made their way west. During the American War of Independence, many loyalists made their way north to Canada about 1790 and became known as the United Empire Loyalists.
************************************
Notes on early migratory settlements in Newfoundland.
From the early 16th century, fishing ships sailed to Newfoundland from France, Spain, and Portugal each spring, returning in the fall with their catch of salted codfish. The island, with southern Labrador where Spanish Basques caught whales, was an extension of Europe, a fishing station. Late in the 16th century the Iberian fisheries at Newfoundland declined. Their place was taken by ships from the southwestern counties of England. As a result, the 17th century Newfoundland fishery came to be divided between France and England. The fisheries were economically important to both countries, and they were also thought to be a vital component of national strength because they trained seamen.
Control of te Newfoundland fisheries was an issue in the wars between Britain and France which began in the late 17th century. The result was a formal division of the fishery. Britain assumed sovereignty over the island in 1713, and by 1763 over all Acadia, Cape Breton, and Canada. France retained the right to fish in season on the so-called French Shore, and was ceded the nearby islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon as a base for fishing on the banks.
Englishmen dominated the Newfoundland fishery during the 18th century. Migratory fishing ships still sailed back and forth, but increasingly merchants purchased the fish from resident planters, settlers who had made Newfoundland their home, and sold them goods in return. Warfare stimulated this trend until, by the end of the Anglo-French wars in 1815, the fishery was almost totally in the hands of Newfoundland settlers.
(Bill Crant, NFLD-LAB, Feb 5, 1998, source omitted).
