Edward
Hilton
Born in Northwich, Cheshire, England
Son of William Hilton
and Ellen (Mainwaring) Hilton
Brother of
Elizabeth Hilton, Amy Hilton, Margaret Hilton, William Hilton Sr, John Hilton and Richard Hilton
Husband of
Unknown (Unknown) Hilton
— married
about 1629 in England [uncertain]
[uncertain] Husband of
Catherine (Shapleigh) Hilton
— married
after 3 Oct 1651 in Exeter, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]
Descendants [uncertain] 
Father of
William Hilton, Edward Hilton, Sobriety (Hilton) Moulton, Susanna (Hilton) Palmer, Samuel Hilton and Charles Hilton
Died before
before age 74
in Exeter, Norfolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony
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[send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], Jack Wise [send private message], and Jerry Kezar [send private message]Profile last modified
| Created 13 Sep 2010
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| Edward Hilton migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 2, p. 947) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Contents |
Biography
Edward (bp. 1596 Northwich, Cheshire - d. Oct 1670/Mar 1671 Dover or Exeter, NH.[1]), is the son of William Hilton.[1]
Edward was christened 9 June 1596 at Witton-cum-Twambrooks, Cheshire, England, son of William Hilton. [2]
His family were north sea fishermen and had a monopoly on salt, which was needed to preserve the fish.
Siblings
Edward’s brothers William and Richard also came to America; William Hilton is on the 1621 passenger list the Fortune, the first ship to arrive after the Mayflower.[3] Noyes writes: "The historian Hubbard's statement that Edward and William were brothers, however, seems unquestionable."[4]
Immigration
He came to America in 1628 as part of the Fishmongers Company. He made a return trip to England in 1629, which may be when he married. He came back to New England in 1630, when he was granted land.
Marriage
Edward's first wife, name unknown, died after about 1642. He married Catherine Shapleigh after July 6, 1650.[1]
Edward's children were:[1]
- Edward, b about 1629
- William, b about 1631
- Sobriety, b about 1632
- Susanna, b about 1633
- Samuel, b about 1640
- Charles, b about 1642
Occupation
Edward held various offices. He was magistrate of the Piscataqua Court in the 1660s.
Death
He died in New Hampshire, leaving four sons: Edward, William, Samuel, and Charles, and daughters Mary, Sobriety, and Susanna
Research Notes
This Edward Hilton (1596-bef.1671), son of William may be confused with Edward Hilton (abt. 1600-), son of Charles. Both lay claim to being Edward Hilton, London fishmonger, later of Dover, New Hampshire, brother of William Hilton, also a fishmonger, pioneers on the Piscataqua River.
Disputed identity: The Edward Hilton (abt.1600-) presented as son of Charles Hilton (bef.1565-bef.1612) is in dispute with Edward Hilton (1596-bef.1671) (subject of this profile), and the evidence is inconclusive. Until recently, the accepted genealogical wisdom was that Edward Hilton, London fishmonger freeman in 1921, and later pioneer of the Piscataqua River and Dover, New Hampshire was this man, Edward Hilton (1596-bef.1671), son of William Hilton of Witton (bef.1545-bef.1605). Recently, that theory was brought into doubt with the discovery of a record from "Boyds Inhabitants of London". Edward's documentary connection to the Charles Hilton household is limited to two mentions on a two-page record; he is first noted nine years after Charles had passed, and mentioned again twenty years later. Probably it was his last known address in England. By contrast, there are at least three records connecting Charles son, Paul Hilton, to his parents, his household, his education, his maternal cousin, and maybe even his burial in the St Botolph's. Moreover, while brother Paul was made a freeman by patrimony, Edward was by service. (Patrimony is open only to legitimate and natural children of a male Freeman who was born after their parent's own Freedom admission.) Instead, it has been proposed and circulated that, the Edward Hilton who is mentioned in "Boyds Inhabitants of London" is actually a relation who had been taken in by Charles, one Edward Hilton of Northwich, whose father, William Hilton of Witton, died in 1605, and whose mother died in 1606 and left him an orphan at a tender age. The specifics of the relationship between Charles and William of Witton remain uncertain, they are thought to have been cousins. To be clear, there is no evidence that the Edward Hilton named in the Boyds record is a son of Charles Hilton. There are no birth records for any of Charles Hilton's children
Fishmonger
Edward was a fishmonger.
According to Noyes, Edward Hilton was apprenticed to Marie Hilton, widow of Charles Hilton of London, he was admitted to the Fishmongers Co on 9 Apr 1621.[4]
Edward Hilton was granted freeman, by service, attested by Marie Hilton (widow), on 10 Aug 1621, admitted and sworn to the Fishmonger's Guild. Edward Hilton and Thomas Roberts are listed as "in New England" in the 1641 Fishmongers tax roll of London.[5][6]
Edward Hilton and Thomas Roberts are the top Fishmongers on the "List of Emigrant Liverymen of London, in 1641". They are noted as "in New England", before Henry Watts and William Dyer.[7]
Charles Hilton household
In a record from "Boyds Inhabitants of London", the family of Charles Hilton includes mention of Edward and Paul, made freeman in 1621 (by service) and freeman in 1619 (by patrimony), respectively. Also noted on the opposite leaf, "Edward Hilton FISH 1641 poll tax New England".[8]
Mythical Descent
As for the spurious royal descent, see "Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire" (p. 133) which says,
- "The American Hiltons, like the Drakes and the Webbers, have been victims of a ?missing heir--estate in Chancery' fraud. The legend went that the last Baron Hilton (of co. Durham),[9] had d. a bachelor and that, as his two brothers, William and Edward, had emigrated, the estate was in Chancery. About 1885 Nathan Hilton, a magistrate of Yarmouth. N. S., collected a fund and hired ?a woman in London to search the matter out' (letter of Capt. B. R. Hilton. 1924). This woman, identity unkn., in order to connect the co. Durham family with the two brothers in London and America, must have invented probate records of two estates, ?Ralph Hilton, 1602,' and ?Roger Hilton, 1619.' Exhaustive searches by Mr. Hassam (1873-4), Col. Banks (1924) and the best professional Col. Banks knew, employed by him when he returned to America, failed to find any trace of ?Ralph' and ?Roger.' They did, however, find over thirty contemp. records supporting the origin of the American emigrant brothers in Northwich, co. Chester. The baronial pedigree was pub. in the Yarmouth Herald, Mar. 22-29, Apr. 5-12, 1898, and will doubtless charm the credulous for years to come."
Miscellaneous. A prior verion of this profile included, "A bio note from "MA Bay Settlers," referencing MA Bay Settlers, "Mr. Edward Hilton Born x 5 Jun 1596; Died wp 6 Mar 1670/71; English Origin Northwich, Cheshire; London; Came to New England 1628; Resided in Dover, ME; Freeman of MBC; Occupation fish merchant; First Spouse Katherine SHAPLEIGH (widow Treworgy) (1600 - 1676); Children Edward, William, Sobriety, Susanna, Samuel, Charles; Second Spouse Frances _____ (c1618 - p1688); Children Mannering, Agnes, William (Oops. This same second wife and children are also given to brother William at the site.)"
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, I-III, 3 vols., paginated continuously (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 947-951 (Edward Hilton) at 949; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
- ↑ England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XX63-QFJ?i=37
- ↑ From Vickie Elam White, Genforum: These brothers were sons of William Hilton of Northwich, Cheshire. Anderson, II:947-57 has excellent biographical sketches of these men.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Water Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, Maine, Southworth Press [originally in 5 parts, paginated consecutively], 1928-1938; rpt, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012), 331-332 (1-Edward Hilton); digital images, InternetArchive (borrow).
- ↑ Fredric Z. Saunders. "The Roberts Family of Woolstone". See esp. footnote 23 (items 1-4), which cites source documents of the Fishmonger's Guild at Guildhall Library London, Aldermanbury, London. (Link via the Wayback Machine, capture date 26 Nov 2018) https://web.archive.org/web/20181126150136/http://home.netcom.com/~fzsaund/roberts.html
- ↑ Jeanie Roberts, "Thomas Roberts of Woolaston, Gloucester and Dover, New Hampshire 1600-1673," The Family Connection, blog post of 5 January 2013; web content, jeaniesgenealogy.com (Accessed 18 Apr 2023) https://www.jeaniesgenealogy.com/2013/01/thomas-roberts-of-woolaston-gloucester.html
- ↑ Waters, H. F. (Henry Fitz-Gilbert)., New England Historic Genealogical Society. The New England historical and genealogical register. [Boston, etc.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, etc.]. p.199. (Accessed 26 Apr 2023) HathiTrust
- ↑ Boyd's Inhabitants of London. [24106] Edward Hilton (Accessed 25 April 2023)
- ↑ Note that there were only 2 Baron Hiltons (by writ). The last was Alexander Hilton (d. 1361), 2nd Baron Hilton, who m.1 Eleanor Felton (mother of Robert c. 1339 - 1376); and m.2 Maud Emeldon. His descendants were not peers.
See also--
- Bell, C.H. (1889). History of the Town of Exeter, New Hampshire, pp. 27. Astor Place, NY: J.J. Little & Co. Googe Books.
- Fitts, J.H. (1912). History of Newfields, New Hampshire, 1638-1911. Archive.org
- "History of Dover, New Hampshire: containing historical, genealogical and industrial data of its early settlers, their struggle," (2005). Ancestry.com.
- Libby, C.T. (n.d.). Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, III, p. 331. PDF.
- "New England Marriages to 1700," (2008). NEHGS, AmericanAncestors.org.
- data for both marriages; see edition: "New England Marriages Prior to 1700," (2015). NEHGS, 2, p. 760. Boston, MA.
- Scales, J. (1919). "Hilton, Edward, 1595 - 1671," in Piscataqua pioneers, 1623-1775, pp. 108-111. Archive.org.
- Wilbur D Spencer. “Pioneers on Maine Rivers”, Genealogical Publishing Company Inc, Baltimore. 1973. pp.42, 50, 59, 65, 68, 74-75, 83-84, 104-105, 111, 112, 113, 135, 174, 394. https://archive.org/details/pioneersonmainer00spen/page/42/mode/1up
- Find A Grave: Memorial #40767648 (Accesssed 18 Apr 2023)
- Wheelwright Deed (1629)
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Edward by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Edward by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
- Jack Hilton
:
Family Tree DNA Y-DNA Test 111 markers, haplogroup I-P37, FTDNA kit #MK63198
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Rejected matches › James Edward Hilton › Edward Hilton › Edward Hilton (abt.1842-1930) › Edward Houlton (1596-) › Edward Hilton (1597-)
Featured National Park champion connections: Edward is 12 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 18 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 11 degrees from George Catlin, 15 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 22 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 12 degrees from George Grinnell, 21 degrees from Anton Kröller, 13 degrees from Stephen Mather, 19 degrees from Kara McKean, 14 degrees from John Muir, 14 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 25 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Maybe I don't understand how to move a rejection back into the Merge column.
In any case. We now have one less stray duplicate version of Edward Hilton.
Courtesy of Ann Browning and Murray Maloney, I have seen the Boyd's record, later compiled/apparent card index type entry.
On the left leaf is entry is about "Edward Hilton, FISH 1641 poll tax New England." Right leaf has separate and/or expanded entry headed Charles Hilton "1590," seems a number 24106. This Charles Hilton is "citizen & fishmonger ... Com Scy Index I 3/5 wife Mary orphans 4." Immediately below appears,
This record and any related work also impacts on WikiTree's William Hilton Sr (abt.1590-bef.1656) (now linked as Edward Hilton's brother; both are sons of WikiTree's William Hilton of Witton (abt.1550-bef.1605) and Ellen (Mainwaring) Hilton (1562-1606).
Perhaps one or more space pages would better support what could be on-going research about this item. There would likely be bits of only possibly related research we'd want to capture. No doubt this involves accessing both New England and old England records across multiple platforms, including multiple subscription sites.
Any takers?--Gene
Reference--Murray Maloney, "Re: Thomas Roberts to G2G," email to GeneJ of 25 April 2023, citing "Boyd's Inhabitants of London," courtesy of Ann Browning; personal email archive.
Arthur Hilton who left in a Will appears to have been born in Davenham but father is John who is a brother of Charles I believe as both of their father’s names is George.
Charles wife was Mary and a Mary Hilton widow is mentioned in the Fishmongers’ records to do with Edward Hilton’s freedom I think - I may be misremembering the exact details.
Charles appears to have had a son William there is a baptism record for a William Hilton with father Charles at Davenham. William may be a half brother as Arthur and William seem to be much older than Edward so their mother may have died and Charles remarried.
Unfortunately Charles must have been very sick when he wrote his will as it is very brief and children are not named.
Of course Hilton is not an uncommon name so Charles Hilton may be from somewhere else entirely
My gut feeling which could be very wrong is that Edward is a son of Charles Hilton not William.
Ann
edited by Murray Maloney
Edited to add: I would expect that creating bibliographic notes about the vast number of New England records would be part of this work.
edited by GeneJ X
There is no proof that this Edward had a brother William Hilton. This relationship has been claimed by most genealogies, but there is no contemporary record of it. William Hilton-18 had a brother Edward, but nothing links that Edward to the Fishmongers. It appears the two have been conflated.
Charles Hilton-5009 of Cheshire, also had sons William, Edward and Richard, but the relationship of these to the rest of the family is not established. Research on the profiles of the Charles Hiltons of Cheshire and of London is ongoing. Unless this brings up more yet-undiscovered facts, my view is that Edward Hilton the Fishmonger, the immigrant of this profile, was the son of Charles Hilton-5018.
1) We do not have birth records of Paul and Edward, we only have a record indicating that they were members of that household after the death of Charles. Paul was freeman in 1619 by paternity, and Edward in 1621 by service; why? An implication of this is that the Edward at Charles home, after his death, is his nephew Edward Hilton of Northwich, son of William of Witton. This is theory a that you brought to our attention.
2) Your 2nd paragraph is hard to parse. The first sentence "no proof that this Edward had a brother William". The third sentence "Hilton-18 had a brother Edward". This comment is in the profile of Edward, brother of Hilton-18. So, when I change my assumptions, then the second sentence is saying that there are no records that London fishmonger Charles, father of Edward, had son William. The truth is that there are no records that London Charles had a son named Edward, only a school admission record for son Paul. But there are records that Cheshire Charles Hilton had sons William and Edward.
3) The household record of Charles Hilton of London indicates that wife Marie left with 4 orphans. Charles Hilton of Cheshire is named on birth records of four children. I have not ruled out Charles Hilton-5009 being the same person as Charles Hilton-5018. In which case, Charles would have sons Edward and William, diminishing the credibility of the "Edward as nephew theory". If only we could find Edward Hilton's apprenticeship record.
This may be a lengthy process we are all conjecturing at the moment. However the fact that Edward had a son Charles and a daughter Susannah (we found a burial record for a Susannah daughter of Charles) seems to point to the emigrant being the son of Charles. Ann
I believe the Boyds record is evidence that Fishmonger Edward was a son of Charles, but not conclusive evidence. I think Boyds would have listed him as "apprentice" if he were not. They way they do those lists is for children. Servants, forex, would not be there.
We now have Mary Bradbent as Charles' wife, and her brother's Will confirming it - still working on this - but it adds 3 daughters to the mix. I will be adding this profile sometime today. I don't believe we're ready to merge the 2 Edward profiles yet, but I still have confidence that H-5013 is the immigrant Fishmonger.
edited by Murray Maloney
As I read the the extended notes for that poll tax record of 1641, from the right side of the film, it looked to me as though the genealogical suggestions were prefaced by a question mark.
Do you read those extended notes in the same way? --Gene
edited by GeneJ X
Reference--
edited by GeneJ X
My point is - we have seen no primary, contemporary sources to indicate that William and Edward were brothers. All the claims to this effect appear to be conjectural, based on the conflation of names. Did William leave a Will naming Edward as his brother? Did William's son call Edward "the petitioner's brother" or the unrelated "Mr Edward Hilton?" Why would he not claim the relationship? In letters to Winthrop, does either Hilton refer to the other as his brother? This is the sort of evidence we should be looking for.
Edited to add: "... it can take some work, but it is generally worth it.
Edited to add: You wrote, "It also relies on Hubbard ..." As I read the entries, the authors refute Hubbard. See the particular quote from GDMNH 334 (William), in Anderson's comments at p. 950 (Edward), "[t]he historian Hubbard cared little about the eastern country, and his paragraph about the founding of N.H. ... is mostly false."
edited by GeneJ X
Ann
I created one as Hilton Research 2023, It's possible we may need more.
Gave it a very basic outline, including one section, "Theories of Parentage." It does have a sources section, so inline citations/reference notes will report.
edited by Murray Maloney
What can you tell us about Hilton brothers salt business? I understand that it was downriver from Hilton's Point, closer to the mouth of the river.
http://catalogue.cheshirearchives.org.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DLT%2f2%2f2%2f16%2f1%2f1&pos=37
Ann
Ann