My Old Ohio Home

Continued from Joseph and Agnes (Rennie), Hamilton of Ayrshire, Scotland.

In the last article we learned that the parents of Joseph Hamilton of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland, were John Hamilton and Jane Hazlett. What can we say about this couple?

The records say very little about them. Jane Hazlett was born about 1795 in Ireland. In 1841 she was living in Kilbirnie with her son Joseph (born 1818 in Ireland) and with a Mary Hamilton (born 1826 in Ireland).¹ And John Hamilton was a gardener by trade.²

I didn't find a death record for either John or Jane (Hazlett) Hamilton. From what I read at ScotlandsPpeople.gov.uk, the chances of finding one before 1855 are few and far between. The chances of learning anything except the person's name and place of death from the record, even if you do find it, are even less.

Some Guesses and Speculation

John Hamilton and Jane Hazlett probably met and married in Ireland. On Griffith's Valuation, taken in the 1860's, the surnames Hamilton and Hazlett occur together almost everywhere in Ulster, so that doesn't narrow things down much.

In 1851 there is a Jane Hamilton living with a James and Sarah Bain family in Kilbirnie. Jane, James, Sarah (age 43), and the three Bain children were all born in Ireland, the youngest in 1846. If this is the right Jane, and if Sarah is her daughter, then Jane Hazlett was born about 1790 instead of 1795.³ But Jane Hamilton is a common name, and the Bain couple have four other lodgers, so this Jane Hamilton easily could be someone else.

When we add the name Bain into the search on Griffith's Valuation, we find that the three names only occur together in County Armagh and in Belfast. I guess there weren't too many Bains in Ireland.

If all these guesses are true, then the timeline would look like this:

John Hamilton and Jane Hazlett may have been born in Ireland by at least 1790. They marry in Ireland by 1807 and raise at least three children, Sarah, Joseph, and Mary. Their oldest daughter Sarah marries James Bain by 1836 in Ireland and has three children of her own from 1836 to 1846. After Sarah Hamilton leaves the household, John, Jane, and their two other children move to Ayrshire. John dies there before 1841. Sometime after 1846, Sarah and James Bain and family also move to Ayrshire and Jane moves into their home.

I can see all this showing up on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org as gospel truth. It isn't, we're just guessing.

Conclusion

If you have read this article and the one preceding it, Joseph and Agnes (Rennie), Hamilton of Ayrshire, Scotland, you might also want to read the series of articles beginning with Preston Fields, of Pike County, Kentucky. Our Hamilton DNA matched a descendant of his on 37 of 37 markers. And see also the two articles beginning with Some Conclusions on the Hamilton DNA Research.

Footnotes

1. 1841 Census of Jane Hamilton household, Kilbirnie, Scotland, transcription only at ancestry.com
2. Joseph's death record, see preceding article for source details.
3. 1851 Census of James Bain household, Kilbirnie, Scotland, transcription only at ancestry.com:

James Bain 44, head, Ireland, labourer
Sarah Bain 43, wife, Ireland
Mary Bain 15, dau, Ireland
Joseph Bain 13, son, Ireland
John Bain 5, son, Ireland
Cathrine Cullen 46, lodger, Ireland
John Cullen 43, lodger, Ireland
Jane Hamilton 61, lodger, Ireland
Jane Berry 44, lodger, Ireland
William Berry 9, lodger, born Glasgow, Lanarkshire

Credits

The image of a DNA strand comes from Wikipedia:File:DNA orbit animated static thumb.png.