Sorry Grandpa That’s Not The Way It Was

Many times I and others have bemoaned the fact that we did not pay more attention to family stories our grandparents told. Nuggets of information went missing that would have saved us hours of tedious research. But then again maybe not.
Grandpa used to love to tell me of his grandfather’s trek from southern England(on foot of course)to Glascow on his way to Upper Canada(Ontario). On the way he met a Scottish lass(his grandmother). A great tale worthy of a dime novel.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Hillman’s reached Upper Canada in either 1829 or 1830(they appear in the Upper Canada Census of 1851). That would make great great grandfather John nine or ten years old. Unlikely, then that he met his Scottish lass unless of course we are talking here of a precocious lad. He did marry Isabella May(Scottish natch!) probably between 1838-1839 as their eldest child was born in 1840. This time period can be a problem as you were married by a traveling preacher until such time as the community became large enough to build a church. Naturally not all of the records are online as of yet so that means searching through dusty tomes (if they can be found) in Toronto.
The Hillman’s in fact came from around the village of Westbury, Wiltshire, England. They immigrated to Upper Canada sometime around 1829 or 1830. Naturally, this being before 1867 lots of luck finding which ship, where they left England, or where they landed in Canada. By 1860 it becomes a little easier tracking them down.
Once you get into it though suddenly the social history of Canada starts to hit you and you begin to realize that all those years sweating through history books , lectures, and seminars often led you in the wrong direction. Fascinating!!