First Generation:

Thomas Hilyard was born about 1750, place unknown, and died about 1817, probably in Fayette County, PA.. His wife, Mary --?--, was born about 1763, place unknown, and died in 1847 in Fairfield County, OH. She is buried at Mt. Zwingley Cemetery in Fairfield County, OH

Thomas's only confirmed residence was in German Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Fayette County is located on Pennsylvania’s southern border with West Virginia and Maryland, near the western edge of the state. It was formed in 1783 from Westmoreland County, which in turn was formed ten years earlier from Bedford County. Both of these locations are likely to yield further information on Thomas Hilyard’s earlier days.

Tax records exist for German Township as early as 1785. Thomas was living there at that time, having no land, but two horses and two cattle. The handwritten, microfilmed records are not labeled clearly, but a few years later Thomas was taxed for 160 acres of land. In subsequent years he had 120, 396, and 313 acres, and later, none. His occupation is noted as "joiner" and also as "H. carpenter", or house carpenter. A few years later, he picked up two acres which he maintained for a few years, then increased to five.

Here is a good time to point out the many spellings of the Hilyard name. Nearly every year of taxation, the name is spelled differently. Variations include Hillyard, Hilliard, Hiliard, Hillard, Hylard, and Hilgert.

Thomas’s possessions remained constant until his death, which occurred sometime between his taxation in 1817 and the appearance of his heirs on the list in 1818. Eventually, we learn Thomas’s wife’s name when she appears as a landowner and widow of Thomas. Here she is called Mary.

Tax records follow only the landowners, which generally were the adult males. To learn more about Thomas’s children, church records are a good starting point, as they kept records of births and baptisms, among other items. The first of such records is the "Baptism Index of the German Church Records, Lutheran and Reformed, of Fayette County and Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1783-1806", by Paul Miller Ruff. The first record to be found of Thomas’s children is a Susanna Hilgert, born to Thomas and Maria in 1786. In the records of "Jacobs Lutheran Church and Cemetery, 1793-1885" by Della Reagan Fischer, are entries for five more of Thomas’s children (Thomas’s wife is called Maria here): Elizabeth, Juliana, David, Isaac, and Samuel. Both Isaac and Samuel were baptized on the same day. The other children have only birth records. The parents of each of these children were Thomas and Maria Hiliard. Each child had different sponsors, who were, respectively: Jacob and Elizabeth Oster, Adam and Catherine Oster, Conrad and Catherine Hilegas, Henry and Maria Sprenkel, and John and Elizabeth Overdorf. These names may provide clues to additional relatives. Another child not mentioned here, but in the previously mentioned "Baptism Index" is Enoch, born in 1798. This is the same year David was born, and the two are numbered consecutively in the index. This suggests to me that they were twins.

Missing from this list is the next Hilyard in line, Thomas, who was born sometime around 1787. Why he was not in the baptism records is unknown. In the 1790 census of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Thomas Hillyard is listed as the head of household. Living there were two free white males over 16, two under 16, and two free white females. Thomas and Mary account for two of these people, Susanna the other female, and baby Thomas one of the males under 16. This leaves an unidentified male child and a male adult. Assuming Mary’s last child was Samuel, at the end of her childbearing years, she was probably born around 1760, making her 30 at the time of the census. Though not impossible for this male over 16 to be her son, it is improbable, and it can be assumed he was a relative or farm help. One scenario is that this was a widower with small child.

Very little is known about the senior Thomas since there were few records kept at the time of his death. Mary, however, lived another 30 years. She was taxed from 1821 to 1831 for a house and five acres. One by one, the family disappeared from the tax lists. The last remaining is Mary, in 1841, a widow with one cow. Her children had begun a migration out of Pennsylvania into Ohio. Son Thomas was in Fairfield County, Ohio by the time of the 1840 census. We can assume Mary followed her children. A gravestone in Rushcreek Township, Fairfield County, Ohio bears the name of Mary Hilyard, died 1847 aged 84 years. This puts her date of birth in 1763, very near the estimated 1760.

Children of Thomas and Mary --?-- Hilyard:

 
 
 





 
 
 

Census Information for Thomas and Mary Hilyard

1790 German Township, Fayette County, PA

Hillyard, Thomas, 2 males over 16 (Thomas and ?), 2 males under 16 (Thomas and ?), and 2 females (Mary and Susanna).

1800 German Township, Fayette County, PA

Heliard, Thomas, 3 males under 10 (David, Enoch, and ?), 1 male 10-16 (Thomas), 1 male over 45 (Thomas), 4 females under 10 (Susanna, Elizabeth, Julianna, and ?), and 1 female 26-45 (Mary).

1810 German Township, Fayette County, PA

Hilyard, Thomas, 2 males under 10 (Isaac and Samuel), 2 males 10-16 (Enoch and David), 1 male over 45 (Thomas), 1 female under 10 (Julianna), 1 female 10-16 (Elizabeth), 1 female 16-26 (Susanna), and 1 female over 45 (Mary).

1820 Fayette County, PA

Hilyard, Mary, 1 male 16-26 (Enoch or Samuel), 1 female 10-16 (?), 1 female 16-26 (Julianna), and 1 female 45 and up (Mary). Note that Isaac Hilyard was living alone in Union Borough, age 16-26.

1830 Fayette County, PA

Hillyard, Mary, 1 male 20-30, 1 female under 5, 1 female 20-30, and 1 female 60-70 (Mary).