John George Hill Roberts

John George Hill (known as George) was the son of John William and Sarah Grace Roberts (née Skepper). His father John William was born in Barlings, Lincolnshire, in 1870, the son of Thomas Hill Roberts, a woodcutter, and his wife Sarah Matilda (née Land m. 1862). In 1891 the family was living in Stainton by Langworth; John, like his father, was a woodcutter. His mother Sarah Grace was born in Fiskerton, Lincolnshire, in 1877 (reg. Grace Sarah), the daughter of Joshua Thomas and Mary Ann Skepper. John William and Sarah Grace were married at Lowick parish church in June 1895 and had five children, two of whom died in infancy or childhood. Their surviving children were Grace May b. Thrapston, Northamptonshire 1896, John George Hill b. Graythaite, Ulverstone, Lancashire b. 11 February 1898 and Kathleen Mary b. Mostyn, Holywell, Flintshire (Wales) 1904 bap. Pentreffynnon. A second son, Roderick Albert, was born in Holywell in 1902, bap. Pentreffynnon 1902, and died in 1905 (reg. Holywell). The second child who did not survive childhood was probably a daughter, Edith, who was born in Holywell in 1900 and died the same year. John and Sarah were living in Northamptonshire in 1896 but had moved to Ulverstone, Lancashire by the time of John George's birth two years later. It is likely that the couple had moved to Flintshire by 1900, where their three youngest children were born, and lived at Pentre‐ffyddion, Whitfield, Holywell. John snr., a forester (foreman) was still living in Pentre at the time of the 1901 Census. However, his wife and their three surviving children, Grace, John and Kathleen, were living with his parents, Thomas and Sarah Roberts, at Woodside, Stainton by Langworth. As John and Sarah later settled in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, it is likely that she and their children were living with John's parents as a temporary arrangement while John completed his time with his employer in Wales before taking up a position on the Welbeck estate. The family was recorded on the 1911 Census at Clipstone Archway, Edwinstowe, Newark; John snr. was a forester/woodsman (foreman). Records show that John George was educated at Prestatyn and Mansfield then on leaving school became an apprentice carpenter, possibly on the Welbeck estate. John's parents together with his sister Kathleen were still living at The Archway, Edwinstowe, in 1921. The eldest daughter, Grace, was living in Sutton cum Lound, East Retford, in the household of William and Florence Woods and their son Alfred (b. 1902) whom Grace married at Sutton cum Lound parish church in 1923. John and Sarah were recorded at The Archway, Edwinstowe, in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled; John snr. was still working as a forester (foreman). Also in the household was their married daughter Grace Mary Woods and her two children Roderic (b. 1926) and Grace (b. 1928). John William has not yet been traced after 1939 but his wife Sarah Grace had moved to Horncastle, Lincolnshire, by the time of her death in 1965 (probate awarded to her married daughter, Grace Woods, d. Hucknall, Nottingham, 1989). Kathleen Mary has not yet been traced after 1921 but may have returned to Wales.