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Yes that's where I started - see the first post in this chain.
David's parents (Cyril's grandparents) must have moved from Ireland - married 1873.
cheers

I emailed some local newsdesks but none replied. Just in case, I wonder if anyone remembers the journalist Cyril Briggs or his Briggs family. Cyril is probably the man who died in 1992.

Tony Gubba's link with the Cyril Briggs Press Agency might ring some bells; the tendency of journalists to adopt noms de plume might obscure things.

thanks

A positive ID would help, but I suppose the man "John H Hill" on the Ballynure headstone (died 1926, bachelor age 83) must be John Houston Hill and an early son of John Hill of Hillmount, Ballyboley. At census times, he's probably the retired farmer in Holyrood Road (1901; a John Hill sold Hillmount in 1897) and the tea agent in Duncairn Gardens (1911); he dies (with the missionary David Boyd on the death reg) in Limestone Road, which is where Margaret Hill the music teacher lived. 

To recap - and distinguish some of the many places called Hillmount - let's call HM#1 the one near the carn or cairn field by Upper Ballyboley school, and a bit north of Hills Bridge at Lower Ballyboley; convenient access between these two areas was at issue in the violent 1870s squabbles of John Hill and his Ballyboley neighbours. Press reports about John's disagreements with school management mention a teacher daughter - possibly Margaret above, though that is speculation.

Call the one in Drains near Larne HM#2 - this is presumably the one mentioned in the will of George Hill (died 1828). Call the one in Greenisland, also near the shore, where the unfortunate son William Hugh Hill shot himself, HM#3 - see Belfast News-letter 5 August 1906 for the auction ("There is a free Second Class Railway Ticket to Belfast attached").

Call the one near Cullybackey HM#4 - probably the best known, held for many years by the Frazer family (of Frazer & Haughton), and long ago by John Hill who met financial difficulties.

So what's the exact link between John Hill of Drumquin/Ballyboley and George&Mary? There are so many Hillmounts that a John Hill who calls his property Hillmount would get no attention for that alone; but in addition we see the solicitors McNeill and Fitzgibbon, and lease/mortgage dealings between John and George's widow Mary Hill...and this does get my attention.

Moreover and alarmingly I see that Fitzgibbon (by now Q.C. in the County Court) heard a case in Larne (Larne Times 26 October 1895) where William Hill claimed and the defendants counterclaimed.

"His Honour set one claim against the other and dismissed the case without costs" - jolly good.

William was acting as executor of his uncle William Howie. It is possible that all parties including His Honour were already acquainted. So, a supplementary question...can these Hills of Ballygowan be positively linked with the aforementioned John Hill, and with George & Mary? It is a bit late but I hope some reader(s) have followed the good work by Gilby, pablo1 et al. and found relevant papers, perhaps from legal records of Fitzgibbon and W W McNeill jr.

Good day

I'm trying this new thread because the "Hill family of Larne, Hillmount and Ballymena" thread has seen little recent activity, and because there is an Antrim/Tyrone overlap.

The schoolteacher John Hill of Ballyboley (c. 1813-1890, buried in Ballynure) appears as John Hill of:
- Drumquin / Upper Langfield, in Tyrone
- Hillmount, Ballyboley
- (I think) Bushmills - a teacher, 4th class, in the National Schools lists for 1852.

See Londonderry Standard 24 July 1867 for his son Samuel, a Customs official.
Another son shot himself in 1905 and is associated with yet another Hillmount:

Probate of the Will of William Hugh Hill late of Hillmount Greenisland County Antrim Superintendent of Works who died 30 December 1905 granted at Belfast to Andrew Sayers and William Gillespie Building Inspectors.

From the Ballynure inscriptions, John's father was Samuel Hill (died 24 April 1831 aged 78). Samuel's wife may be "Jennet" in the 1813 records, but may not be his first wife.

This John Hill is to be distinguished from his namesake and Ballyboley neighbour - also buried in Ballynure - the husband of Eliza Clements and father of S A Hill (Kipling's friend and host). But distinguishing the families is not always easy, especially as both families contained NS teachers. As usual, I and NIFHS colleagues will be most grateful if anyone knows further links - e.g. definite evidence about John's parents and grandparents, or about John's reliance on the solicitor William Walsh McNeill in his litigation. It is likely that WWM is important in the story - see the posts in the thread mentioned above. What was the family link, if any, between George & Mary Hill (of Larne, “Hillmount” etc.) and this John Hill (of Drumquin and the “Hillmount” residence in Ballyboley) ?

best wishes