RootsChat.Com

I did caveat on my very first entry on this thread that I had asked about Eliphalet on a previous chat some time ago.

I came here to ask about John Hill and the Coffee House and not Eliphalet, it has just evovled in to that and I had no idea that would be frowned upon. I am desperate to learn more about my family history and have asked for help from people who are much more knowledgeable about these subjects than I am. I was very open about my Ancestry subscription lapsing and asking for help to learn more.

I am clearly not au fait with the roots chat/etiquette and I now feel suitably scolded for that. I shall find a more relaxed place to ask for help in the future. Thanks to all who contributed.

Sorry, AlanBoyd, that we made it such a long read since your last posts...Although I have been mapping many coffee houses, locations etc. from several replies, and they are a pretty walkable circle of just 1.5 hrs...We are pretty sure now that there is no direct family line link to the coffee house owners. He was in the trade, though...so you never know if a kind relative may have helped him out by giving him a job as coffee roaster. Times were so tough back then, and lives were short. Sadly, having died in a workhouse, he would have nothing to leave & no will to trace family. 

Map of some approx. locations mentioned in posts
 (w. approx. Flower & Dean & Castle Place on right near their church)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xxKk3BLwyaoKpFbC6

 Littlebn20, missing something...when was he a bricklayer?

I think that he was a bricklayer on the 1841 census in Flower & Dean Street. He was certainly a Coffee Roaster on a marriage certificate. I will try to track it down!

Still all very speculative as to whether or not he is actually my John Hill or not and the more I hear about him, the less likely I think it is as my Hill's don't appear to have come from money at all. What I know for certain is that Eliphalet Hill was born in 1805 to John Hill and Susannah, address on baptism given as New Castle Street in Shoreditch. It is not clear from my research if John and Susannah had any other children. The Witnesses on Eliphalet's marriage record to Mary Wright are William and Sarah Sadler. There was a Susannah Sadler born to William & Sarah Sadler in 1773 in Shoreditch, so have established that this likely the Susannah that was Eliphalet's mother. That's basically all I have got. Eliphalet Hill is seemingly the only Eliphalet in London in that period. I have been pondering on the unusual name for years. I have no Jewish ancestry, but it is very much a Hebrew name, pronounced Ihl-ah-falet.

UPDATE: Sophia Hill - Born to John & Susannah, Whitechapel 1798
              Sarah Hill - Born to John & Susannah, Whitechapel 1802
              John Hill - Born to John & Susannah, Whitechapel 1803

Does anyone have access to birth records to check these records for address/father occupation?

Oh, to be a fly on the wall! I had no idea that coffee was such a big commodity back then. Learning new things on this journey all the time!