1756 - 1813

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• Birth	EST 1756	Connecticut (probably)
  Gender	Male
  Died	Bef 28 Jun 1813	Nassau, Rensselaer County, New York
  Person ID	I76747	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	03 Jan 2005 00:00:00
  Father	Joshua HILLARD, b. 27 Oct 1719, Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island
  Mother	Esther BURGESS, b. 27 Jul 1725, Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island
  Family ID	F32872	Group Sheet
  Family	Lydia HUDSON, b. Abt 1772
  Married	Bef 1790
  Children	1. William HILLIARD, b. Bef 1790   2. Clarissa HILLIARD, b. Bef 1790, New York   3. David HILLIARD, b. Bef 1790, New York   4. Louisa (Lydia) HILLARD, b. 29 Apr 1793, New York   5. Richard HILLIARD, b. 4 Jul 1800, Chatham, Columbia County, New York   6. Sarah A. HILLIARD, b. Aft 1800, New York
  Family ID	F32871	Group Sheet

• Notes

  At one time I believed he was the probable son of Benoni and Martha (Lord) Hillard. That was proven to be false. Hence, now I believe that he is the possible son of Joshua and Esther (Burgess) Hillard. In 1810 census of Renssalaer County, NY has a David Hilliard, 01101-12001 From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 18 SEP 1927. Ancestral Exchange, by Roger Waldridge. "The leading article last week told of a search which was successful after many years. This week shows the reverse of the medal- a quest, so far unsuccessful, for the ancestry of Richard Hilliard, pioneer merchant, ninth 'president' of the village of Cleveland, father of Cleveland's waterworks system, joint promoter of the first railway connecting Cleveland and Cincinnati. The obituary in the Plain Dealer of December 22, 1856, stated he was a native of Vermont. Other accounts, for which authority is not shown, but which are accepted by descendants as in line with family tradition, state that he was born in Chatham, Columbia County, New York, July 4, 1800, son of David Hilliard and his wife Lydia, daughter of Elisha and Susannah (Brigham) Hudson, of Marlborough, Massachusetts; that David Hilliard died about 1814, and that Richard had an older brother living in Skaneateles, New York, and a sister Sarah, who married Orlando Cutter of Cleveland. What do the official records show? First, let us orient ourselves. Columbia county, created out of Albany county in 1786, lies directly south of Rensselaer county. Chatham was created in 1795 out of parts of Canaan and Kinderhook. It lies in the northern part of Columbia county, not far from Nassau, Rensselaer. The census of 1790 shows David Hilliard as head of a family numbering one 'free white male of 16 years and upward, including heads of family,' two males under 16 and four females. Search of the county records disclosed nothing as to David Hilliard's origin. The probate record at Troy show that David Hilliard, late of Nassau, died prior to 28 JUN 1813, on which date his widow Lydia Hillard, then of Chatham, relinquished her right to administer her signature being witnessed by Clarissa Hillard; and that William Hillard, in his application for letters of administration, stated that he was the eldest son, and that there were five other children, of whom one, 'a female,' was of adult age. The records of the Dutch Church of Nassau show the marriage June 6, 1811, of Lydia Hillard to David Wickham, Jr. These are not many facts to build upon. At least we can construct the family of David Hilliard: Lydia, his widow; William, eldest son and administrator; Clarissa, of age in 1813; David of Skaneateles (Onondago County land records); Lydia, wife of David Wickham, Jr.; Richard and Sarah, later of Cleveland. But of the origin of David (1) there was not found the semblance of a record. Descendants of the early Massachusetts Hilliards, reordered under a dozen variants of the name, were located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. William Hilliard of Duxbury, Massachusetts, founded the Rhode Island family, whereof scions settled in Stonington, Connecticut; and some of their descendants migrated to New Hampshire and Vermont. Local records at all the likely places were searched; one David after another was eliminated until the sole remaining possibility of all those found was David Hilliard, born in Stonington, Connecticut, February 17, 1767, son of Isaac and Victory (Coats) [Victoria Coates]. This David would have been 23 years old in 1790. Lydia (Hudson) Hilliard, if she was an unrecorded daughter of Elisha and Susannah (Brigham) Hudson, might have been 18 in 1790. Their ages were in line; but both were too young to have had the family accredited to David Hilliard of Canaan by the census of 1790, though some of Lydia's younger brothers and sisters may have made up the number recorded as of the household. Here, at least, was a possibility. But opposed to this are the following facts; Isaac and Victory disappear from the Stonington records; the census of 1790 shows an Isaac Hilliard, in Ashford, [Toland County], Connecticut; and David Hilliard of Ashford married September 20, 1792, Eunice Robinson of Coventry. Alas! After all, it looks very much as if the Isaac and David of Ashford were the husband and son of Victory (Coats) Hilliard of Stonington. The frequency of Connecticut and Rhode Island surnames in Chatham and Nassau, and the frequency of the baptismal name among the Connecticut and Rhode Island Hilliards, point strongly to the inference that David Hilliard of Chatham was of Connecticut origin. To identify him and to find his origin constitute a problem which may be solved, but which now lies within the realm of mystery.