For
over one hundred years the Hilton
Family lived in the small village of
Folkington on the edge of
the Sussex downs. Henry
Hilton had arrived in the village before 1776, the year he married Ann
Earle. The Earle family were tenants
of the manor, owning a small piece of land on Swine Hill. The land
passed down to Ann Earle on the death of her Father with the proviso
that she must pay her niece the sum of £200 when she reached her 21st
birthday. In order to pay this debt the land was sold. The Hilton family
was poor, with two of Henrys children being registered as paupers in the
parish register. Henry's youngest son Edward married Caroline
Richardson. Their eldest son was the first in a long line of William
Hiltons. He married Phoebe Dennis in 1844.
The Dennis family were also long time
residents in Folkington .
Phoebe's parents, Edward and Amelia, are buried near the main gate of
Folkington Churchyard, where their gravestone is one of a few remaining
from the period. William and Phoebe had eleven children. In the 1870's,
the family moved from Folkington, seeking work in nearby Eastbourne.
Caroline was one of the last Hiltons in Folkington, dying in the Alms
house in 1874.
Other families linked to the Hilton Family include
Robinson and
Griffin.
