Quote Originally Posted by Sir Grunt View Post
Your story seems very close to my own. I have found that my family name of Hill is associated with the Grampain District( I belive that is what i read on a finder). so I'm off to the races I go.
Though I am still trying to find out more of the Name Downing. Being from the hills in KY , I could see the spelling and the pronunciation could have changed some over time.
According to Surname Profiler http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Surnames.aspx -the most reliable thing of its kind that I have seen yet as to locations of Welsh, Scots and English surnames---Hill originates mostly in southwest England, in Cornwall and Devon and environs, with some around the Hereford, Worchester, Dudley as well as Doncaster areas. Almost none are in Scotland.


Downing is also an English name, being found in Cornwall and the southwest, and also like Hill in the Midlands near the Welsh border and Doncaster, as well as in Anglia.