Vicar of Dunlop, Ayrshire, Scotland
SOURCES: LDS FHL Ancestral File # (familysearch.org)
AWTP:
"FAMILY FILE OF REN NEVILLE" Ren Neville beschutzer@@earthlink.net (who has generously provided the following narrative at AWTP):
"From Burke's Extinct Peers for Viscount Clanboye, they start the lineage with the father of the 1st viscount: "The Rev Hans Hamilton, vicar of Dunlop, Ayrshire, b. 1539; m. Margaret Denham, dau of the laird of Weshiels and dying 30 May 1608, left ...." and in a footnote to Hans H: "In the churchyard of Dunlop there is a tomb erected to his memory and on a flag-stone in the floor is the following inscription:-- "Here lies Hans Hamilton, vicar of Dunlop, who deceased the 30th May, 1608, at the age of 72 years; and Janet Denham his spouse." Under a marble arch, within two pillars of the composite order, in front are two statues kneeling on a marble monument, in the attitude of devotion, and habited according to the fashion of the times. There is also a long inscription on a marble slab in the wall, stating that he was the son of Archibald Hamilton of Raploch, and that his wife was Janet, 2nd dau. of Denholme, of Westshiels; that they lived together forty-five years, during which time he had served the cure of the church."
TFPL, Jan 2002: It is clear that he was born John, otherwise Johannes and so became known as Hans. He was the illegitimate son of Archibald with a brother also Archibald; the Register of the privy Seal of Scotland Volume IV has the following for 5th March 1553.54: "Preceptum Legitimationis ARCHIBALDI HAMMYLTOUN, JOHANNIS alia HANNIS HAMMYLTOUN, filiorum naturalium Archibaldi Hammyltoun de Raploch; WILELMI HAMMYLTOUN, KENTIGERNI HAMMYLTOUN, filiorum naturalium quondam Thome Hammyltoun de Raploch; ALEXANDRI HAMMYLTOUN, filii naturalis quondam Jacobi Hammyltoun de Stanehous; GEORGII BRONE, filii naturalis Johannis Broun in Auchlochane; et Jacobi Mowat, filii naturalis Thome Mowat in Castaris; in communa forma, etc. Per Signnetum. xxvi. 66." - all very cogent... "Archaeological and Historical Collections relating to the Counties of Ayr and Wigton", vol IV, pub 1884, has a chapter on the parish of Dunlop and gives some details of Hans: Hans was almost certainly the first vicar after the Reformation, being appointed in 1563. In 1574 He was reader, which he continued until 1596. 1606: he was unable to serve the cure [of souls] and was replaced. 1608, May 30th: he died. His and Janet's children were, six sons James, Archibald, Gavin, John, William and Patrick and one daughter Jean. All the sons went to Ireland, the eldest sent by James VI in 1587 for the purpose of keeping up a correspondence with the protestants of that kingdom. For further details, see their own entries. Probably some time after Hans' and Janet's deaths, their eldest son James, by then Viscount Clandeboyes (I), erected a splendid memorial to his parents. It is called the Picture House and is a building separate from the church. Hans and Janet are buried therein, under the floor, and at the end of the apartment there is a monument of two kneeling figures, in the dress of their time and facing one another [obviously a fashion that stretched from Dunlop in the North to Whitchurch in the South]. On the basis that James became lord Clandeboyes in 1622 and died in 1643, this memorial building must have been built between those two dates.
OTHER SOURCES: LDS FHL Ancestral File # (familysearch.org)
AWTP:
"Ballard-Willis Family Tree" Mark Willis Ballard mwballard52@@yahoo.com
Hans Hamilton 
