A Largs man who now lives in Sweden has made some surprising discoveries which could have come straight out of an episode of tv ancestry series 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
Christopher Hill, who is a secondary school teacher of English and Social Sciences, lives near Stockholm with wife Annica, and returns home every year to see his family including mum Valerie and twin sister Fiona.
The 42 year old has been eager to re-trace his family tree, and has carried out some detective work to find out about his ancestors.
Looking at library, church and old newspaper records, Christopher has been surprised to find that his great great great grandfather who used to live in Nelson Street, has a strong connection to the old Fife boatyard in Fairlie.
Race winners Stella and Cymba were designed and built at the famous boatyard, and the skipper of these boats was Robert McKirdy (1803-1854).
Christopher explained that it was particularly rare that he had managed to locate a photo of his ancestor, with friends even suggesting that they can see the family resemblance!
Looking back at his great great great grandfather, Christopher said: "He was very much a jack of all trades. It seems that you would need to do more than one job to make a living. He was a weaver, a fisherman, and it appears he was the first of the Clyde racing cutter skippers - a respected seaman who ended up cementing if not putting the Fife name on the map.
"He won at least two Queen's Cups off the coast of Ireland, and there is a story of him disappearing in the middle of the night with somebody's yacht, and the owner was really upset when he came back with it, but when he found out that Robert had won the race, quickly forgave him!"
His age was cut short by a cholera outbreak in Largs at the time and died at the age of 51.
Christopher has been looking for background on his great Uncle Archie Hill: "I know all about his brother Robert as he was my grandfather and he went to Greece in WW1.
"I went in to St Columba's Parish Church and there are two windows dedicated to Archie, and there was a photo of him in one of the clergy rooms. It certainly provides some goosebump moments.
"We know that he was fighting in France during the first World War, and we know that he survived and he served out his term there, but there is very little else. The record for my great grandfather had survived, but not his brother. I have managed to get his serial number, and it tells you which unit he was a member of and where he joined up, and you can work out he joined up in Edinburgh and then was transferred to some of the brigades, one of them was the City of Commerce unit in Glasgow, and you can follow where they were in the war in France and Belgium.
"My grandfather survived because of a mosquito bite - he was basically in Greece, and was ill for most of the war; so I am curious still, how did Archie survive it?"
"Robert served in Salonica in WW1 with the Royal Garrison Artillery of the Bute Mountain Battery. He was sent to the front in September 1916 and one month later took ill with malaria and was shipped home Feb 1918 “affected with malaria “. His service record survived the blitz but his brother’s (like most) didn’t. This is one reason why he’s always been a bit of an enigma to me
"The funny thing is that both of the brothers survived World War One - and given how bad it was, what are the chances of that?
"Archie and his wife never had children. Archie's wife was a teacher at the old high school, but other than that, the trail went a bit cold after that."
"I knew to go into St Columba's Parish as Archie was an elder there.
Archibald first joined the 11th Royal Scots then the 17th Highland Light Infantry in March 1916 before being transferred to the 15th and 16th HLI (the Boys Brigade Battalion). He disbanded in February 1918.
"I also saw a photo of my great grandfather William Hill for the first time at Largs Museum last year- he used to run the pub Hill's Bar which is now JG Sharp's. The photo is of a number of prominent local publicans and businessowners from the end of the 19th century."
Chris's grandfather Robert then took over the running of Hill's Bar.
The historic business photo was found in Hasties department store in Largs when it closed two years ago, and passed on to Largs Museum where it is currently on display.