The Colfax Chronicle

A Corner in Ancestors
By
FRANCIS COWLES

Hill Family

There have been Hills in England for ages. The first man who bore the name got it because he lived on a hill and the medieval form of the word was Atte, signifying on or of a hill.

There were also other early forms of the name in England. The Hills of Sattington, Staffordshire, are descended from a man of Worcester named De Mont or De Mont. They retained the French form of the name until the fifteenth century, when they adopted an Anglicized form, Hyll. And the Hills of Hawstone are descended from Hugh de la Hulle.

A good many early settlers in this country bore the name of Hill, and it is rather difficult to tell which of them was here first. This honor is claimed, however, by the family of John Hill of Guilford, Conn. Although the first recorded date of his presence in this country is 1654, when he was a resident of Guilford, he may have been in this country for a good many years before he settled there. Anyway, whether or not another man of his name preceded him to America, John of Guilford established an interesting family.

This goodman Hill came from Northamptonshire, England. Before 1657 he was a freeman of Guilford. He was a small planter and a thrifty and prosperous citizen of the community. He was twice married and left five children, John, James, Hannah, Elizabeth and Sarah.

One of the most interesting members of this family was Samuel, son of John of the second generation and grandson of the first John.

Samuel was a man of great activity. He was a landholder, and he served as town clerk, as clerk of the probate court, and from 1725 to his death in 1752 he was a judge. Whatever he did he did with thoroughness and energy, and to this day we sometimes say, "He works like Sam Hill," or "I'll have to hurry like Sam Hill."

Another of the early Hills in this country was John, of Dorchester, Mass. He was probably a landholder there as early as 1633, two decades earlier than the first definite date of John of Guilford. John of Dorchester is first mentioned in 1633-4, when it is agreed that the great lots from Mr. Rossiter's to John Hill's toward Naponset in breadth, and eight score in length shall be forthwith enclosed by a good sufficient pale." He was born about 1602 and it is supposed that he came from Chard, Somersetshire, England. In that place there was a family named Hill, in which, in 1628, a John is mentioned as being of age, but as yet unmarried. Five years later the records state that this John had "removed," and it is supposed from this that he was the immigrant to Dorchester, Mass.

He was married in Ireland to Susanna Armstrong. Their son, Peter, born in 1751, was a captain in the revolutionary war when he was only 25 years old. He was in Col. James Clinton's regiment and took part in the defense of Fort Montgomery in 1777, when it was attacked by Clinton.

The big branch of the Hill family in the south was founded by Col. Edward Hill of "Shirley," Charles City county, Va.

His son, Col. Edward the second, was as prominent as his father. He, too, was a member of burgesses. From 1697 to 1700, when he died, he was judge of the admiralty court for Virginia and North Carolina.

The late Nathaniel P. Hill, United States senator from Colorado, a public man of some note, was descended from Nathaniel Hill of Dwaarskill, N. Y. He was born in the north of Ireland in 1705 and 25 years later came to America. He settled on the western frontier of the Scotch-Irish settlements then already established west of the Hudson river.

Of course a family of this size was well represented in the revolution. There was one colonel of the name, the captain above mentioned, 11 lieutenants and many non-commissioned officers. And the number of privates who served their country in that war was very large.

The arms of the Hills of Virginia are blazoned: A lion passant, with the crest. A demi-lion.