My Genealogy Hound

James Hill, farmer, and one of the old residents of Beech Creek Township, Ashley County, Ark., was born in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., on April 10, 1818, and was one of six children—three sons and three daughters—born to John and Margaret (Stover) Hill. The father was a native of Sevier County, Tenn., and emigrated to Alabama when that State was yet a Territory. He several times represented Talladega County in the Legislature, and held other county offices of trust and honor. He was under Jackson in the War of 1812, and was in the battle of New Orleans. Of the children born to his marriage three are now living, one in Bradley County Ark., and another in Kaufman County, Tex. The father emigrated to Ashley County, Ark., in 1858, and died in 1862, at the age of seventy-five years. He was buried in Ashley County. The mother died in 1871, at the age of eighty-six years, and is also buried in this county. James Hill attained his growth in Alabama, and although his early education was limited, by observation and study he has become well informed on any subject. When twenty-one years of age he was united in marriage to Miss Martha Miller, and they reared a family of eight children, five now living, and all in Arkansas: Jesse M. (residing in Alabama), James T. (residing in Phillips County, Ark.), George W. (living in Ashley County), John R. (also in Ashley County) and Minnie C. (wife of H. C. Dade, living at Poplar Bluff). Selling out in Alabama in 1858, Mr. Hill came to Ashley County, where he bought 480 acres. During the war he sold that place and moved to his present property, which consists of 500 acres of land, with seventy-five acres under cultivation. During the war he enlisted in what was called an Old Man’s Company, and served eight days. The period following the war was more unsettled than during the four years of actual warfare, and it was from fifteen to eighteen years before the country actually recovered. Mr. Hill lost his wife on June 24, 1862, and on November 26, 1864, he was married to Mrs. Wooldridge, who bore him four children: Walter C, Viola, Charley A. and Hawkins. While living in Alabama, Mr. Hill held several local offices, and since coming here he has been school commissioner. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and he and Mrs. Hill are members of the Baptist Church. On his farm his crop averages about twenty-five bushels of corn and three-fourths of a bale of cotton to the acre.