My Genealogy Hound

GEORGE HILL. Wealth does not always command respect for its possessor for the American people are very apt to take into consideration the manner in which the fortune has been won and to pass judgment upon the business methods which have been followed in the acquirement of success. The record of George Hill, however, is one which will bear the closest investigation, and in Southeastern Kansas no man is more worthy of confidence and esteem than the gentleman whose name introduces this review as his career has ever been in harmony with the strictest ethics of industrial and commercial life. He came to this portion of the state in 1869, from Dane County, Wisconsin, where he had resided for ten years. He went to the Badger state with his father, John Hill, from Norfolk, England, where he was born May 19, 1843. The father died in Dane County, in 1899, at the age of eighty-three years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Cooper, passed away many years previous, leaving three children, of whom two are yet living — G., and Annie, the latter the wife of John Barber, of Denver, Col.

George Hill was a little lad at the time the ocean voyage was made that brought the family to the new world. This was in 1854, and from that time until the inauguration of the Civil war he remained in Dane County. Aroused by the attempt of the South to overthrow the Union, he offered his services to the government and enlisted as a member of Company G, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry as a private. His regiment formed part of the famous “Iron Brigade,” composed of a Michigan and an Indiana Regiment, in addition to the Second and Third Wisconsin regiments. Mr. Hill participated in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and was there wounded, his injuries necessitating his retirement from active service for a short time. He was not again with his regiment until the spring of 1862, when McClellan began his advance against Richmond. Mr. Hill was also wounded in the second battle of Bull Run and later was wounded in the first day of the engagement at Gettysburg. He was in some of the preliminary fighting leading up to the battle of Chancellorsville, and then after three years of faithful service, was mustered out with his regiment in 1864.

Upon returning to the North Mr. Hill began work at the carpenter’s trade. In 1867 he went to Topeka, Kas., and in 1869 came South to Woodson County. He soon afterward secured a claim in Woodson County, upon which he resided some years, when he located upon section twenty-nine, Belmont township, where he has since made his home. His landed possessions now aggregate twelve hundred acres of land. When he came to this portion of the state his cash capital was only seven dollars and a half, but with characteristic energy he began the work of farming and also extended the field of his labors by raising and dealing in stock. In both branches of his business he has prospered, and his business methods have ever been most straight-forward and honorable. His stock dealings have been very extensive, and he is now numbered among the leading stockmen and agriculturists in this part of the Sunflower state.

On the 9th of June, 1872, in Wilson County, Mr. Hill was joined in wedlock to Miss Lieu Rhodes, a daughter of Samuel Rhodes, who came to Kansas from Illinois. Their marriage has been blessed with the following children: Sadie, now the wife of Stanford Eagle; John, who married Effie Rowten; Bessie, wife of Silas Lance; Ina and George, who are yet at home. In his political views Mr. Hill is a Republican and has served as trustee of Belmont township, but official honors have had little attraction to him, his time being largely occupied with his business interests, in which capable management and persistency of purpose have played an important part, enabling him to advance steadily upward until he stands on a commanding position on the heights of affluence.