My Genealogy Hound

H. L. HILL, retired farmer; P. O. German. Mr. Hill is one of the few remaining pioneers of this county; he was born in York District, South Carolina, the 1st of February, 1815; is of Irish descent; he is the son of William E. Hill, whose father, William Hill, came from Ireland. William E. was, born in Frankstown, Washington Co., Md., April 9, 1772; though of Irish birth, the first language he lisped was German, that being the prevailing language of his native town; his parents moved to South Carolina when he was quite a small lad; his father was one of the patriots during the great struggle for American freedom, and took an active part in it; near the close of the war, when the British and Tories held possession of South Carolina, and were visiting the patriots with merciless severity and cruelty, murdering hundreds in cold blood, they called at the house of Mr. Hill, thinking to find and dispatch him as they had many other brave men, but Mr. Hill was at his post of duty repelling the bloodthirsty murderers, and they failed to find him; not being able to ascertain his whereabouts from Mrs. Hill, equally patriotic, and his daughter, they attempted to extort the desired information from William E., then a lad of about nine summers, by hanging him; this they did several times, punishing him most severely, but to up avail; thus failing in their purpose, they proceeded to plunder the house, taking out the feather beds and scattering the feathers to the winds. William E. Hill’s boyhood was spent upon a farm, but quite early in life he turned his attention to the carpenter’s trade, to the construction of cotton gins and cotton screws chiefly; being raised in a Slave State, his early training was such as to lead him to look favorably on this system of servitude, but his nature never could endure to see the slaves cruelly used; at one period in his life, he was called near Charleston to erect a cotton gin for Rambert, one of the largest slaveholders in the country; every evening those slaves who failed to perform the daily task imposed upon them by their cruel master, were taken to the whipping-post and unmercifully whipped; their agonies from this could be heard all night through, and Mr. Hill gave it as one of the most painful periods of his life, although he was allowed the comforts and luxuries of the splendid Rambert mansion. In order to obtain a place among the higher class of society, Mr. Hill was obliged to purchase some slaves and become a slaveholder; this purchase proved a financial disaster to him, which misfortune led him to seek a more congenial clime, and in, the fall of 1817 he emigrated to Ohio, locating on a school section about three miles west of the present town of New Madison. Here he purchased a lease for $1, with about seven acres cleared on it; here, on this piece of land, he and his devoted wife spent the remnant of their days, and now their bodies, lie interred on the same soil. He combined with farming the occupation of cooper and loom manufacturer, and his looms are yet to be found over this county, relics of pioneer life. Although not much given to the “chase,” he had one which ended in a remarkable fruition. In company with two of his neighbors, John Downing and Thomas Mecum, one winter morning, when the ground was covered to an unusual depth with snow, over which a strong crust had formed, he spied seven deer, and gave chase with dogs; the snow so impeded the progress of the deer that they all soon fell victims to the eager dogs. Mr. Hill was married to Miss Sarah Farris in South Carolina, who was born in County Antrim, Ireland, on the 8th day of March, 1780; she emigrated to America when only 12 years old, with her parents, settling on Fishing Creek, York District, South Carolina. Twelve children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hill, and all grew up to years of maturity but three, who died in their infancy. Mr. Hill deceased in April, 1848, his wife surviving him till June, 1855, when her death occurred. Thus we record the death of two more of the early pioneers of this county. During their lives, they were successively members of three religious denominations, viz., Presbyterian, United Brethren and Universalist. Our subject was only 2 years old when he came to this county; his early life was not much different from most of the pioneer boys; the log cabin constituted his home and the wilderness his surroundings; poverty was the most constant companion of his youth, and frequently has he been tucked under the bed while his only shirt was receiving a vigorous application of soap and water. The first teakettle used in the family was purchased for $3, and his mother spun flax and tow, at 12 ½ cents per dozen cuts, to pay for it. The domestic wear of his sisters consisted of home-made goods, made of cotton filling and flax chain, the cotton being carded and spun by hand; these goods, colored in various hues, constituted their Sunday costume. The first calico dresses introduced into the neighborhood, by a family from Kentucky, were objects of no little interest to the community, and the family that had the audacity to make such a display of finery as this ran no little risk of being ordered to leave the county or don the home-made goods; it was looked upon as a dangerous custom, not to be allowed with impunity; this feeling, however, soon wore off, and the fair daughters of the forests were allowed to indulge in the luxuries of a calico dress; the first dress of this make introduced into the family of our subject was purchased of Shadwick & Co., of New Paris, at 25 cents per yard, and paid for in home-made goods at the same price; this served as a passport into the higher class of society. Financial circumstances did not improve materially till Mr. H. grew up to manhood and was able to perform considerable manual labor. At the age of 21, by agreement previously entered into, his father deeded to him 80 acres of land, one-half swamp and one-half timber; this was his first earthly possession. About this period, March 16, 1837, he celebrated his marriage with Miss Elizabeth Kunkle, who was born in 1815, in Bedford Co., Penn., and came to this county with her parents when only 3 years of age, locating in Harrison Township; her mother is still living, at the ripe old age of 86, in the possession in a remarkable degree of all her faculties. After the marriage of Mr. H., he moved to his land, then all in the wild state; hard work and perseverance were demanded of them both to meet the exigencies of their surroundings; these were heartily furnished, Mrs. H. performing her part at the spinning-wheel and loom, in addition to the usual domestic duties; after they had been struggling against poverty and its concomitants for some time, Mrs. Hill’s mother bequeathed them $250, the savings of her own small earnings, $218 of which were in silver half-dollars; with this Mr. Hill started for Fort Wayne, Ind., on foot, a distance of ninety miles, to enter land, and succeeded in entering 148 acres in Allen County; at the end of seventeen years, he disposed of his first farm and purchased 160 acres in German Township, Sec. 27, where he has since lived; he subsequently added to this by the purchase of 288 acres; in 1870, his estimated worth was $20,000, the accumulation of his own exertions, assisted by his wife. At this period of his prosperity a great financial calamity befell him, which was doubly severe because of the manner and source from which it came, it being security and forged notes to the amount of $12,000; for him and his devoted companion to have the fruits of their lives’ toils and sacrifices thus unlawfully snatched from them was a bereavement most keenly felt, and on his family it fell with equal weight. Mr. and Mrs. H. are the parents of nine children, six sons and three daughters, and are the grandparents of twenty-one children; one son, the youngest and oldest daughters, and five grandchildren have died. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are members of the Universalist Church at Palestine.