My Genealogy Hound

J. B. HILL, jeweler of Fayetteville, Tenn., was born in Lincoln County, Tenn., in 1832, son of Ebenezer and Mary T. (Bryan) Hill. The father was born in Mason, N. H., October 14, 1791, and died at the residence of his son, in Manchester, May 16, 1875. At the age of fourteen he went to Amherst and worked in a printing office. He then went to Troy, N. Y., and while there enlisted in the war of 1812, and served until the close. He went to Huntsville, Ala., in 1819, and the following year came to Fayetteville, where he has continued to reside with the exception of two years. In March, 1823, he began the publication of a weekly paper called the Village Messenger, which he continued to issue until July 18, 1828. In 1825, with his brother J. B. Hill, he issued the first number of Hill’s Almanac, which grew into popularity until 1862, when the war prevented its continuance. It was considered an almost indispensable article in every household and office. In 1833 and 1834 he published the Independent Yeoman, a hebdomadal journal, edited by himself. He published several works, and established and conducted a circulating library. He possessed more than ordinary mental ability, and was a terse and fluent writer, and his editorials were noted for their shrewd common sense and logic. He was married in 1824, and about four years previous to his own death his wife died. Our immediate subject, J. B. Hill, was educated in the schools of Fayetteville. He began learning the jeweler’s trade at the age of twenty-two, and finally wedded Maggie Bearden, who has borne him five children: Charles B., Mary, Eben, Maggie B. and Emily H. Maggie is but six years of age, but is a fine performer on the violin, playing by ear almost any tune she ever heard with almost perfect time and expression. Mr. Hill served in the late war in Company C, Forty-First Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, and was afterward appointed quartermaster-sergeant. Mr. Hill and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and he is the leading jeweler of Fayetteville and a much respected citizen.