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Ancestors of Linley Hills

Son of Emma Hancock

Proposed Hills Lineage

Compiled by Judy Griffin, 2007 - email address

Robert Hills (1650 - 1718) + Deborah _?_ (1674-1717)
...... 2 Robert Hills
...... 2 Mary Hills (1680 - )
...... 2 Thomas Hills (1690 - )
...... 2 John Hills (1694 - )
...... 2 Joseph Hills (1698 - 1767) + Mary Pay (1710 - 1763)
.......... 3 John Hills (1730 - 1799) + Sarah Lewis (1730 - 1815)
.............. 4 Mary Hills (1756 - )
.............. 4 John Hills (1758 - )
.............. 4 Thomas Hills (1762 - )
.............. 4 Joseph Hills (1765 - )
.............. 4 Richard Hills (1767 - )
.............. 4 Stephen Hills (1771 - 1844) + (1) Margaret Ashby (1772 - 1822)
................. 5 Sarah Hills (1794 - )
................. 5 John Hills (1796 - )
................. 5 Stephen Hills (1800 - )
................. 5 Thomas Hills (1804 - )
             + (2) Elizabeth Fletcher (1800 - 1854)
................. 5 Anne Elizabeth Hills (1826 - ) + William Beck (1817 - )
................. 5 Laura Matilda Hills (1828 - )
................. 5 Loftus Otto Hills (1830 - ) + Melissa D. Roberts (1835 - )
..................... 6 Ellen Hills (1851 - ) + John Davenport
..................... 6 Elizabeth Hills (1853- ) Jacob Dean
..................... 6 Katy/Kate/Catherine M. Hills (1866 - ) + Elijah Wallace
..................... 6 John A. Hills (1857 - )
..................... 6 William A. Hills
..................... 6 Stephen V. Hills + Rosetta Landon (1868 - 1949)
........................ 7 Guy Raymond Hills (1893 - 1960) + Ollie Sensabaugh
........................ 7 Linley Otto Hills (1889 - 1965) + Clara M. _?_
............................ 8 Linley Hills, son of unmarried Linley Otto and Emma Hancock
........................ 7 Ethel May Hills (1895 - 1984) + Charles H. Frazier
........................ 7 Florence B. Hills (1897 - ) + (1) Oscar Frazier, (2) Joe Gallagher
........................ 7 Eva E. Hills (1891 - 1940) + George White
..................... 6 Charles H. Hills (1867 - ) + Amelia C. Barnes
..................... 6 Lilly Hills (1870 - ) + Isaac N. Wallace.
.............. 4 George Hills (1773 - )
.............. 4 William Hills (1776 - )
.......... 3 Thomas Hills (1733 - )
...... 2 David Hills (1700 - )

Thomas Fletcher + Elizabeth [surname unknown]
...... 2 Elizabeth Fletcher + Stephen Hills
.......... 3 Loftus Otto Hills

Richard Lewis + Bennett Hunt
...... 2 Sarah Lewis
.......... 3 Stephen Hills + Elizabeth Fletcher
.............. 4 Loftus Otto Hills

Hills Family

I couldn’t resist tracing Uncle Linley’s family line, since some of them were quite prominent. I suspect my mother, Hilda, would have found the information interesting. I do wonder if Uncle Linley knew anything about his father’s origins.

It is believed the Hills of Kent and many in England trace back to a Baron Thoebald de Helles of Helles Court at Ash Next Sandwich for whom there are considerable records in the 1100’s. Theobald the Baron de Helles married Agnes a’Beckett sister to Thomas, the Archbishop of Canterbury. One line of Hills traces back to the 1500s to the parish of St Laurence at Upminister, Essex which is about 8 miles from Darneth Manor which was a holding of the Hills of Helles Court at Ash Next Sandwich from about 1130 to the 1660’s. No one has successfully traced the Hills of England although various properties were owned by the Hills of Helles court for over 500 years. Hastad’s History of Kent traces ownership of several of the properties including Darenth Manor. (1)

Robert Hills

Most of the information on Robert Hills and his descendants of was taken from Ancestry.com OneWorldTree, no sources listed. None of the information has been confirmed, with the exception of Stephen Hills and his descendants.

The earliest known ancestor of that branch of the Hills family of which the English emigrants were sons of John Hills, a farmer of Henwood in Ashford, County of Kent, England, is Robert Hills of Wye, a parish about four miles northeast of Ashford and about nine miles southwest from Canterbury. The date of his marriage and birth and his parentage are at present unknown. The reasonable probability that he was the son or grandson of that Robert of Wye, who on the 28th of January, 1618, married at Swingfield, near Wye, Joan Harvey, has not been determined. He died at Wye in 1718, after the seventh of August, the date of his will, and the fourteenth of that month, the day of his burial. That part of his “last will and testament” genealogically valuable reads, “Imptimis – I will that my debts and funeral charges shall be paid and discharged, and whatsoever remains I do give unto my Dr. sons Robert, Thomas, John, Joseph and David Hills, each of them an equal share; and my daughter Mary Parker one shilling and that my sons Thomas and John be my executors.” In addition to the facts disclosed by this instrument, it is known that at the date of the baptism of the testator’s son Joseph in Sept. 1698, the wife and mother was recorded as of the name of Mary. Other records in the parish register of Wye indicate that this was an erroneous entry by the recording officer; and that a Deborah was the wife of Robert Hills from before the 18th of July, 1680, when the daughter Mary was baptized, to the death of her mother who as “Deborah wife of Robert Hills” was buried, July 3, 1717. (2)

Robert Hills was born circa 1650, probably in Wye, Kent, England, and died on August 10, 1718 (or after August 7 and before August 14, 1718, the date of his burial), in Wye, Kent, England. He married Deborah _?_ on July 18, 1680. Deborah was born in 1674, and died on July 3, 1717 in Wye, Kent, England. Their children were:

• Robert Hills, probably born in Wye, Kent, England.

• Mary Hills, baptized on July 18, 1680 in Wye, Kent, England. Her baptismal record lists her mother’s name as Deborah. Her father’s 1718 will stated she was married to _?_ Parker.

• Thomas Hills, born circa 1690, probably in Wye, Kent, England. He was probably of Woodchurch, Kent about 1733. The only record in relation to this Thomas that has been obtained is found in his father’s will, of which he was one of the executors. In a letter to the compiler, dated May 19, 1888, Dr. Edward B. Terry wrote, “eighteen years church warden of Woodchurch, in temporary charge of the records of the parish through the death of the Rector.” Under the date of February 3, 1733, a copy of the baptismal record of a Thomas Hills, son of a Joseph and Mary Hills, that “there was also living at Woodchurch about this time a Thomas Hills, who is described as an innkeeper,” and he adds “I can not find that the name was of long standing in the parish.” As Joseph Hills, a younger brother of Thomas, was of Wye in 1730, and when his son John was born, was of Woodchurch in 1733, was subsequently of Ashford, and again of Woodchurch, when his wife died in 1763, and when his own life ended in 1767; there can be little doubt that the Thomas, who in 1733, was an innkeeper in that parish, where later, Joseph, the son of Robert of Wye, was also farmer and innkeeper, was that son of Robert, who was an executor of the will of his father.

• John Hills, born circa 1694, probably in Wye, Kent, England. Married Mary_?_. With his brother Thomas was an executor of the will of his father. The only child of John and Mary Hills of whom record has been obtained is John, born at Wye, baptized on September 26, 1718. Baptismal record in the register of the parish. “1718, Sept. 26, John, son of John and Mary Hills.”

• Joseph Hills, baptized September 25, 1698 in Wye, Kent, England, died Woodchurch, September 1767 (see below).

• David Hills, baptized on March 9, 1700 in Wye, Kent, England. The record of his baptism and his mention in his father’s will are all the recorded references relating to this son of Robert and Deborah Hills.

Joseph Hills

Joseph Hills (Robert¹) was baptized September 25, 1698 in Wye, Kent, England, and died in September 1767 in Woodchurch. Joseph married Mary Pay of Wye, who was born in 1710 in Wye, Kent, England, and died in 1763, buried June 9. From information given to the compiler by his father, who was a grandson of this Joseph, confirmed and supplemented by the parish records of Wye and Woodchurch, it can be said of Joseph Hills that he was a farmer; that with his family he removed from Wye to Woodchurch about 1733; that he removed thence to a place called Bay Hill in Ashford where he lived for several years, when he again removed to Woodchurch, some eight miles southwest of Ashford, where upon an estate known as “The Bonny Cravat” he was a farmer and innkeeper until his death. The only children of Joseph and Mary (Pay) Hills of whom record has been obtained are:

• John Hills, born on September 30, 1730 in Wye, Kent, England, and died at Ashford in December 1790 [sic probably 1799].

• Thomas Hills, baptized February 3, 1733, born in Woodchurch, Kent, England.

John Hills

John Hills (Joseph², Robert¹) was born on September 30, 1730, in Wye, Kent, England, and died in December 1799, in Ashford, Kent, England. Buried on January 1, 1800. John married Sarah Lewis in December 1755 in Eastwell near Ashford, Kent. Sarah was born on April 22, 1730 in Ashford, Kent, England, and died on September 11, 1815 in Boston, Massachusetts. Buried in the John Jenkins tomb, number 29, Kings Chapel cemetery. The father of Sarah Lewis was Richard Lewis, born in 1670, in Kent, England and died in Ashford, Kent, England. Her mother was Bennet Hunt, born in 1710, and died in 1736. Richard and Bennet were married circa 1730.

Richard Lewis was probably of Eastwell, at the time of his daughter’s marriage, but of Ashford when she was born and at the time of his death in August 1765, at the age of about ninety-five years. This statement is based on information imparted by his daughter to her son. Bennet (Hunt) Hills died when her daughter Sarah “was about six years old.” John Hills was a farmer. At the time of his marriage, he settled at Kennington, a little parish between Ashford and Eastwell. There his first child was born in 1756, and probably his second in 1758. About the time that his family consisted of a wife and two children, he removed to Ashford, and occupied as lessee or tenant, the estate known as Henwood till his death. His widow and son George carried on the farm until 1803, when they came to Boston in Massachusetts, where three of her sons had already made a residence. It has been told of a famous spring of water upon this farm and was inquired about it in the summer of 1894. The tenant occupant said that the owner, a Mr. John Lewis, then held but thirty-five acres, that part of Henwood where the great spring was located having been taken for the water supply and pumping station of the parish of Ashford, which being at the junction of two trunk lines of railway, has, since the middle of the nineteenth century, changed from a quiet agricultural community to a thriving, bustling town.

The children of John Hills and Sarah Lewis were:

• Mary Hills was born on August 16, 1756 in Kensington, Kent and died at Wye in 1794. She married Stephen Peck, of Wye, at Ashford, Kent, on October 13, 1785. The only child of Mary (Hills) and Stephen Peck was a daughter who was born at Wye in 1788. From a letter from her mother’s brother Thomas to her cousin George T. Hills, of Boston, Massachusetts, dated August 1835, in which the writer says that he “never heard for certain where Mrs. Bains is, but have been told she is with her friends at Wye” it may be inferred that as a widow, she was, at that death, living in the parish of her birth.

• John Hills was born on June 29, 1758 in Kennington or the adjoining parish of Ashford, Kent, England and died at Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppy. He married Sarah Dunston. In 1806, when the last of his emigrant brothers left Old for New England, four children had been added to the family. The family story states that he was a farmer living on the Isle of Sheppey, which lies on the south bank of the Thames near its mouth and is separated from the mainland of the county by a narrow creek. There is a tradition in that family that Stephen Hills, brother of this John, visited relatives at Sheerness, a port about six miles northwest of Eastchurch. This visit is said to have been made about the year 1822. The children of John and Sarah (Dunston) Hills of whom anything is known were: John, Richard, Thomas and a daughter.

• Thomas Hills was born on December 2, 1762 in Ashford, Kent, England. He died at Southend, Essex after 1850. He married Hannah Smith in London in 1799. Letters received by his brother Joseph, and verbal statements by the immigrant brothers provides some information on Thomas. Their brother Thomas having been duly apprenticed to a housewright was free and unmarried, working his trade in London, considerably more than thirty years old when he met and married his wife, who was a lady of good social standing. One of her ancestors had left a London estate of considerable value, strictly entailed to the eldest male heir and in default of males to the eldest female. That at the time of the marriage of Thomas Hills, his wife was the youngest of three sisters, that each in turn enjoyed the estate, but the two elder dying childless, the estate passed on the death of the survivor to her eldest son. Children of Thomas and Hannah (Smith) Hills were George, Maria, Joseph, John and Thomas.

• Joseph Hills was born on July 31, 1765 in Ashford, Kent, England and died at Boston, Massachusetts on April 4, 1852. He married at St. Peters, Isle of Thanet, Kent, on May 24, 1787, to Sarah, daughter of James Wales. Sarah was born at St. Peters on October 27, 1769, and died at Boston, Massachusetts on March 13, 1821. Joseph married, second, at Boston, on December 5, 1822, Sarah, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Gardner) Knott, of Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire, England. Thomas Knott was son of James and Mary (Stay) Knott and grandson of James Knott, who died in Shatesbury, Oct 10, 1776. Sarah Knott was born at Shaftesbury on February 23, 1797, and died at Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 11, 1877. Joseph Hills was indentured at the age of fourteen for seven years to a manufacturer of ladies’ shoes in the Cathedral town of Canterbury, some fourteen miles from his home in Ashford. At the end of his apprenticeship he began work and soon established a business at St. Peters. About 1795 he removed and reestablished his business and home in Rochester, Kent, from which place he emigrated to New England, arriving at Boston, Massachusetts on June 5, 1806. His business career in that city is well stated in an article published in the Commercial Bulletin in September 1841, entitled “Boston’s Retail Shoe Trade Forty Years Ago.” “Some of the older residents will remember Mr. Joseph Hills, for a long time quite celebrated as a maker of ladies’ shoes, whose shop was at 7 school street. Mr. Hills was born in England and served the regular seven years’ apprenticeship at his trade. He came to Boston in 1806 was in business on Boylston street near the market from 1814 to 1820, on Washington near Avon street from 1821 to 1828, when he removed to School street, where he remained til 1847, when he removed to his own house, corner of Tremont street and Seaver Place, where he continued his business, employing several hands, and died in 1852, at the age of eighty-seven.” Children of Joseph and Sarah (Wales) Hills were: John, born St. Peters, Kent, died 1787, a few days old; Thomas born St. Peters, died 1788, about 1 week old; Joseph, born St. Peters, April 4, 1789, died December 17, 1875; Elizabeth, born St. Peters, October 22, 1790, died July 2, 1827; Sarah, born St. Peters, June 17, 1792, died February 27, 1850; a child unnamed, born St. Peters, 1793, died a few hours old; Mary, born St. Peters, 1795, died aged 10 weeks; George, born Rochester, 1796, died aged 9 weeks; Richard E. G., born Rochester, November 10, 1797, died August 12, 1816; William F., born Rochester, June 12, 1799, died September 28, 1870; Jemima, born Rochester, November 9, 1800, died 1800; a daughter, born Rochester, 1801, died aged 2 days; George T., born February 7, 1803, died April 27, 1856; Hannah S., born Rochester, October 28, 1805, died December 14, 1887; Jane P., born Boston, Massachusetts, October 7, 1807, died June 16, 1878; James W. J., born January 19, 1810, died September 11, 1873; Mary P., born Boston, February 22, 1813, died March 3, 1884. Children of Joseph and Sarah (Knott) Hills: a son, born Boston, August 21, 1823, died the same day; a son, born Boston, August 21, 1823, died the same day, twin; Ann, born Boston, September 26, 1824, died August 7, 1886; Richard, born Boston, August 21, 1826, resided Newton, Massachusetts; Thomas, born August 13, 1828, resided Boston; John, born Boston, September 1, 1830, died January 24, 1874; Maria, born Boston, June 20, 1832, resided Cambridge, Massachusetts; Henry S., born Boston, September 30, 1839, died June 22, 1864.

• Richard Hills was born on August 11, 1767 in Ashford, Kent, England and died in Boston, Massachusetts on August 12, 1831. He married, in Boston on January 15, 1818, Ann Wagstaff. Ann was born at Alfredton, Debyshire, England, and died at Roxbury, Massachusetta (a part of Boston since 1868) on October 1845. Richard Hills was an architect and builder. He served a seven years’ apprenticeship to a carpenter in Ashford or its vicinity. With very limited opportunity he developed considerable skill as a designer and housewright. In 1801, with his younger brother William, he joined their brother Stephen in Boston, where he had been a resident some six or seven years. In 1802 Stephen left Boston and the elder of the remaining brothers succeeded to his business. Early in 1803, his father’s widow and brother George arrived in Boston and their mother again became homekeeper for her sons. There is a tradition in the family that Richard Hills built at Waltham one of the earliest if not the first cotton mill in Massachuetts. It is certain that in 1823 and 1824, he resided in Chelmsford; while in the neighboring town of Lowell, he built the Boott and other mills and St. Ann’s church. The Hinckley and Gardner estate on the corner of Beacon and Somerset streets, which in 1873, was fitted for business and known as the Congregational House, which was demolished in Dec 1904; the Boott Mansion in Bowdoin Square, now a part of the Revere House; the William Pratt homestead at the corner of Summer and Hawley streets; that of John D. Williams on the site now covered by the Cathedral of the Holy Cross; the huge structure on the northeasterly corner of Pearl and High streets known as “Harris’ Folly” and the Armory estate, at one time the home of Gov. Gore and later of the author George Ticknor, which was the residence of Lafayette during his stay in Boston, and which now stands but little altered at the corner of Beacon and Park streets, were among the most notable evidences of his skill. It was said that Mr. Hinckley, was so well pleased with his house and its cost, that he gave the estate upon which his architect and builder resided to the lady to whom he was engaged to be married. Whether the conveyance was a gift or partial payment may be doubted, but the registry record is clear that on the 28th day of March 1816, David Hinckley conveyed the estate at the corner of Pleasant and South Cedar (now Winchester) streets, “to Miss Ann Wagstaff, of Boston, Spinster.” Richard and Ann (Wagstaff) Hills had no children.

• Stephen Hills was born on August 10, 1771 in Ashford, Kent, England, and died at Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois on October 17, 1844 (see below).

• George Hills was born on October 21, 1773 in Ashford, Kent, England, and died in Boston, Massachusetts on September 8, 1858. He married, in Boston in March 1813, Nancy, widow of John Jenkins, daughter of Adam and Ann (Giles) Knox, of Boston. Nancy was born in August 1778 and died in Boston on January 10, 1856 at age 77 years, 5 months. George Hills was the only son of John and Sarah (Lewis) Hills who remained upon the home farm. After his father’s death in December 1779, he managed it for three years, when with his mother he joined his brothers Richard and William in Boston. In the spring of 1803, the three sons were living with their mother as tenants of an estate on what is now the southwesterly corner of Pleasant and Melrose streets. Although thirty years old the newcomer apprenticed himself to his brother Richard and soon became a skilled workman. As his foreman he remained with him, managing his business in his absence until 1825, when he began business on his own account. There was a marked difference between these two brothers, who as master and man when the younger of them was forty years old still lived unmarried with their mother. The elder never built for himself, his pride was to do the best work for others. The younger, from the time he began business on his own account bought land erected buildings of good, honest construction, but with no attempt at excellence of design. The brother, who, as a builder, began his apprenticeship when thirty years old, left an estate at least ten times more valuable than the more skilled housewright. George and Nancy (Knox) Hills had no children.

• William Hills was born on August 21, 1776 in Ashford, Kent, England, and died at Brooklyn, New York on August 29, 1828. He married, in Chatham, Kent, England, Jemima Tucker, her parentage, the date of her birth, marriage and death are unknown. She did not accompany her husband when in 1801, he with his brother Richard came to New England. She doubtless died in the land of her birth. William married, second, at Willimasburg (a Long Island town which became a part of Brooklyn), New York, on Novemer 19, 1815, Jane Farrington, who died in Brooklyn on November 16, 1845. William Hills duly indentured served his seven years’ apprenticeship and was by trade a mason. The records of the assessors show that as late as May 1809 with his brothers Richard and George, he was living in Pleasant street in Boston. As his name does not appear in the tax lists of 1810 he doubtless about that time removed to Williamsburg, where he died in Aug 1828. There is a tradition in the family that he built the first brick home in that place which became by annexations first a part of Brooklyn then of New York City. Children of William and Jane (Farrington) Hills: John B., born Williamsburg, September 2, 1817, died Mobile, Alabama, October 23, 1841; Isaac F., born Williamsburg, Feb 6, 1820; William L., born Williamsburg, February 13, 1822; George W., born Williamsburg, November 30, 1824, died Mobile, Alabama, October 15, 1841; Mary Jane , born Williamsburg, April 15, 1827, died in Brooklyn after 1880, married _?_ Shaw. Mary Jane (Hills) Shaw stated that all of her brothers had died childless.

Stephen Hills

Stephen Hills (John³, Joseph², Robert¹) was born on August 10, 1771 in Ashford, Kent, England, and died on 17 October 17, 1844, in Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois. Stephen married Margaret Ashby in 1794 in Pluckley, Kent, England. Margaret was born on December 21, 1772 in Pluckley, Kent, England, and died on August 4, 1822 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After Margaret died, Stephen married Elizabeth Fletcher in 1824 in Derby, Derbyshire, England. Elizabeth was born in 1800 in Tickhill, Yorkshire, England, and died in 1854 in Portland, Oregon. The parents of Elizabeth Fletcher were Thomas Fletcher and Elizabeth _?_, who married in Tickhill. Elizabeth _?_ was born circa 1769. The information below seems to confirm that Loftus Otto Hills was the son of Stephen and Elizabeth Hills.

Stephen Hills was the architect of the State Capitol of Pennsylvania, was the fifth child of John and Sarah (Lewis) Hills, who were married in December, 1755, and had a family of seven sons and a daughter. Stephen, the fourth son, was born at Ashford, Kent county, England, August 10, 1771. According to the custom of the times, he was “bound out for seven years” and apprenticed to a local housewright, living in his ldquo;master’s” family until his twenty-first birthday. In 1794 he married Margaret Ashby, of Pluckley, a parish village about five miles from Ashford. He was the first of the five brothers who came to America, arriving at Boston in either 1796 or 1797. His brothers Richard and William joined him in 1801, and subsequent to his departure for this city, about 1802, his brothers George and Joseph, and their widowed mother, came to the Unites States and settled in the capitol of New England.

While a resident of Boston he was actively engaged in business and built several houses. The building erected for his own home in 1799, in what was then the outskirts of the town, still stands in what is now a very thickly settled part of Boston. The city’s geographical center has passed it, and is now nearly a mile beyond its location. At how early a date he became a resident of Harrisburg is not known to his New England relatives, but it is believed that he built many of the houses of that city which were erected in the earlier part of the present century. His plans for the capitol of Pennsylvania were adopted, and he was the builder as well as the architect of that edifice, the cornerstone of which was laid May 31, 1819.

While on a visit to England his wife, Margaret Hills, died at Harrisburg, on Sunday, August 4, 1822, in the 51st year of her age, leaving four children. Sarah, who married November 26, 1821, Samuel White, and subsequently removed to Indianapolis, where she was living in 1845, and three sons, John, Stephen, and Thomas. Before returning to America, Mr. Hills again married, and was for a short time once more a resident of Harrisburg. About 1825 he went to England for the last time and remained there about eleven years, and in the winter of 1836-7 returned to the United States. He is described by those who knew him at this time as a man of large frame, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds. In the spring of 1837 he went to Jefferson city to build the capitol for the state of Missouri. The plans made for the Pennsylvania structure were accepted for this edifice, and so closely followed that the building was practically a duplicate of his earlier work. Immediately following the completion of the capitol, he commenced the erection of the university at Columbia, in that State, and finished his contract in the spring of 1843. He then retired from his profession and went to his farm in the western part of Illinois (about twelve miles from St. Louis). Here he died, October 17, 1844, leaving a widow and her children, two daughters and a son; and a son, daughter and six grandchildren as descendants of himself and Margaret Ashby, his first wife. (3)

The narrative above indicates that by 1844 only one son and Sarah, children of Stephen and Margaret, were still alive. All three children of his second marriage were still living. Cathy Hills found Stephen in the 1840 census for Cole County, Missouri. She recorded: Males: 1 - age 10-15; 1 - age 60-70. Females: 1 - age 10-15; 2 - age 15-20.

A biographical sketch of William Beck, the husband of Stephen’s daughter by his second marriage, Anne Elizabeth, gives information on Stephen: “Mr. Hills, an architect of prominence, came to Boston in 1796 and the house he erected for himself in 1799 is still standing in the heart of that old city. His work in Philadelphia attracted attention and he was the builder as well as the architect of the state house at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the corner stone of which was laid, May 31, 1819. Seventy-eight years later this fine edifice was destroyed by fire. In 1825 Mr. Hills returned to his beautiful home at Royal Leamington Spa - a town and celebrated watering-place in Warwickshire, England. . . . In 1837 her [Anne] father was recalled to the United States to build the state house at Jefferson City, Missouri. Immediately following the completion of the capitol he built the university at Columbia.” Source: “William Beck,” in Gaston, Joseph, Portland, Oregon, its history and builders: in connection with the antecedent explorations, discoveries, and movements of the pioneers that selected the site for the great city of the Pacific, Chicago: S. J. Clarke, Pub. Co., 1911, p. 282. Note that there is information on Royal Leamington Spa available via an internet Google search.

This biographical sketch of William Beck also states that Anne and William Beck ended up in Portland, Oregon, which confirms the death place of Elizabeth Fletcher. The 1850 Indiana census for Indianapolis lists William and Anne and the widow Elizabeth Hills was living with them, so she undoubtedly went West with them.

The ship’s record confirms the return of Stephen Hills and his second wife, Elizabeth to the United States. They departed from Liverpool on the ship Canada and arrived at New York on June 20, 1823. Stephen was listed as age 57, Elizabeth was 29. This would put Stephen’s birthdate at circa 1766, Elizabeth’s at circa 1794. Source: Ancestry.com. New York, 1820-1850 Passenger and Immigration Lists [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003. Original data: New York. Registers of Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York from Foreign Ports, 1789-1919. Micropublication M237, roll 4, list number 273. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

More important, the ship’s record for the return of Stephen in 1836, with two of his children by his second marriage, Loftus and Matilda, and his son Thomas from his first marriage, strongly indicates that Loftus was a son of Stephen. They arrived at New York on August 18, 1836, having departed from London on the ship Ocmulyee. Stephen, who listed himself as an architect, stated he was age 66, which would put his birthdate circa 1770. Thomas, probably a son by Stephen’s first marriage, was age 42, putting his birthdate circa 1794. Loftus was age 7, birthdate circa 1829, Matilda was age 8, birthdate circa 1828. Just where his second wife, Elizabeth, was is not known. Source: Ancestry.com. New York, 1820-1850 Passenger and Immigration Lists [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003. Original data: New York. Registers of Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York from Foreign Ports, 1789-1919. Micropublication M237, roll 31, list number 732. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

There is additional information on Stephen published in the newsletter of the Historic Harrisburg Association (4) that confirms some of the information above:

“Hampered by a strong northeasterly wind, firemen did all they could to save Pennsylvania’s 75-year-old Capitol on the afternoon of February 2, 1897. Our most concise account of the fire, The Pennsylvania State House Fire by Robert M. Houseal, Jr. (1996), writes that the final and accepted cause was determined to have been an unattended fireplace in the lieutenant governor’s office. It was theorized that a burning ember must have burrowed itself in a crack in the wooden flooring, smoldering for hours in the joists before erupting into flame.

“Undiscovered until a quarter past noon, the blaze blew out windows, raced across floors and ceilings and engulfed the wood-ribbed dome with such intensity that recently-installed iron supports snapped from their fastenings. Crowds of onlookers, many in tears, watched as the old Roman dome crashed to the rotunda floor. The roof gone, flames shot skyward, sucking air and the pride of Harrisburg out into the blackening storm. It was cold, it was snowing, and only the most venerable of those in attendance had any recollection of someone named Stephen Hills.

“Bound Out In England

“Back in 1785, in what the Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County (1896) called a ‘custom of the times,’ parlance for his parents probably having more children than money, 14-year-old Stephen Hills was “bound out” to a local housewright in his parish village of Ashford, in Kent County, England. There for the next seven years he toiled as an indentured apprentice learning the building trade alongside his older brother Richard.

“Upon his release, Stephen began courting Margaret Ashby, a local woman from nearby Pluckley. Early in 1794, at 23 and 22 respectively, the young couple married to begin a new life in the United States. In Boston, probably working through yet another indenture, Stephen labored as a housewright. The couple celebrated Christmas 1794 with the birth of a daughter, Sarah; joined over the next six years by sons John and Stephen junior. The elder Stephen meanwhile had founded his own house carpenter’s company, sending word for his brother Richard to come help him.

“The business soared in 1801. Richard’s arrival and that of a younger sibling, William, had Suffolk County’s tax list noting ‘Imploys many Journemen’ against Stephen’s name. But Stephen wasn’t staying. Seeking independence or adventure, he followed up on a commission located in Pennsylvania where Lancaster, briefly, had become the state capital. Despite raging debate in the Pennsylvania Assembly for a more centralized location, Lancaster was a bustling borough of over 4,000 persons. Hills house for lawyer William Montgomery at 21 South Queen St. in 1803 enhanced his reputation as would several others in the area. Margaret enhanced her husband with a third son, Thomas, the following year.

“As the decade grew old, we’re guessing 1808-09, Stephen began taking jobs in Philadelphia. City directories don’t actually list him as a resident, but there he reportedly learned of the decision to move the state capital to the borough of Harrisburg. By 1810 he had in hand the job of erecting a pair of Executive wings that would ultimately flank the proposed main Capitol itself.

“‘We’re Moving To Where?’

“You had to feel sorry for Margaret. Spoiled by big city life, the rutted, unpaved, dress-soiling streets of a hub of inactivity such as Harrisburg had to have been discomfiting. The population was 2,287 and a groggy one. There seemed to be as many ale houses and inns as homes.

“From Mary Hanna, one of John Harris’ daughters, Hills in December of 1811 purchased an unimproved lot on the southeast corner of Front and Walnut streets. Here he began building a house, the first of a host of works, and at 100’ the deepest of what was probably an entire row of brick 2-1/2-story dwellings to Strawberry Street for developer Robert Harris. Hills house, 27 North Front, was a simplified Federal style. Boston’s premier architect of the day, Charles Bulfinch, was an exponent of this refinement of the earlier Georgian style. Federal stemmed principally from the works of Britain’s Adams brothers. One of its hallmarks were elliptical fanlights over the doorways. Hills use of recessed-arched windows on the first floor was also modified into his design for the Capitol. Undoubtedly it was the first instance of both livability and beauty in a workingman’s home. Hills concept of stylized streetscapes may have been no news to the outside world, but for Harrisburg, trying to adjust to its position of prominence — well, it woke up the neighborhood. The architect brought in one of his favorite vendors and one of the best mantlemakers in Philadelphia, Robert Wellford, for the fireplaces.

“Federal was a step up from the Renaissance-based classicism dominating the former colonies. Renewed interest in the ancient buildings of Greece and Rome is seen in Hills colonnades for the Executive wings (rather miniature Capitol’s themselves) and his semicircular addition to the facade of the 1799 Dauphin County Courthouse. Only in his design for Zion Lutheran Church at Fourth and Blackberry streets (1814; destroyed by fire 1838) did he appear to look solely to 15th century role models.

“Margaret had a little garden in the yard along Walnut St. where a door opened onto it. A century later Harrisburg Public Library would build there. Even today, in the tiny airway between the buildings you can still make out the side entrance.

“At the peak of their social success the Hills would have entertained here. The 1820 Federal Census lists three African-American freemen living with them, along with what probably was the children’s white nanny and her daughter, or perhaps just a hired girl that they had taken in.

“Steadily, Hills was gaining more confidence in his architectural ability. Earlier he had responded to a call for plans and elevations for the new Capitol and he won the $400 design award itself in 1819. He wasn’t calling himself a housewright anymore. He employed 100 men.

“After the Capitol’s dedication in 1822, Stephen made one his periodic trips back to England. Although Margaret usually accompanied him, this time she appears to have been ailing and stayed behind. Unexpectedly, she took a turn for the worse. Margaret died that August 4 at age 51. The Oracle of Dauphin, the Borough’s leading newspaper, gave no details. Stephen had to be informed by letter obviously, which took many weeks to arrive.

“No Epitaph

“William Egle’s Notes & Queries published in 1896 confirms that Hills did not return to America to attend to his wife’s matters. Oddly, though it is known that the Borough’s principal cabinetmaker, Robert Sloan, constructed her casket, there is no existing record of Margaret’s interment. The old photograph that accompanies this article appears to show a gravestone-like object in the center of the garden.

“Stephen anyway, was not a widower long. Elizabeth Fletcher, 29, was from Tickhill, near Yorkshire. Soon after their marriage they sailed from Liverpool aboard the British-American schooner Canada, arriving in New York City on June 20, 1823. Back in Harrisburg they took on a star boarder in newly-elected Governor John A. Shulze. But Hills was selling off his property. In October of 1824, he deeded 27 N. Front over to gentleman farmer Jacob M. Haldeman, though the couple stayed on until after Ann Elizabeth, the only Hills native-Harrisburger, was born in March of 1826. Haldeman delayed residence until 1830.

“Not long after Ann’s birth, the architect returned once more to England until 1836 when he entered the competition for Missouri’s Capitol and began what would be his final voyage to America. The design of the statehouse and a building at University of Missouri at Columbia (both sadly destroyed) concluded his fascinating journey. He bought a farm in western Illinois and died there in 1844.

“Used as law offices today, 27 N. Front, and its Georgian mate at 23 N. Front St., are the only known works to survive Hills in Harrisburg. Not quite the jewel that his Capitol was, but for another simpler time, as fashionable an address as one could want. The pioneering research of the late building historian Evan J. Miller contributed to this story.”

The children of Stephen Hills and Margaret Ashby were:

• Sarah Hills was born on December 13, 1794. She married Samuel English White on November 20 or 26, 1821 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and moved to Indianapolis, where she was living in 1845. She died in Indianapolis on December 7, 1872. Samuel was born in Burlington, New Jersey on March 27, 1789 and died in Indianapolis on March 3, 1850. Children of Sarah (Hills) and Samuel E. White were: Stephen Hills, born Harrisburg, September 27, 1822, died Harrisburg, August 28, 1824; Ann Margaret, born Harrisburg, July 3, 1825, married Daniel Carlisle of Indianapolis; Samuel White, born Harrisburg, April 20, 1828, died Harrisburg, January 23, 1831; George Hills, born Harrisburg, December 29, 1830, married Joanna Fisher of Chester, Vermont; Sarah, born Harrisburg, October 31, 1833, died Harrisburg, August 24, 1834; Mary Ann, born Indianapolis, February 2, 1841, married Alfred D. Clarke of Indianapolis.

• John Hills was born on December 18, 1796 in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Washington County, Alabama on September 13, 1826. He married Mary Robinson who died at Geneva on June 25, 1824. No children.

• Stephen Hills was born on January 21, 1800 (or 1809) in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 8, 1830, unmarried.

• Thomas Hills was born on April 22, 1804 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He probably died at Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois, where he had a farm “about twelve miles from St. Louis.” From a letter of his sister Sarah to her father’s brother Joseph Hills of Boston, it appears that at its date October 17, 1845, he had “a very excellent woman to wife and three children, Sarah, Margaret and Stephen.” Thomas was found in the 1840 census for Monroe County, Illinois. The household included - Males: 1 - age 10-15, 1 - age 30-40; Females: 1 - age under 5, 1 - age 5-10, 1 - age 30-40. In the 1850 census for Monroe County Thomas was age 45, a carpenter, real estate valued at $300, born Pennsylvania. His wife was Mary, age 45, born Delaware. The children, all born in Illinois, were: Sarah, age 16; Margaret A., age 10; Stephen, age 9.

The children of Stephen Hills and Elizabeth Fletcher were:

• The first child of Elizabeth Fletcher died in infancy, unnamed.

• Ann/Anne Elizabeth Hills was born on March 28, 1826 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In a letter written in 1888, referring to the time of her father’s second return to England and his ten years residence there, she said “My memory only dates back to the time when we lived in England at a place called Royal Leamington in Warwickshire, two miles from Warwick Spa . . . I must have been quite a little girl, when my uncle Thomas came to visit us from Southend in Essex . . . I can distinctly recall his stately form . . . He was quite tall, I should say about six feet, not so heavy as my father and very fine looking. I recollect my father’s going to visit Mrs. Robert Hazzard, uncle Thomas’s daughter who was living in Bristol.” At Columbia, Boone County, Missouri March, 16, 1845, Annie Elizabeth hills married William Beck. William was born in Roxbury, Franklin County, Pennsylvania on November 2, 1817, and died in Portland, Oregon on October 24, 1889. An obituary notice says of him: “He crossed the plains in 1852, came direct to Portland and has remained here ever since.” His widow was living with her daughter at Albany, Linn County, Oregon in February 1905. Children of Annie Elizabeth (Hills) and William Beck: William Gilfin, born Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, March 28, 1849, married, Seattle, Washington, Annabel Thornton (born Portsmouth, Ohio, October 24, 1851, children William G, Annie T. and Mary L.; Louise Myra, born, Portland, February 14, 1854, married at Portland, Edwin J. Stone (born Janesville, Wisconsin, died Albany, Oregon, January 30, 1904, child of this marriage William Stone; George Alfred, born Portland, October 28, 1859, married, Portland, E. Laura Brandt.

• Laura Matilda Hills was born on February 14, 1828 at Leamington, Warwickshire, England, on February 14, 1828. She married in Indianapolis, Indiana, on December 26, 1849, to John Sloan (born Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) She died in Indianapolis on December 7, 1873, childless.

• Loftus Otto Hills, born November 4, 1830 (see below)

There is some additional information on Anne Elizabeth from the biographical sketch of her husband, William Beck: (5)

“William Beck was born November 2, 1817, in Roxbury, Pennsylvania. He was the sixth son of Christian and Lana (Ahl) Beck. His ancestry was German. His grandfather Beck emigrated to America in early manhood. His grand uncle, Dr. John Peter Ahl, born in Berlin, came to this country in the beginning of the revolution, settling in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Soon after his arrival he joined the Continental army as surgeon, serving in that capacity until the end of that memorable struggle. A few years later “Uncle Peter” became a Lutheran minister.

“The boyhood of Mr. Beck was spent in the environment of the old-fashioned home, under the influence of the gentle mother whom he idolized, and the example of the father, an upright and honorable man, he developed a character which was absolutely impervious to every temptation in later life. He made the most of his early opportunities and learned the trade of gunsmith in those days when everything was done by hand. He was a natural mechanic and with his indomitable perservance and exact methods, he soon became an expert; he was noted for his beautiful workmanship. He heard the call of the west and in early manhood left Pennsylvania to try his fortunes in the frontier state of Missouri. At Columbia in that state he met the beautiful English girl who won his heart. Anne Elizabeth Hills was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Hills, of Ashford, Kent county, England. . . . It was here [Royal Leamington Spa, England] the girlhood of Anne Elizabeth was spent. She wandered about the picturesque ruins of Kenilworth and spent many happy hours under the magnificent trees and roaming at will through the historic halls of Warwick Castle, among the relics of a by-gone day. . . . On March 16, 1846, at Columbia, Missouri, William Beck and Anne Elizabeth Hills were married. They went first to Hannibal, Missouri; later moved to St. Louis; they then settled at Liberty, Missouri, where Mr. Beck was superintendent at the United States arsenal; and they lived three years in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“In 1849 when the wave of excitement following the discovery of gold in California swept over the land, Mr. Beck promptly struck out for the golden west. Before very much of the long journey had been accomplished his money was stolen and he was obliged to return. Three years later, with his wife and little boy, he again turned his face toward the sunset land; this time Oregon was . . .”

Loftus Otto Hills

Most of this information is from a descendent of Loftus, Cathy Hills, who sent the following information on Linley’s paternal line, (6) with additional information found by this researcher.

Loftus O. Hills (Stephen³, John³, Joseph², Robert¹) was born in at Leamington, Warwickshore, England on November 4, 1830 and came to America circa 1836. Loftus died on October 12, 1878 at Grafton, Illinois. His death certificate stated that he was born in Lemington, England and had been a resident of the state for fifteen years. In 1880, Melissa was found living in Jersey County with three of their young children. There is a marriage record for a Melissa D. Hills who married a William H. Reed on August 18, 1883. On the Jersey County Index of Burials for the son of Loftus and Melissa, Stephen, the accompanying note states “Lofust O. & Malissa Reed Hills.” This seems to confirm her second marriage. Melissa died on July 25, 1904. (7) There were two death certificates for Melissa. The second one stated that she was born in Louisville, Kentucky on September 5, 1835. She was buried in Edsall cemetery.

His sister, Mrs. Beck, in a letter dated September 1888, said “He died, at or near Grafton, Ill; he left a widow Mellisa Hills, and I think six or seven children . . . I do not know where any of his family are living . . . they had one son I known called John Ashby Hills, and another Stephen but I am almost sure that one of these is dead.”

Cathy states: “He married Melissa D. Roberts, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, September 5, 1835. Family story states that she was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. I believe both are buried in Edsell cemetary. Their farm use to be next to the Edsell farmland. And I remember seeing that Hancocks also lived near by.”

Loftus and Melissa were found in the 1870 census, living in the Otter Creek area. Loftus was age 39, a farmer with real estate valued at $1,500 and personal at $400. He stated he was born in England and his parents were of foreign birth. Melissa was age 34, born in Kentucky. Listed with them were Katy M., born in Missouri; John A.; William A., Stephen V.; and Charles H. John A., though in school, was listed as being unable to write.

In the 1900 census, Melissa was living with her daughter Ellen/Mary Ellen and John Davenport. It stated that she was born in September 1835, a widow, age 64, had eleven children, seven living. Melissa was also listed as living with her daughter Lillie, listed as Malissi Reed, born Sept 1831, age 68, widow, had ten children, seven living.

Cathy received a copy of Loftus’ will which stated that he had three living sons and four daughters. He named the sons as John A., Stephen V. , and Charles H. Hills. They believe the unmentioned other son, William Hills, died before 1878. The children of Loftus and Melissa were:

• Ellen Hills, born circa 1851 in Missouri. (8) The online Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 lists an Ellen Hills who married a John Davenport on April 4, 1869 in Jersey County. Another researcher lists a John W. Davenport married to a Mary Ellen Hill with a daughter Florence A. Davenport, born October 28, 1889. (9) John and Ellen were found in the censuses from 1870 to 1920. They lived in Otter Creek, but by 1910 they were in Kane, Greene County, Illinois. According to the censuses their children were: Lizzie, Clara, Charley, Louis, Florence, and Otto (or John Otto).

• Elizabeth Hills, born circa 1853 in Missouri. (10) The online Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 lists an Elizabeth Hills who married a Jacob Dean on January 31, 1869. In the 1880 census a Jacob Dean lived next door to Melissa and her children, including Lilly. His wife was listed as Elizabeth, this is certainly Lilly’s sister.

• Katy/Kate/Catherine M. Hills was born circa 1866 in Missouri. (11) She married Elijah Wallace on July 15, 1873. (12) One of their sons Henry Wallace married Mary Angeline Davis and proceeded to have twelve children. Katy and her family are buried in Scenic Hill cemetery. Kate and Elijah were found in the censuses for 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1930 (see Appendix). Their children were Henry, Orie, Clarence, Alva and Daisy. While they were in Quarry Township in 1880, they had moved to Grafton by 1900, where they were still found in 1930. Kate’s brother, Charles H. Hills, was living with them in 1930. Kate’s obituary:

  Grafton Woman Dies Friday Morning. Mrs. Kate Wallace, well known resident of the City of Grafton, died at her home in that city Friday morning, February 15th, at nine o’clock. At the time of her death, she was 78 years, 1 month and 27 days of age. Funeral services were held from the Grafton Methodist Church at two o’clock p.m., Sunday, Feb. 17th, Rev [unreadable]. The internment was in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery at Grafton. The services were in charge of Grafton Camp, Royal Neighbors of America. The deceased is survived by four sons, Henry, Clarence and Alva, of Grafton, and Orie of San Antonio, Texas; one daughter, Mrs. John Meyer of St. Louis; one sister, Mrs. Lilly Wallace of Grafton; and two brothers, Steve Hills and H. Hills of Jersey county. (13)

• John A. Hills was born circa 1857. (14) Cathy states he was born in Otterville. Oddly, the 1860 census lists him as born Ireland. John was listed in the 1870 census, but not easily found in later censuses. Another source: John Ashby Hills, born at Grafton, Illinois, February 6, 1853, was living in 1879. John Ashby was one of a family of whom his Aunt Annie Elizabeth (Hills) Beck wrote in 1888 that she thought it numbered six or seven children. She could recall the names of but two of them. That lady, however, had possession of a photograph of one of the two, endorsed “John Ashby Hills born at Grafton, Illinois Feb. 6, 1853, son of Loftus O and Melissa Hills. Photo taken 1879.” (15)

• William A. Hills, born Otterville.

• Stephen V. Hills was born in Otterville on February 26, 1865 and died on October 31, 1937. (16) He was buried in the White cemetery, Otter Creek Township. Stephen married Rosetta Landon on March 3, 1889. (17) “The parents of Rosetta (1868 - 1949) were Lindley and Harriet Landon. Lindley and Harriet had two daughters, Rosetta and Rhoda, who lived in Jersey County. Rhoda married a Frazer. Grandson Virgil recalls that Rhoda had two boys, Charlie and Eugene. Eugene was shot dead where he lived in Alton. He was been shot while climbing the stairs to his home and fell to the bottom. No one found his killer. Grandson Virgil remembers Stephen working as a steam operator cutting logs in a mill before farming and also one of Stephen’s brothers operated a ferry across the Mississippi River. Stephen V. Hills lived on a farm in upper Otter Creek Township near Pump Station Road. Stephen and Rosetta are buried in White cemetery.” Stephen’s obituary:

  Retired Thresher Dies At Union Forest Home.
  Stephen V. Hills, retired thresher and farmer of the Union Forest vicinity died at his home Sunday, October 31st, at ten thirty-five a.m.

  The deceased was the son of Loftus O. and Malissa Reed Hills, and was born in Grafton, February 26, 1865. At the time of his death he was aged seventy-two years, eight months and five days. Mr. Hills retired from active farming about three years ago. Surviving him are his wife, Mrs. Rosetta Landon Hills; three daughters, Mrs. Eva White and Mrs. Charles Frazer of Jerseyville, and Mrs. Joseph Gallagher of Detroit, Michigan; two sons, Linley Hills of Moran, Kansas, and Guy R. Hills of Avon, Ill.; one brother, Hampton Hills of Grafton; one sister, Mrs. Lillie Wallace of Grafton; and six grandchildren. Funeral services were held at the Union Forest Church, Tuesday, Nov. 2nd, at two o’clock with Rev. George Vawters and Rev. Joseph Jenkins officiating. Internment was in the White Cemetery. (18)

  In the 1910 census, Stephen was age 45, a farm laborer, working out. Rosetta was age 41 and the mother of five children, five living. Their children were:

• Guy Raymond Hills, born September 9, 1893, died August 2, 1960, married Ollie Sensabaugh in 1920. Guy Raymond moved to a farm outside Avon, Illinois and most of us were born around Abingdon, Illinois. Child: Virgil Raymond Hills.

• Linley Otto Hills, born August 30, 1889, died April 1965, lived in Marion, Kansas. Cathy states: “Dad, who is 84, used to visit his grandfather Stephen several times. He doesn’t remember much about Lindley Otto Hills other than he . . . took off for Kansas when he was around 17 or 18 years of age. . . . He remembered Lindley Otto moving to Marion Kansas where he died in 1965. . . .” The Kansas census information for Linley is confusing. In 1920 he was listed in Marmaton, Allen County, in 1930 at Moran, Allen County. (19) Regardless, in 1920 he was listed as age 29, born in Illinois, occupation a farmer, renting his farm. His wife was Clara M. Hill, age 25, born in Kansas, her parents born in Illinois. In 1930 Linley was listed as age 40, a teamster working at odd jobs, renting his home or farm. His wife, Clara M., was listed as age 35. Linley stated he married at age 23, Clara at age 17. This would indicate they were married circa 1912. No children were listed. To the best of our knowledge, Linley Otto Hills had a son out of wedlock, the Uncle of this researcher. This was Linley Wesley Hills, (20) whose father was Linley Otto Hills, son of Stephen V. Hills and Rosetta Landon. His birth certificate states Lindly Hills was born in Otterville, father was Lindly Hills, a laborer, age 18, born in Illinois. Mother was Emma Hancock age 18, born in Illinois. Uncle Linley was born on August 30, 1889 in Otterville.

• Ethel May Hills, born May 8,1895, died December 5, 1984, married Charles H. Frazier in 1917. They lived in Denver, Colorado. The Jersey County online Marriage Index lists an Edith Hills who married a Charley H. Frazier on December 5, 1917.

• Florence B. Hills, born in 1897, married Oscar Frazier/Frazer on February 1, 1918, then divorced and married Joe Gallagher. Lived in Roseville, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. She worked as a supervisor in an auto factory and was hit and killed by a car in Roseville. Her last marriage taking place in Roseville, Michigan to an Irishman, Joe Gallagher.

• Eva E. Hills, born November 11, 1891, died February 15, 1940, married George L. White on August 5, 1908. (21) George L. White was born on July 12, 1887 in Jersey County and died on June 30, 1924. (22) He was buried in the White cemetery, Otter Creek Township. Cathy stated: “They stayed and lived in Jerseyville. They had two daughters: Vesta W. White who married John Hardin Greene and Helen White who married Stuart Fraley. Eva and her family are buried in White cemetery.”

Eva was found in the 1910 to 1930 censuses. In 1910, she and George were living in Otter Creek Township, next door to Eva’s father, Stephen. George was a farmer. By 1920 they were living in Fidelity Township, still on a farm which was rented. After George died, Eva moved to Jerseyville, where she was found on the 1930 census. She was working as a cook in a restaurant and her daughter Helen was a telephone operator in an office. According to another researcher, the above information is confirmed, with the exception that he has Eva Edith Hill born on November 3, 1891. (23) This researcher notes: The parents of George Leslie White were George Washington White and Rosa/Rosina Miranda Bray. George Washington White was a son of Josiah H. White and Elizabeth Carrico. The children of Eva and George were Helen Leone White, born May 10, 1909; Vesta Eileen White, born December 22, 1916.

• Charles H. Hills was born circa 1867 in Otterville. He married, first, Rose Patton on May 8, 1886 in Jersey County. He next married Amelia C. Barnes on July 30, 1891 in Jersey County. (24) He was listed as Hamilton Hills in the 1910 census for Quarry Township, Jersey County. (25) His age was 42 and he stated he had been married twice, first married at age 18, which fits with his first marriage date. Amelia was age 42, also married at age 18, which does not fit with her marriage date of 1891. Amelia stated she had three children, only one living. Enumerated with them was their daughter, Sadie, age 5, giving a birthdate of circa 1905. In 1930 Charles H. was living with his sister Kate and her husband in Grafton. He was age 59, a widower, working as a laborer on a river ferry. Cathy listed a child, Hamilton Hills, born 1868 in Otterville, who was certainly Charles H. Cathy states: “ . . . This is the brother that operated a ferry in Grafton across the river . . . I found that Charles Hamilton Hills died in Calhoun County, no town listed, just Road Dist 5, August 4, 1940. Amelia died in Jersey County Jan. 10 1917.” Researcher Patricia L. Goitein recorded that Amelia C. Barnes, wife of Charles H. Hills, was the daughter of Hester and William Barnes. She was born in St. Louis on September 5, 1861. Amelia was reared by her aunt, Mrs. Silas Farrington of Grafton. She was an assistant postmistress and a member of the ME church. She had three children, all of whom died before Amelia.

• Lilly/Lillie M. Hills, born 1870 in Otterville, married Isaac N. Wallace on May 29, 1887. (26) Lillie and Isaac were found in the 1900 census, living in Grafton. Isaac was a day laborer. Lillie was listed as having three children, three living. Children listed were Florance M., Flora A. and Lela M.

Endnotes