Jesse Hill was born March 24, 1809, on Cherry Run, about five miles from Lexington, Kentucky. His father's name was James Hill, and his mother's maiden name was Polly Cope. His father was of Irish descent and his mother of English. James Hill, the father of Jesse, lived during his young days in Pennsylvania, where he was born. At the age of eighteen he ran away from home and went to Kentucky, where Jesse was born.
Jesse Hill was a young child at the close of the war of 1812, but he remembers the burning of tar barrels in the streets to celebrate the victory at New Orleans. When he was nine years of age the Hill family came to Madison, Indiana, and then moved to the celebrated little spring, where his father put up the chain-mill. When Jesse Hill was twenty-one years of age he moved to Twin Grove, Illinois, where he arrived October 9, 1830. He lived with Colonel Beeler for a year and a half after his arrival.
When the Black Hawk war broke out, Jesse Hill enlisted for the purpose of going; but the horse which he intended to ride persisted in lying down in every creek he came to, and the rider was wet so often that he took the fever and ague and gave up his hopes of martial glory and missed the chance of immortality at Stillman's Run.
Mr. Hill has never been much of a hunter, but has occasionally chased wolves. He was once with a party of hunters after a wild-cat, when they unexpectedly started a wolf and all took after it. Mr. Hill was mounted on a race-horse and frequently ran around the wolf, but had nothing to strike it or hold it until the dogs could come up. At last it ran into a slough with Mr. Hill close behind. When the horse struck the slough it went down, and Mr. Hill was thrown over its head on the wolf. He grabbed the brute with both hands and pressed down its hind quarters, but the mittons on his hands prevented him from getting a good hold, and the wolf tore away.
Mr. Hill has some experience with fires on the prairie, and says that the most exciting part to him is the sight of a prairie fire and a back fire coming together, with frightened wolves and deer between them trying to get away.
For three years of his life Mr. Hill followed the business of well digging.
Mr. Hill has been married three times. He married, August 17, 1831, Miss Nancy Beeler, daughter of old Colonel Beeler. His second marriage was in 1840, to Miss Phebe Munsell. His last marriage was in 1861, to Miss Matilda Hancock. His domestic life has always been pleasant. He has had twelve children, of whom ten are living, and has raised five children not his own.
Mr. Hill is about five feet and six inches in height. He is lively, good-natured and talkative, and seems to know a good deal and can tell what he knows. He is active and hearty, and his appearance is youthful. Age makes little impression on him, except to bring the use of spectacles. He is humorous, and the joke he tells is usually a good one. He appreciates to the utmost anything witty or funny. His imagination is lively, which makes his conversation and his ideas noticeable. He has acquired a fair competence by his industry and enjoys this world immensely. Son of James and Polly (Cope) Hill. Nancy Beeler and Jesse Hill had the following children:
62 i.
John Wesley Hill was born on 26 May 1832.(12)
+63 ii.
Polly Margaret Hill.
+64 iii.
Jane Hill.
+65 iv.
Martha Elizabeth Hill.
+66 v.
Nancy Ann Hill.
67 vi.
Zerah Munsell Hill.
68 vii.
James Thomas Hill. 
Return to Table of Contents