Wayne County Biographies



Part of the Indiana Biographies Project



George Hill

One of the early residents of Richmond, Wayne county, was George Hill, whose death occurred in this town, August 21, 1882. With the exception of a period of perhaps a dozen years, when he was engaged in farming in Madison county, he was actively associated with the development of this region during his entire life, and no one was more thoroughly interested in everything which pertained to the progress of the community in which he dwelt. His life was strictly honorable, upright and just, being in accord with the highest principles of human conduct, and, as far as known, he had not an enemy in the world. Kindly and obliging in disposition, he always strove to do good to those with whom he had dealings, and many a poor and needy one whom he assisted in his quiet, unostentatious way still remembers him with affection which time does not dim.

Robert Hill, father of George Hill, was a native of Guilford county, North Carolina, and a son of William Hill, of that state. In 1801 Robert Hill settled in Hamilton county, Ohio, near the present city limits of Cincinnati, and engaged in his accustomed calling, agriculture. At the end of five years he removed to what is now Richmond, but then a vast forest, and took up a quarter-section of land from the government. This property, now owned by Augustus C. Scott (son of Andrew F. Scott), is two and a half miles east of the present city limits of Richmond. There were but very few families living here in the wilderness when he came here, but gradually the on-coming wave of immigration drifted families here by the scores and civilization became an assured fact in the back-woods of Indiana. In 1831, having previously cleared and cultivated his farm for many years, he retired and conducted a gristmill in Richmond for a few years, where the Starr Piano Works now are located. In his younger days he dealt extensively in livestock and drove cattle and hogs to Cincinnati, where he disposed of them. He was retired for many years before his death, in August, 1850. He died on the old homestead in the same house that had sheltered him for many years, his son-in-law, Benjamin Stratton, then having charge of the place. Religiously he was a member of the Society of Friends, and was actively engaged in church work, always faithfully attending the meetings. In politics, he was a Whig. For his wife he chose Susanna Morgan, of North Carolina, and ten children were born to them. Only three of the number survive, namely: Mrs. Elizabeth Shute, of Richmond; Charles, who was a farmer and teamster but is now retired and a resident of Richmond; and Robert, a farmer of Willow Branch, Hancock county, Indiana. Those who have passed to the better land are Martha, William, Benjamin, Samuel, Mrs. Mary Parry, Mrs. Penninah Shaw and George.

The birth of George Hill occurred in Richmond, November 7, 1825, and in the private and public schools of this place he received his education. When he arrived at his majority he took charge of a farm on the Williamsburg turnpike, three miles north of Richmond, it consisting of eighty acres. After several years he removed to Madison county, and was there occupied in agricultural pursuits for twelve or thirteen years. As a business man he was practical and progressive, making a success of nearly everything which he undertook. Reared in the Society of Friends, he continued to be active in that organization as long as he lived, and held various official positions in the local church.

March 30, 1853, Mr. Hill married Miss Tacy B. Hibberd, a daughter of Benjamin and Charity (Beeson) Hibberd. Mrs. Hill is a native of Richmond and has spent nearly her whole life here. Four children were born to herself and husband: one is deceased, and the others are Alice J., wife of George R. Dilks, of Spring Grove (see his sketch printed on another page of this work); Theodore H., a member of the firm of Louck & Hill, lumber manufacturers and contractors of this place; and Annie E., wife of T. J. Ferguson, of Richmond. The father of Mrs. Hill was born in Carroll county, Maryland, but came to Richmond in 1825, and was soon numbered among our most enterprising citizens. Before coming here he had been engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods in Maryland and in Virginia, and soon after reaching Richmond he bought thirty acres of land and founded the Fleecy Dale Woolen Factory, the site of the works being where Sixteenth street now is. He conducted the factory very successfully for a number of years, and later rented the premises. For a score or more of years prior to his death he was practically retired, but to the last maintained his deep interest in the world's progress and was an earnest student and thinker. For years an elder in the Society of Friends, he was always present at meeting and used his influence and means in the support of the church. His children were three in number, - Jane, Alice and Tacy. Jane died in 1894 and Alice twenty years previously, and thus Mrs. Hill is the only survivor of the family. Her loved and honored father passed to his reward in 1864, aged seventy-seven years.

Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899