CS 71 . H64 1923
Hill, Charles E. 1848-1917.
Ebenezer Hill
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https://archive.org/details/ebenezerhilllittOOhill
Reproduced from a steel engraving in the “ Memoir of the Rev.
Lbenezer Hill,” which was copied from an oil portrait.
/
EBENEZER HILL:
THE LITTLE MINISTER
OF MASON, N. H.
A SKETCH
By CHARLES E. VHILL
and
A GENEALOGY
By JOHN B. HILL
TOBIAS A. WRIGHT
PRINTER AND PUBLISHER
i$o Bleecker Street, New York
1 9 2 3
INTRODUCTION
CHARLES E. HILL, my brother, was forced by ill health
to give up his law practice in Baltimore, Maryland, and
retire to the home of his boyhood in Temple, N. H., where
he remained until his death. In that home was a mass of
family letters and documents brought from the residence of
the Rev. Ebenezer Hill, in Mason. Upon examining these,
my brother found so much of interest to the descendants of
the Little Minister, and so much of value to anyone who
would learn the intimate life of a clergyman in a little New
England town a hundred years ago, that he compiled from
them the Sketch which is now put into print.
The Notes on the Descendants of Ebenezer Hill, given
as a supplement to this Sketch were prepared by my cousin,
the Rev. John B. Hill, D.D., of Queens, N. Y. He has also
carefully traced out the ancestors of Mr. Hill and his three
wives; but there was not space in this volume to publish these
lists. He will be pleased, however, to furnish information
concerning these ancestors to any who so desire.
My hope is that this little book will not only preserve the
memory of a most worthy servant of Christ, but also help to
hold together in the bonds of kinship his numerous and wide¬
ly scattered descendants.
William Bancroft Hill.
Vassar College,
Poughkeepsie,
New York.
FOREWORD
I propose to write something of the life of our ancestor,
Ebenezer Hill, and of his family, while they were in the old
home at Mason. His Memoir, written by his sons, has been
published and the History of Mason contains much that
is descriptive of his public life; but biographies and memorial
tributes are not always produced with the accuracy of a
photograph. There is a tendency, not to be condemned per¬
haps, to make a hero of the subject, and to narrate only those
things that are attractive to the public. Many things that I
have learned from old letters and papers, and that to me are
very interesting, would hardly find a place in a history de¬
signed for the public. Thinking that some of his descendants,
now or at some time hereafter, may desire to know more than
the published records disclose of the real life of their ancestor
and of his home life, I have determined to write out what I
have learned, so that it may be preserved when the sources
from which my information came are gone.
Charles E. Hill.
Temple, N. H.,
1916.
EBENEZER HILL:
THE LITTLE MINISTER OF MASON
A Sketch by his Grandson, CHARLES EBENEZER HILL
HPHROUGHOUT the countryside he was known as “The
Little Minister of Mason.” Barely five feet in stature, but
of perfect proportions, with delicate, clean-shaven features,
firm lips, quick eyes, — neat, sprightly, genial — he was fitted
to win favor. The fact that two churches eagerly contended
to secure his services (Mason and Marlboro), while a third
(Ashby) withdrew from the contest as hopeless, and that
within ten years he was able to win in marriage three estimable
ladies, proves that the Little Minister was attractive.
He first came to Mason when he was twenty-three years
of age (born Jan. 31, 1766). He fitted for college in Cam¬
bridge Grammar School, under the instruction, in part, of
the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., of Worcester, father of George
Bancroft, the historian. In the spring of 1786, after passing
through the regular four years course (admitted July 13,
1782), he had received at Harvard College the degree of A.B.
The following autumn he began teaching in Westford, Mass.,
and through the next two years continued his pedagogical
work in that town. He seems to have been a successful
teacher, and by at least one of his pupils was long remem¬
bered.* While in Westford he seems to have been successful
also in winning the heart of Mary Boynton, and doubtless
there planned with her the union that took place in 1791.
It was while he was at Westford that he announced his
determination to become a minister and probably he began
while there the study of theology. It was an ambitious choice,
♦See correspondence published in his Memoir, pp. 15-18.
6
Ebenezer Hill
for at that day the New England clergy were the ruling class
in public life, and the most revered and influential in society.
It does not seem that he waited for any recognized “call” to
the gospel ministry. He made his election first, and sought
the call later. At that time he was not even a church member.
There were then no professional schools; the would-be lawyer
entered the office of some attorney, — the more eminent the
better — and there read law until he was ready for admission
to the bar. So the student of medicine pursued his studies
with some practicing physician, and the aspirant for the min¬
istry usually submitted himself to some eminent preacher,
under whose direction, and frequently in whose family, he
pursued his theological studies.
A noted clergyman, the Rev. Seth Payson, was then
settled at Rindge, N. H., and to him the young man applied.
He was accepted, and in August, 1788, was received as a
student in the family of that learned divine. As I have writ¬
ten he probably began his theological studies while in West-
ford. He certainly made rapid progress after he joined the
minister’s family in Rindge. The next month he was received
into the church on profession of faith and the following month,
at Ashburnham, Mass., before an Association of ministers
there assembled, he was examined as to his “moral character,
ministerial furniture, and views in undertaking ye work” ;
and the said Association being “unanimously satisfied”, he
was duly licensed and began preaching without delay. His
first efforts were made in the pulpit of his preceptor, Dr. Pay-
son, but he was soon invited to preach as a candidate at Ash¬
by, at Marlboro, and in March, 1789, at Mason. In that day
no country town had more than one church ; and, while the
church usually made the selection, it was the business of
the town to give the “call”, make the contract, and pay the
settlement and the salary in accordance with that contract.
The town owned the church building, and the expense of
maintaining church services, including the settlement (a pro¬
vision made on settling a minister, in order to enable him to
procure a house) and the salary, were part of the town’s ex¬
penses, provided for by taxes levied on all the polls and tax¬
able property.
The Little Minister
7
The Town Records disclose the proceedings, all regularly
voted in town meeting, duly called and warned. The records
of the Town of Marlboro show that that town offered the
young candidate — we quote from the Town Records — “One
hundred and sixty pounds settlement, sixty pounds to be
paid in specie, one-half of which is to be paid three months
after his ordination, the other half to be paid in nine months;
the one hundred pounds to be paid in beef cattle — equal to
beef at twenty shillings per hundred, or other neat stock
equivalent; also to pay him a salary of sixty pounds for the
first year, and to add twenty shillings a year until it arrive
at the sum of sixty-eight pounds ; also thirty cords of wood,
delivered at his house — the salary and the wood to be paid
annually.”
The Town of Mason offered him “One hundred and fifty
pounds settlement, one-half to be paid in money, the other
half in neat stock or farm produce; one-half in one year after
his ordination, and the other half in the next year following” ;
and as salary “sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence
yearly.” Three months later — the town doubtless having
learned of the Marlboro proposition — at a meeting duly called,
voted “to provide thirty cords of wood yearly for Mr. Hill,
so long as the town can procure the same without a tax;
and, if that measure should ever fail of providing said thirty
cords of wood as above, then the town will add to his salary so
much as to make it seventy-five pounds lawful money yearly
during his ministry in said town.”
The settlement and salary offered by these towns was in
amount about the same as was in that day paid in all the
country towns of New Hampshire and Massachusetts; and
in purchasing power was probably fully equal to the salaries
paid in the same towns at the present day. Beef — doubtless
on the hoof — was, in the Marlboro proposition, valued at
twenty shillings a hundred, — and the twenty shillings a hun¬
dred then would buy as much beef as ten dollars of today.*
Then there were the thirty cords of wood, that seem by the
Mason proposition to have been equivalent to eight pounds,
♦This was written before the World War.
8
Ebenezer Hill
six shillings, eight pence, so that the salary would be about
equal to a salary of seven hundred dollars at the present time.
Of the two proposals, the Marlboro proposition seems the
better; but, with both before him, the candidate writes to a
friend : “I have tried to think it was my duty to settle at
Marlboro, but it appears quite plain to me that Providence
has pointed out Mason as the place. I never saw such an
union and such engagedness as is apparent in this place.
What their motives are, I am unable to say, but trust, with
regard to the greater part, they are gospel motives, and upon
the whole I dare not deny them.” To both the town and the
candidate, this settlement was a serious and important mat¬
ter, for it was understood that the engagement was to be
for life, and I am not surprised that the decision was made
only after long and earnest deliberation. Sometime in July
or August, 1790, the Little Minister made answer, declining
Marlboro and accepting Mason.
What was this town, the “union and engagedness” of
which were successfully attractive? Forty years before, it
was an unbroken wilderness, without a single inhabitant. In
1790 there were about one hundred and ten houses scattered
over the town, the most of them miserably poor. Only one
house had any outside paint, and only three rooms in the
town were papered. There was not a wheel carriage or a sin¬
gle sleigh. Whole families came to church on an oxcart or
sled. Travel was generally on foot or on horseback. It was
the day of the pillion, “a comfortable and commodious seat,”
says our Minister; and it was no strange thing to see a single
horse carrying on his back a man and woman and one or
two small children. The Minister on his candidating journeys
probably rode on horseback, with a fair supply of spotless
linen and Calvinistic sermons in his saddlebags.
The early settlers of Mason had attempted to build a
church, located as the custom then was on one of the highest
hilltops. They had erected the frame, boarded it in, put on
doors and windows, and there it stood, a mere shell, until
it was too much dilapidated to be worth completing, but in
it our Minister preached in the beginning. The population
of the town was then about six hundred, but the church had
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In a volume of some 1 40 pa$es, foolscap size, bound in calf, Lbenezer H.U ^ote out h.s full cours| o ^math' emat.cs
in Harvard College. Among its page head.ngs are many not common today^ such as. The Single K5U‘® ° d 1 g t'
Double Rule of Three, Practice, Vulgar Fractions, Fellowship, Barter, Loss and Ga n, Tare and Iret, ^ursolid kooi.
Double Position, Dialling, etc. There are many neat drawings, especially under Dialling.
The Little Minister
9
only thirty-six members. Some of these had joined by let¬
ter, others by profession of faith, while others only “owned
the covenant” ; but they were a serious-minded people, and
they had set about erecting a new church to take the place
of the old shell. They had advanced it so far that, on the
third of November, 1790, the Little Minister was ordained
therein. For forty-seven years he will preach in that church,
and then, in a farewell sermon, when his people are ready
to move into a new building, he will call the pulpit of the
old house “the dearest spot on earth to me.”
That ordination in 1790 was a great event for the town,
and was long remembered.* Seven learned divines from the
neighboring towns were invited to constitute the Council,
by whom the solemn ceremonies, occupying two days, were
conducted. The town voted to pay the tavern-keeper for the
entertainment of the Council, together with “all other gentle¬
men of the clergy, and Mr. Hill’s relatives and friends”. I
wonder who of his relatives were there. Probably the father
and mother came up from Cambridge, and his only brother
Samuel may have come down from his home in Goshen, Ver¬
mont. The family was small ; but they were bound together
by strong ties of affection. In accordance with a cherished
plan that they would all reside in the same town, as soon as
Ebenezer was settled in Mason, the others followed him,
and spent the balance of their lives near him.
There were no other relatives, but at that ordination, I
wonder if Mary Boynton came up from Westford, as one of
the friends. I do not know who came, but I am sure his
mother was there ; and I think that (in spite of the surround¬
ing atmosphere of Calvinistic Puritanism, which sought to
repress and wither every human instinct and emotion), the
heart of that mother must have glowed with pride when she
saw that boy — her boy, for whom she had done and suffered
so much — stand in that solemn conclave, the center of all
eyes, and receive the right hand of fellowship, the solemn
charge, the consecrating prayer and the final benediction, that
*A full account, as taken from the records, is contained in the
History of Mason, pp. 117-119.
10
Ebenezer Hill
marked his induction into the most dignified and influential
office that the town could bestow. He was then nearly twen¬
ty-five years of age.
To commemorate the great event of an ordination in
town, three elm trees were planted on the Town Common.
Years after, at a time when the militaristic spirit ran high,
one of them was cut down because it interfered with the
movements of the soldiers in their drill. The other two
have grown high toward heaven, and remain as stately mon¬
uments of a day and event long past.
Thus the Little Minister came to Mason, and having thus
been duly installed as shepherd of the public flock, it became
him next to prepare for his private flock. To that end he
must have a wife and a house. In this as in all other matters
he was prompt and active. Three months after his ordination,
his friend the Rev. Samuel Dix, minister at Townsend, per¬
formed the marriage ceremony (Feb. 2, 1791) uniting Eben¬
ezer Hill of Mason to Mary Boynton, of Westford. In age
she was about ten months his senior. This, the Little Min¬
ister’s first marriage, is believed to have been purely a love
match. We can hardly say, however, that “Love greased his
chariot wheels”, for the bride was probably brought to town
on an ox-sled. It was either that or on horseback. I prefer
to think it was on horseback, the minister in the saddle, and
the bride on the pillion, with one arm around her lord, to
steady and secure her position.
Having thus secured the mistress, he must next secure
the manse. The little farm of the old Scotchman, Capt. Wil¬
liam Chambers,* was for sale. The house was very small, one
of the oldest in town. It was neither papered nor painted, and
contained only two small rooms and an attic. The land was
fertile, though very rocky. It was conveniently located near
the church. His mother could come and live with them.
They were courageous and hopeful, and thought the house
was big enough for three, — so the next month after his mar-
*Capt. Chambers came to Mason in 1775. During the Revolution,
he was a Lieutenant of the U. S. Navy, on board a privateer com¬
manded by Capt. Manly.
The Little Minister
i i
riage he bought the Chambers farm. How he paid for it I
do not know. Perhaps the settlement of one hundred and
fifty pounds that he was to receive from the town was suf¬
ficient for the purchase. This house stood a few feet to the
northwest of the present mansion. After the latter was built
in 1800, the old house was moved to the south of the mansion
and located between it and the barn. There it was used as a
tool shop, and stood for more than sixty years. It was then
again moved, and was attached to the house now standing
on the north side of the old garden, occupied by the Thomsons.
After Ebenezer Hill purchased the Chambers farm, his
brother Samuel moved from Vermont to Mason, and settled
at the foot of the Darling Hill where he remained until his
death in 1813. Samuel, Jr., took his father to live with him,
but the mother remained with her favorite son Ebenezer.
Thus the Little Minister began life in the little manse,
and there began to accumulate his private flock. On the first
day of October, 1791, the first child was born, a boy, named
after his father, and perhaps also after his grandfather Eben¬
ezer Cutler. Ebenezer was a favorite name in New England,
and particularly in the Hill family. Doubtless the young father
regarded that firstborn son with as much pride and affection
as was permissible for a New England clergyman of that date
to have for any carnal object; but, fifteen months later, there
was another addition to the flock — and this time twins. The
little house designed for three now held six. The burdens
were coming thick and fast, but it is said that in performing
the marriage ceremony our Minister always admonished the
young couple by quoting Genesis 1:28. We may be sure he
gave thanks when he was told that two daughters were born
to him. They named them Sally and Polly (perhaps Sally
for the grandmother Sarah Cutler, and Polly for the mother
Mary Boynton, the names Sarah and Sally being considered
the same, and Polly and Mary interchanged at will).
I think that Mary Boynton must have been of small
stature — at any rate all of her children were. Each of them
lived through many hardships to attain a good old age, but
the rigors of a New England climate, and the care of those
three infants, were too much for the mother. Fourteen
12
Ebenezer Hill
months after the birth of the twins, the Little Minister recorded
in his registry of deaths : “March 2d, 1794, Polly, wife of
Ebenezer Hill, aged 29 years. ”* This was his first bereave¬
ment. He had never before met the death of anyone nearly
connected. There was doubtless a great funeral in the new
meeting-house, and a sermon appropriate to the occasion by
one of the neighboring ministers, probably Samuel Dix.
There were many strong bonds of affection between those
early ministers ; and whenever affliction came upon one of
their number, they hastened to comfort and console. Our
Little Minister was by many years the youngest of the preach¬
ers in that locality, and I think he was a favorite among the
brethren. The Rev. Samuel Dix, of Townsend, was an espe¬
cial friend. The historian of Townsend, writing of him,
says : “Mr. Dix was held in high esteem by the Rev. Eben¬
ezer Hill, of Mason, New Hampshire, who, at his own ex¬
pense, caused two or three of his (Mr. Dix’s) addresses to
be printed as exemplars of eloquence as well as piety.” Mr.
Dix, a graduate of Harvard, introduced and recommended
Mr. Hill to the church at Mason ; he gave him the right
hand of fellowship at his ordination ; he married him to Mary
Boynton ; and I feel sure that he preached her funeral ser¬
mon. However that may have been, I think the brethren of
the ministry did something more than console and comfort.
There was imperative need for another mistress of the manse,
and they cast about to find someone fit to be ennobled to the
position of the Minister’s wife. The time for sentiment was
past, pious sense was now required.
Once, when rummaging among the old relics stored in
the attic at Mason, I found a small leather packet, that had
originally been covered with silk and embroidery, but was
then crumbling in decay. Inside were some trinkets and a
few folded papers, closely written over. The writing was
♦This and other family records quoted in these pages are more
fully given in a “Copy of a record on a loose sheet in my father's
handwriting, made by J. B. Hill, October 23, 1878: — March 2, 1794,
Polly, the wife of Ebenezer Hill, departed this life at ten minutes
before 10 o’clock in the evening. She wanted 24 days of being 29
years old.”
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A sample sermon manuscript, showing the L.ittle Minister’s characteristic neatness,
and a few of his abbreviations and arbitrary word-signs.
The Little Minister
13
faded and illegible on all but a part of one sheet, where it had
been so folded that the lines were better preserved. There
I traced the neat, clear penmanship of our Little Minister,
as follows:
“Mason, June, 1795.
My dear Becky : (if I may be allowed to address
you by that name, which liberty I wish for.)
I must own to a pleasure in your company which
I have not lately found in any other person’s; and,
different from what happens in many other cases,
the reflection pleases. I was led to seek an acquaint¬
ance with you from the character given of you by
persons whose judgment I esteem, but the greatest
fear I now have . . .
Alas ! here the legible portion ended. There was nothing
more on that little page. That pathetic, old packet, when
it was fresh and new, belonged to the young widow, Rebecca
Howard (then 23 years old), the daughter of Col. Ebenezer
Bancroft, of Dunstable (now Tyngsboro), Mass.
How did the acquaintance begin? I think it was the faith¬
ful friend, Samuel Dix, of Townsend, not far from Dunstable,
who selected Becky as the character needed, and brought the
Rev. Ebenezer into the pleasing company of the young widow.
At any rate, whatever fear the Little Minister had in paying
his addresses must have been groundless, for about five
months later Rebecca (Bancroft) Howard became the mis¬
tress of the little manse and the little ones it contained. Who
married them, or where they were married, I do not know:
perhaps the records of Old Dunstable would disclose.*
Eight days after the wedding, the new meeting-house,
in which five years before the ordination services were held,
was dedicated. Our Minister preached a long sermon, from
*Mr. Hill’s private record says: “November 18, 1795. Ebenezer Hill
and Rebecca Howard were joined in marriage by the Rev. Mr. Kid¬
der, of Dunstable. Dec. 23, 1795, Mrs. Hill removed home.” This
was not an elopement; but, on account of the recent bereavements
of both bride and groom, they preferred to be married quietly away
from home, leaving her pastor to announce the marriage on his re¬
turn home from Nashua, where he married them. J. B. H.
14
Ebenezer Hill
the text “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of
Hosts!” (Ps. 84:1) ; but I imagine that the eyes of the con¬
gregation would often stray from the pulpit to the first wing
pew on the right — the Minister’s pew — where sat the Min¬
ister’s new wife, the first lady of the town. The building of
that meeting-house was a great undertaking for that town.
They were poor and weak-handed, and were long in finish¬
ing, but at length it was finished and dedicated.
Those early years of his ministry must have been for
our Minister years of active, hard work. There were two
long sermons to be created and written out each week. He
could not have had many in the barrel when he began. His
penmanship was typical of the man, small, neat, clear, like del¬
icate engraving, every character perfectly drawn. He used
in writing his sermons a system of shorthand, his own inven¬
tion doubtless, by means of which the labor of writing was
much reduced. In his parish, work he usually had eight or
ten weddings, and about as many funerals, each year. Of
course seasons differed. He took an active part in public
affairs, and was popular with the people, although there were
few additions to the church in those early years. The church
accessions of that day usually came from revivals that took
place at intervals of about twelve or fifteen years, time being
given for a new crop of the unconverted to grow up. Such
a revival they had in Mason in 1785, and another in 1802,
and another in 1827.
But if the Minister’s church flock did not increase rap¬
idly in those early years his private flock multiplied. One
year after his second marriage came the third addition to
his family — and again twins. On the 25th of November, 1796,
the boys Joseph Bancroft and John Boynton were born. Col¬
loquially they were called “Bancroft” and “Bineton”, and by
these names they have been known in Mason and vicinity
ever since. The first of these twins would probably have
been called Ebenezer Bancroft, after his maternal grand¬
father, had there not been already an Ebenezer in that gen¬
eration. John Boynton was named in remembrance of the first
wife’s family. When he became old enough to think about
it, he called this “an abominable imposition.”
The Little Minister
15
Those babes were born in the time of the bleak winds
of November. The outer door of the little house opened di¬
rectly into the living room ; and that living room must have
been at once kitchen, dining room, sleeping room and study.
A single open fireplace furnished all the heat used, and by it
all the cooking and washing must have been done. Life in
that family, with five small children, the eldest barely five
years old, the grandmother then about sixty-three, must have
been for the Little Minister, and especially for that young
mother, savored with hardship.
The New England winter came on. It was more than
she could bear. She sank into consumption, and the following
summer the death registry was again opened, and the Little
Minister wrote: “July 12, 1797. Rebecca, wife of Ebenezer
Hill departed this life ten minutes after one o’clock, p.m., aged
twenty-six years, four months and seven days.”
Another procession to the meeting-house on the hill ;
another funeral sermon, and condolence and sympathy from
the brethren. But his beloved friend Dix could not be there ;
he was nearing his own end, and died a few weeks later. His
biographer writes that “for some time before his death he
experienced a degree of illness”. But whatever may have been
said or done by way of comfort or consolation there must
have remained dire need in the parsonage. Doubtless the
ministerial brethren bestirred themselves — they were a power
in the land, and, when with divine unction they revealed
to a devout soul the path of duty, to hesitate would be sin.
Still it was no easy task, even for these strong persuaders,
to find one with the needful endowments for the exalted po¬
sition, who would be willing to begin her married life with
a ready-made family of five small children in the little parson¬
age at Mason however great the honor might seem.
Notwithstanding that the need was greater than after
the death of the first wife, a much longer time elapsed before
relief was found. In 1798, the Minister’s father Samuel, who
had been living with Samuel, Jr., at the foot of the Darling
Hill, died. It was a period of gloom, and those early years
in the family history were years of trial and hardship to our
Minister, “such”, says his biographer, “as to leave traces on
i6
Ebenezer Hill
his character ever after/’ But at length relief came, and the
clouds were dispelled. The woman was found, and she was
able, competent and ready. When, a long time afterward,
she was asked what could ever have induced her, a young,
attractive widow, belonging to a wealthy and honored family
in the old town of Bedford, Mass., to leave the comfort and
society in her father’s ample mansion and undertake the care
of that little parsonage home, she replied: “Well, I pitied
those poor children; and then I always did have a very great
respect for the ministry.”
Abigail (Jones) Stearns, the Little Minister’s third wife,
was a noble woman, and much might be written in her praise.
On the 29th of September, 1799, they were married. She was
then about 28 years of age (born October 13, 1771), the daugh¬
ter of Col. Timothy Jones, of Bedford, Mass., and the widow
of Lt. Edward Stearns, Jr., who died only four and a half
months after her marriage to him.* With her coming, the years
of trials and hardships came to an end. She brought with her
an ample dower, which furnished the needed relief. A new
house, the present commodious mansion, was at once started
and carried rapidly to completion. It is said that Timothy
Jones, Jr., of Bedford, built this house for his sister, and that
it is a copy of the Jones mansion in Bedford. My mother’s
grandfather Josiah Flagg, who had removed from Worcester,
Mass., to Mason, about 1795, did the stone work on the new
house, and it is creditably done. In it the family was installed,
and it furnished them a comfortable home, so long as any of
them remained in Mason.
Abigail Jones made an excellent stepmother, and long
years afterward her tender care and loving kindness were
gratefully remembered. She was honored by those for whom
she had cared in their helpless infancy. Even the church
revived after her coming. In the first ten years after our Min¬
ister was ordained, only eleven persons joined the church, and
most of these by letter; but in 1800 four, in 1801 seven, and
in 1802 forty-seven, joined by profession of faith. But the
*The Lieutenant’s first wife was her sister Polly Jones, by whom he
had one child, Edward, who lived but 18 months.
The Little Minister
i 7
new wife, devoutly pious as she was, could not have had
much time for anything outside her own household. Tra¬
dition says she was an expert in spinning wool, and kept the
Minister busy in finding material for her wheel. In later years
she trained her step-daughters Sally and Polly to the use of
the wheel and loom, and they made from the wool the cloth
that their brothers Bancroft and Boynton wore when they
went to Harvard.
The new house was hardly finished when the sixth child
of the Minister was born, (July 19, 1800), named Edward
Stearns, after the mother’s first husband. As in the case of
the first boys, Bancroft and Boynton, the family preferred for
everyday use the second rather than the first name, and al¬
ways called this boy Stearns.
During that first ten years, the years of stress and trial,
the Little Minister’s chief earthly support was undoubtedly
his mother. It was by her labor and exertion that in his early
years he had been enabled to win his way through college ;
and in the early years of his ministry, it was her care and
oversight that kept this little family from separation. It is
pleasant to know that the last eight years of her life were
passed in pleasure and comfort.
When the baby Stearns was about two years old, a girl
was born (March 3, 1802). It would seem natural that the
mother should give to this her first girl baby her own name,
but no, not yet ! This child must perpetuate the name of her
father’s second wife, and so she was called Rebecca Howard.
The name Rebecca was also appropriate for this child as the
grand-daughter of Rebecca Bateman Jones. But the mother’s
faith and patience had fruition, and two years later (Feb. 7,
1804) another girl joined the family group. She was named
«
Abigail Jones, after her mother. On the 14th of December,
1806, the ninth child, another daughter, was born, and named
Maria. The mansion was large; but, with nine children and
the old grandmother, the little Minister had a pretty heavy
burden. Unfortunately the Congregationalists did not, like
the Methodists, increase the preacher’s salary as the number
dependent upon him increased.
The next year (1807), the oldest boy, Ebenezer, then
i8
Ebenezer Hill
about sixteen, left home, and entered the office of Joseph
Cushing, founder of the Farmers’ Cabinet, at Amherst, N. H.,
to learn the printer’s trade. Among old papers I found the
first letter he sent home, written to his brothers Bancroft and
Boynton. It was such a letter as you would expect from a
brother to his younger brothers, somewhat patronizing, show¬
ing a little homesickness, telling of wonders to be seen at Am¬
herst, of Mr. Cushing’s new press from Boston, which they
had to go after on Sunday , with a wheelbarrow, (I suspect
it was this press that Horace Greeley used some years later),
enquiring after everybody at home, and begging them to send
him a letter. Mr. Robbins, whose turn it would be in two
weeks to go to Amherst from Mason to get the papers for that
town, would bring the letter.
The same year, 1807, “Grandmother Jones” died. I think
that Mrs. Hill’s youngest sister, Betsy Jones, came then to
live in the Mason parsonage, which became her home until
her marriage in 1813; or, possibly, after the death of Col.
Timothy Jones, June 1, 1804, the widow came with her daugh¬
ter Betsy to live at the old manse, and there she died Aug.
13, 1807.
On the 15th of March, 1808, another son was born, and
named Timothy Jones, after his maternal grandfather. That
year Bancroft and Boynton were in Tyngsboro. On the 30th
of December of the same year, the grandmother, Sarah Cutler
Hill, passed away, aged seventy-five years. The child Tim¬
othy Jones lived only a little more than two years; but, one
month before his death, another daughter, Lucy Sylvania, was
born (June 14, 1810). Two years later, the twelfth child,
Adeliza, appeared, (June 14, 1812).
Up to this time neither deaths nor departures had re¬
duced the number in the household. The family seems to
have been prosperous and happy. The original farm had been
enlarged by the purchase of a valuable meadow, a woodlot
and a pasture. The boys, Bancroft, Boynton and Stearns,
were easily able to do the farm work ; while the girls, Polly,
Sally, Rebecca and Betsy Jones, under the supervision of the
skilled mistress, could manage the house and care for the
ever-present infant contingent. They were all fond of music,
The Little Minister
19
and delighted in “performing anthems”. Singing-schools were
prevalent and popular. Uncle Samuel Hill’s family,* in which
there were several cousins — girls and boys — was not far away,
and the two families were very intimate.
*1 have been interested in learning what I could about Great-
Uncle Samuel and his family. He was born in 1764, at Cambridge,
Mass., and was therefore about two years older than his brother
Ebenezer. He came to Mason, probably in 1792, and remained there
until his death, of typhoid fever, May 23, 1813, at the age of forty-
nine. It is recorded of him that “He was a useful, industrious man,
noted for sterling integrity and independence of character; a good
husband, father and citizen.” (Memoir of Rev. Ebenezer Hill, p. 8).
He married Dorcas Wyeth, born 1770, who came from an excellent
family (so said Uncle Boynton) in Cambridge. There were at least
seven children from this marriage, three of whom died in infancy.
Of the others, Samuel, the oldest, taught school in Milford and in
Fitchburg. About 1816 he went to Troy, New York, where he became
a successful man of business. Years later Stearns Hill writes of meet¬
ing Cousin Samuel in New York City, where he was purchasing goods
for his business. Isaac Hill, a younger son of Uncle Samuel, became
a prosperous and much respected business man in a Massachusetts
town. Sally, one of the girls, married, in December, 1814, Moses
Barrett, of Lancaster, Mass., of whom Bancroft writes that he “had
paid his addresses to her for about nine months. He is a nephew to
Capt. Jesse Barrett, of this town, and I believe a person of consider¬
able property.” Another daughter Rebecca, married Jonathan Rich¬
ardson, and became the mother of Charles P. Richardson, for many
years the managing agent of the Columbian Mills, at Mason Village
(Greenville, N. H.).
Dorcas (Wyeth) Hill died Jan. 19, 1807. In Sept. 1809, Uncle
Samuel took his second wife Mary Adams, then about twenty-nine
years of age. Uncle Boynton, who knew her well, said that Mary was
a good woman and made Uncle Samuel an excellent wife. At the
time she married him, she had a child, a girl, eight years old, whom
Uncle adopted and named Almira Hill. By Mary Adams Uncle
Samuel had several children, one of whom Mary married J. Porter
Woodbury, a merchant of Boston, residing in Lynn, Mass. Her son,
Charles Jephtha Hill Woodbury, A.M., Sc.D., — President of Lynn His¬
torical Society, writer of some very interesting historical monograms,
lecturer on insurance — has been a business success.
After Uncle’s death, Almira lived with her mother, and tenderly
cared for her until that mother died. They are both buried in the
family lot at Mason. I remember them well. Of the other children
of Mary (Adams) Hill, I know nothing; but Mrs. Woodbury fre-
20
Ebenezer Hill
There were many young people in Mason. A Sunday-
school was not established there until 1816; but from the
time that his children were old enough to be instructed —
probably from the time that the new home was occupied —
every Sunday afternoon after the second church service was
over, it was the custom of the Little Minister to gather his
family about him and carefully go over with them the West¬
minster Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, explaining and com¬
menting on the doctrines therein contained. These exercises
practically ended the Sabbathday observances. That end must
have been to those children a glad relief !
In October, 1812, the high tide of population in the Mason
family was reached. There were on the first of that month,
apparently, eight girls, including Betsy Jones, and three boys,
at home. But the ebb soon began. On October 12, 1812,
Betsy Jones married James Wood, Jr. The following Janu¬
ary (17, 1813) Polly Hill married Timothy Wheeler, and on
the tenth of October following, Sally Hill, not to be far behind
her twin sister, married Josiah Merriam. The grooms were
all substantial farmers and residents of Mason. The girls
had not much chance to meet beaux in other towns. They all
set up their family penates in Mason, and were near the old
home, but no longer inmates. About Jan. 1, 1815, Bancroft
writes to Ebenezer, Jr.: “ ’Tis surprising to see the alterations
a few years make in a family. Three years ago there were three
small girls living in this, namely Polly, Sally and Betsy Jones.
They are all now married and have a likely son each.”
When the last of the three brides left, there were still five
girls and three boys remaining. Bancroft and Boynton were
then about seventeen, small in stature, but active and healthy.
With Stearns’ assistance they easily did the farm work and
found time for other things. They hunted over the hills for
rabbits and partridges. They fished the brooks for trout.
They watched the evolutions of the militia on training days.
At the annual muster in October — usually held in Temple —
quently came to Mason, to visit Uncle Boynton and the scenes of
her childhood. Uncle visited her luxurious home in Lynn. I once
accompanied him.
The Little Minister
21
they were on hand with keen appetites when the beef and
bread were distributed to men and boys alike. They read all
the books they could get hold of, and frequently walked to
Temple, seven miles distant, to draw books from the Colum¬
bian Library in that town. Sometimes they made visits to
their Grandfather Bancroft’s in Tyngsboro, and to their aunt,
Mrs. Towne’s, in Stoddard. They undoubtedly attended all
the winter schools, and probably studied at home. In Janu¬
ary, 1814, Bancroft writes : “I have cyphered about four
weeks this winter, and expect to get through the Rule of Three
today.” Boynton undoubtedly kept along with his brother,
for they studied out of the same book. They boosted each
other. While they were in college, it was said of them that
Bancroft was the better of the two in mathematics, while
Boynton was superior in “the humanities”. This was un¬
doubtedly true, for I find that in later life Boynton, who all
his life was a lover of the classics, was sending mathematical
problems to Bancroft for solution. Bancroft solved the prob¬
lems, but took no pleasure in Latin and Greek.
Sometime in 1814 these boys determined to try for a col¬
lege education. Their older brother Ebenezer opposed their
ambition. He thought the means of the family were too slen¬
der to allow of any such extravagance! — and he was about
right — but their father sympathized with them, and promised,
if they would do the farm work for the next two years, he
would help them all he could in their college career. So they
set about their preparation. They attended an academy
taught by Mr. Daniel Gould, at Tyngsboro, in the winter of
1815, boarding at their Grandfather Bancroft’s. Then they
came home and did the farm work in the summer of 1816,
studying in the meantime as much as they could.
In September, 1816, Bancroft writes from Mason to one
of his Tyngsboro schoolmates : “Haying, reaping, hoeing,
etc., kept us busy until the latter part of August. We made a
shift, notwithstanding, to get through with the Aeneid, and
paid a little attention to scanning. Since then we have been
employed with Tully.” He then goes on and discusses Vergil
and Cicero in a learned fashion. On Thanksgiving Day, the
following November (14th), he writes to his Brother Ebene-
22
Ebenezer Hill
zer, in Troy, N. Y., “Boynton and I have been studying Latin
and Greek the past season. We went to school one month,
the rest of the time at home. Today we have performed the
anthems ‘O praise the Lord, all ye people’ and ‘Tell ye the
daughters of Jerusalem’.”
It is a little remarkable that, in this letter, he did not
mention a recent occurrence which in most families would be
considered worth mentioning, namely, the birth of another
child. Could it be that that oft-repeated phenomenon had
lost interest? On the 16th of October, 1816, Martha, the
thirteenth child, was born, and in his first letter to Ebenezer,
Jr., written less than a month after, (and I know from the
reply that Ebenezer had not received a letter from Mason
between those dates) Bancroft did not think to mention the
new sister! This letter was not sent by mail — too expensive
— but by the hand of ‘Cousin Samuel’ Hill, in whose printing
office at Troy, N. Y., Ebenezer, Jr., was then employed.
In the winter of 1816-17, these boys taught schools in
Massachusetts, Bancroft at Carlyle and at Townsend, and
Boynton in Winchendon. They then returned to Mason,
where their former teacher, Mr. Gould, was boarding in the
family. They studied under his direction, and worked on the
farm, until July, when they went to the Academy at New
Ipswich. This Appleton Academy was in that day a famous
school, and our Little Minister, from 1813 to 1830, was one
of its trustees and sometime President of the Board. In the
fall they matriculated at Harvard. Thus came another dimin¬
ution of the family group, and it was a pretty serious one.
Stearns was now seventeen years of age, and on him de¬
volved the management of the farm. He was strong, ener¬
getic, active, and loved farm work, but it was a pretty heavy
burden for a seventeen-year-old. Agricultural labor was not
compatible with the dignity of the ministerial profession. The
Little Minister was scrupulous to maintain that dignity ; his
office was a sacred calling. Even had he been willing, and
capable of farm work, to which he was never trained, his
official duties demanded all his time and strength. The days
of horseback-riding and the pillion had gone by ; it was then
the time of the ‘one-hoss shay’. In it our Little Minister went
The Little Minister
23
rolling and bouncing over the hills of the countryside for miles
around. I remember that old black ‘shay’, high in the air, the
body swung on stout leather straps, two tall wheels, stout
shafts, and a hood that came down well in front to keep
off the rain. It stood for many years in the old barn, too
strongly built to decay, and too antique to be used.
In 1818 there was a disease that they called ‘throat dis¬
temper’ (probably diphtheria), which made sad ravages
among the children in Mason and vicinity. It was like a
plague, and the consolations of the pastor were sought for
in every direction. They were hardly in the mood for Thanks¬
giving, which was not observed until December 31st of that
year. On that day, Stearns writes: “We sang Wesley, Walsal,
Stand up, my soul, Sinai, The Heavens are telling, and Strike
the Cymbal, which went very well.” This was rather an am¬
bitious musical programme.
The boys, Bancroft and Boynton, came home for a short
time in the fall, and then went away to teach school, — Ban¬
croft in Weston, Mass., and Boynton in Tyngsboro. Their
Harvard class had rebelled against the college government,
and had all been dismissed. It might be supposed that our
Minister would be much distressed by this escapade, but he
heard their story very calmly, and seemed rather to sympa¬
thize with the boys. The rebels, all except three or four,
came back, some sooner, some later, under an amnesty procla¬
mation issued by the college authorities. I suspect that our
kinsman Bancroft was a prominent offender, not in the orig¬
inal transgression but in the protest and defiance of college
authority which the class made because they thought the
punishment of their offending classmates was unjust. Ban¬
croft remained at Weston, and taught his school, disregarding
the offer of pardon on prompt return. When finally he did
come in, he was advised that he had been expelled ; but he
succeeded in securing a revocation of that edict, and was a
few days later reinstated.
All the family were much interested in these college boys,
as frequent letters from their sisters Polly and Sally — then
still resident in Mason — give abundant evidence. Sally was
a superior woman, and her letters are of interest. In one,
24
Ebenezer Hill
written July 10, 1819, to Bancroft, then at Cambridge, she
writes : “Behave well, and be steady. If short for cash, spend
as little as possible. Do not trouble yourself about what you
owe me. If you never pay, it is no matter. I conclude Doct.
Johnson told you that there was another stranger had come
into our midst — another brother added to our number. God
grant that he may be a blessing and comfort to us all. I sus¬
pect he is an unwelcome guest to our father.” Thus she an¬
nounced the birth (June 30, 1819), of Timothy the last of the
fourteen children.
It may be as well for us now to take a glance over the
household and see whom we have. In 1820 the Fourth
National Census of the United States was taken. The family
of the Rev. Ebenezer Hill then, beside the father and mother
consisted of Edward Stearns, twenty years of age ; Rebecca
Howard, eighteen; Abigail Jones (familiarly called Nabby,
who lived with her sister Sally Merriam, and who, when asked
by the latter if she wished to send any message to her Brother
Bancroft, then in college, said: “Tell him he is a saucy block¬
head”) aged sixteen ; Maria, fourteen ; Lucy Sylvania, ten ;
Adeliza, eight; Martha, four, and Timothy, one. There was
also a young man called Horace, about the age of Stearns,
who worked with him on the farm. In 1821 Nabby went to
school in Jaffrey, boarding in her aunt’s family. In 1821
Stearns became of age. He had been the family reliance for
several years, and they viewed his departure with apprehen¬
sion.
The Little Minister was now the oldest of all the min¬
isters in that region in point of service, and one of the most
highly esteemed. Of those clergymen who stood with him at
his ordination only two remained. He was often called to
serve on public occasions in the neighboring towns, most
frequently for preaching funeral sermons, in which branch of
his profession he was very able. These sermons were often
printed and preserved by the afflicted families as a memorial
for the dead and a warning for the living. When the revival
seasons came around, he was often away from home for sev¬
eral days, aiding his brethren in other parishes. And the
pastoral cares of his own town were exacting. When epi-
The Little Minister
25
demies, amounting almost to plagues, swept the town, he
ministered to the sick, buried the dead, and comforted the sur¬
vivors. In 1822 two of the children of his daughter Polly
died in the space of two days and in 1825 two of Sally’s
children died in one month.
In 1822 (Feb. 26) Sally’s babe died, only twenty-one days
old. Her brothers wrote her letters of sympathy and con¬
dolence. In her reply to one of these letters, she gives ex¬
pression to the mother’s love struggling with the mother’s
religion. She writes : ‘T feel my loss very much, — full as
much now as I did when she first died. I think that time has
not weaned my affections in the least from the dear child;
but I trust I do not complain. God has done me no injustice.
He gave me my comforts, and He takes but what He gave.
It is a severe trial, and I feel it hard to submit to it ; but I
do not doubt that it is all for the best that I am afflicted,
and God for some wise purpose has done it. What that pur¬
pose may be, futurity alone can unfold. I hope I shall bow
in humble submission to the divine will, and not by my
selfish complaints provoke Him to take my remaining com¬
forts. My child is undoubtedly taken from the evil to come.
Her state is now unalterably fixed, and it does not become me
to indulge in unprofitable doubts and fears respecting her
state. This we know: She has gone to a just God, One who
will not do her any wrong. But I must confess I have many
distressing, anxious fears concerning her future welfare. God
grant that we may meet her in His presence, never more to
separate.”
About this time, convinced of the evils of intemperance,
the Little Minister zealously undertook a temperance reform,
and banished from his cupboard the square case-bottle of
Medford rum, from which he and his brethren had so often
drawn cheer and comfort. And, further to set an example in
the breaking off of bad habits, he gave up chewing tobacco.
In 1821 Bancroft and Boynton graduated from Harvard
College. After a short visit in Mason, the former began a
school in Milton, Mass., and the latter took charge of Garrison
Forest Academy in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland.
Stearns looked after the farm through the summer, and in the
26
Ebenezer Hill
winter taught schools in Londonderry and in Merrimac, N. H.
Through these years the family were much concerned about
the oldest boy, Ebenezer, Jr., who had left Troy, N. Y., in
1819, and gone to Alabama, and later to Tennessee. They
rarely heard from him.
In the summer of 1822, Stearns, having successfully com¬
pleted his winter school-teaching, planned to attend the
academy in Derry; but he was so much needed at home that
he gave up his plan, and came home to manage the farm.
In July he went to Concord, the State Capital, “to see the
House organized, and hear the election sermon preached,” etc.
He does not tell us much about the sermon, but the music
made a great impression. He writes : “The music was new
to me, almost the whole of it. The first was from Old Colony
Collection, ‘The great Jehovah is our awful theme, Sublime
in majesty, in power supreme, Hallelujah!’ Second, ‘Gently,
Lord, O gently lead us Through this lonely vale of tears’.
Third, ‘When winds breathe soft along the silent deep.’
Fourth, ‘Sound an alarm, your silver trumpets sound.’ Fifth,
‘Hear my prayer, O God.’ Sixth, ‘Praise the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all His benefits.’ Seventh, The Discourse.
Eighth, ‘Strike the cymbals.’ Ninth, ‘Thou wilt shew me
the path of life; In Thy presence is fulness of joy.’ Tenth,
Judgment Hymn. Eleventh, Extract from the Intercession,
‘Father, Thy word is just; Man shall find grace.’ Twelfth,
‘Then round about the starry Throne.’ Thirteenth, ‘To Thee
cherubim and seraphim continually do cry.’ Fourteenth, ‘Be¬
hold and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.’
Fifteenth, ‘Comfort ye My people, saith your God.’ Sixteenth,
‘Hallelujah Chorus.’ Deacon Gould was the chorister. Hon.
James Bingham played upon the bass viol, his brother the
flute. There were a trumpet, violincello, violins, etc. It was
the best singing I ever heard.”
After the summer’s work was finished, Stearns and Re¬
becca, in the ‘one-hoss shay’, made a visit to Bancroft at
Milton. Later Stearns left for Derry to attend school, and
taught again in Londonderry, and (I think) in Bedford, Mass.
In the summer of 1823 he came back and managed the farm
work. In this year both Nabby and Rebecca were teaching
The Little Minister
27
school in Mason and boarding at home. Bancroft and Boyn¬
ton finished their schools and returned to Mason for a short
vacation. Th€ latter had determined to study law, and the
former concluded to go to Baltimore and take charge of the
Garrison Forest Academy, where Boynton had been.
The day before Bancroft’s departure in September, his
father wrote out and delivered to him, “to be opened on the
journey”, a long letter of religious exhortation, advice and
warning. Among other things, he feared that his son, de¬
voted to music and very fond of “performing anthems”, might,
in singing the sacred words of that class of music, take the
name of God in vain. When Bancroft opened the letter, we do
not know. He went to Boston and took ship for Baltimore; but,
in attempting to pass around Cape Cod, the ship was wrecked.
No lives were lost, but they had a narrow escape and great
difficulty in getting to land, which they reached somewhere
near Barnstable. From this place Bancroft wrote to his fath¬
er (Sept. 8, 1823) a vivid account of the disaster; and the
old gentleman, unwontedly disturbed, wrote him another long
letter, beginning “My very dear Son restored to me again
from the very jaws of death.” “My very dear Son” was a form
of address that he never used unless he was greatly moved.
He usually wrote, with dignity and repression, “My Son.”
Boynton did not get home until after Bancroft had de¬
parted. In fact, I think he remained in Maryland until his
brother arrived. After his return to Mason, he went for a
short time to the Harvard Law School, then read law in the
office of Mark Farley, Hollis, and was admitted to the bar.
He opened an office in Nashua, where he remained for a
year or two, and then removed (1827) to Townsend, Mass.,
and later (1828) to Maine. During these years he was fre¬
quently at Mason, and took a deep interest in looking after
the welfare of the family.
Stearns, after teaching in Milton, Mass., through the
winter of 1823-24, went to New York City, where he was
employed by Mr. Clapp, hardware and looking-glass merchant,
who married a daughter of Dea. Houghton, of Milton. I
suspect that Stearns’ acquaintance with Mrs. Clapp’s sister
Catharine may have had something to do with his locating in
28
Ebenezer Hill
Mr. Clapp’s employment. He learned the business thorough¬
ly, enjoyed it, and was taken into partnership. On June 26,
1827, he married the said sister Catharine Houghton.
In 1825 Nabby, who (I think) had been teaching in
Fitzwilliam, N. H., and there made the acquaintance, married
John Kimball, a resident of that town. Thereby another
of the family was removed.
About this period, it was noticed, the Little Minister did
not appear as cheerful as in former years. He seemed sad¬
dened and depressed by some unseen burden. The truth
was that he was anxiously concerned about his children, par¬
ticularly his boys, four of whom had grown into manhood and
gone out into the world. On behalf of all his children his
deepest anxiety was in regard to their spiritual welfare.
Year after year he had preached and prayed and catechised,
but not a single one had made profession of faith ; none had
been moved to seek admission to the church. In his mind
they were all outside the ark of safety, and he was depressed
in spirit. His letters to his absent children are full of anxious
entreaty, argument and regret. For many years there had
been few additions to his church, and an apparent absence
of any interest in religious matters.
But a change was coming. His earnest prayers were not
unheard. In 1826-27 there was a great revival in Mason. The
Little Minister’s ‘shay’ was seen in every part of the town,
as he went seeking out penitents, attending daily public meet¬
ings and nightly gatherings for inquiry, examination and in¬
struction. A large accession to the church was made ; and
among others Lucy Sylvania, then about seventeen years of
age, professed a saving faith and was the first of his children
to join the church. But what a struggle ! Convicted of sin,
she shut herself in her room, and alone fought the conflict.
The family placed food at her door — which remained un¬
touched. No one interfered. She had been instructed. The
father prayed. An awful solemnity weighed down to house¬
hold. At the end of the second day she found peace.
Lucy soon went to New York, to the family of her brother
Stearns, intending to spend the winter and engage in teaching.
In August she was taken sick, nothing very serious apparently,
HOME. OF THE REV. EBENEZER HILL
Built in 1 799, and still in excellent preservation. The cut is made from a pencil drawing by Mrs. Hill’s niece Betie Jones Wood.
The Little Minister
29
but a physician was called, and in the method of those days
dosed the patient with calomel and jallop, blistered — and per¬
haps bled — her. Ten days later (Aug. 14, 1827) she died. In
those days there were no means of rapid communication.
The family knew nothing of the illness until after her death
and burial. Stearns wrote a letter of sad details to Boynton,
who was then at Townsend. He repaired at once to Mason,
and calling the family together in the old northwest parlor,
read in broken portions, his voice choking with sobs and
emotion, the sad recital. For months later gloom hung over
the household. The Little Minister thereafter always referred
to her as “the lamented Lucy Sylvania”. The “Little Timmy”
that had died an infant seventeen years before was forgotten.
This was practically the first break in the family group by
death — the beginning of the end.
On the fourth of June, 1829, Maria married Oliver H.
Pratt, a worthy man, residing in Mason, near the home place.
Thus three of the girls had found homes in the old town. On
the 10th of August, 1829, Boynton was married to Achsah G.
Parker, a native of Hollis, a relative of the Worcester family.
He took her to his home in Exeter, Maine. She was well
educated, deeply religious, had a great influence over her
husband, and was loved and respected by his family.
In September, 1829, word was received that Nabby, who
had married John Kimball, was seriously ill. The Little
Minister started at once for Fitzwilliam, about twenty miles
distant. Arriving there he found her apparently better, and
returned home with this cheering intelligence. But soon
another message came. About one year previous to this time,
an electric storm struck Fitzwilliam and did much damage.
The home next to the Kimballs was shattered, and some
of the inmates severely injured, while the Kimball home re¬
ceived a less severe shock but sufficient to render Nabby
partially insensible for a time. It made her very nervous at
the time of storms. Unfortunately, the next day after her
father left her convalescent but very weak, a terrific storm
rolled from the Monadnock, enveloping the town and so
exciting the patient that a relapse ensued and her case was
considered hopeless. All the family at Mason repaired at once
30
Ebenezer Hill
to Fitzwilliam, and were present at the bedside when the end
came (Sept. 9, 1829). Her father wrote of her: “It is about
four years since she indulged a hope of gracious acceptance in
a crucified Savior. She had proposed to profess publicly her
faith, and unite with the visible Church of Christ in a short
time, and in her sickness she greatly lamented that she had
delayed it until the time was past, — a solemn warning to us
all to beware of delays.”
But while the family were in deep grief over the death of
another of their number, there came from a far-off country
news that made the father’s heart glad. There had been a
great revival in the region around Fayetteville, Tennessee, and
his boys, Ebenezer and Bancroft, had both, at a Cumberland
Presbyterian camp-meeting, been converted. The Little Min¬
ister, in the same letter to Boynton in which he had written of
Nabby’s death, writes: “Thus are our judgments mingled
with mercies, and we are called to rejoice and give thanks for
special favors as well as to mourn under bereavements.” A
long letter of joy and thanksgiving, beginning “My very dear
Son”, was immediately dispatched to his far-off boys. A little
in doubt, I think, as to the efficacy of a Tennessee camp-meet¬
ing conversion, he earnestly enjoins upon his sons a diligent
and careful self-examination. “But I entreat you, my sons, be
very careful. Examine well and pray earnestly, lest you be
deceived. Oht my children, look carefully for evidence that
old things are indeed done away and all things become new.”
But such was the gloom in the old home that Rebecca became
subject to fits of melancholy. Stearns sent for her to visit him
in New York. She went, but it was with lamentations and
oft-repeated declarations that she would not live to return, —
that she would follow her sister Lucy Sylvania. The visit did
her good.
Sometime in 1829 or early in 1830, Adeliza became en¬
gaged to Benjamin Wheeler Merriam, a native of Mason, and
(I think) residing there when the engagement was formed.
He was generally spoken of as Wheeler Merriam, another
example of the then tendency to use the second name in pref¬
erence to the first. It was expected that the marriage would
soon take place; but this course of true love did not run
The Little Minister
3i
smooth, and the engagement was broken. “It was”, Sally
writes, “Adeliza’s act”, but she was very unhappy about it.
She was teaching school and, breaking down, was carried
home sick. The engagement was subsequently renewed, but
the marriage did not take place until April 4, 1833.
In the meantime (1831), from Exeter, Maine, where
Boynton had established himself, came cheering reports. He
was getting rich, had a large practice, had bought a farm ; but,
best of all, — because of his wife’s influence, perhaps — he was
active in religious matters, had family prayers, worked in the
church, superintended the Sunday-school, etc. But later came
the intelligence that the “beloved Achsah” was ill. Adeliza
went to Exeter to aid her brother in this trial, and remained
there until after Achsah’s death (May 6, 1831). Of the girls,
Martha was left alone at Mason to aid her mother in the
household cares. When information of the critical condition
of Boynton’s wife reached his father, the latter started at once
for Exeter, and was, I think, present at the end. Over the
roads and in the conveyances of those days, a journey of
about one hundred and forty miles across the country was a
serious undertaking. After her return from Exeter, Adeliza
writes to her brother (June 3, 1831) : “After a very fatigue-
ing journey, we all arrived at home on Friday last. We
found the traveling exceedingly bad, and were detained two
days on account of wet weather. I was discouraged a great
many times, and often feared I should never reach home.
But, through the kind care of that Being who ever watches
over us and protects us from innumerable dangers, we got
through our journey without injury, except from fatigue. Mr.
Parker was almost worn out ; and on my own part I do not
believe I could have held out to ride much farther.”
About this time troubles arising out of the relations be¬
tween the Mason church and the town began to grow acute.
Notwithstanding that large accessions had been made to the
church in the years just previous (from 1826 to 1831, over one
hundred were admitted to Mr. Hill’s church on profession of
faith), only a small minority of the population of the town
were church-members, and not all who were church-members
belonged to his church. There were — and there had been from
32
Ebenezer Hill
the days before the Little Minister came to Mason, Baptists
in the town, and they had established a church of their own
Naturally when it came to collecting taxes for the support
of the established church, they were dissenters and protested
vigorously. Sometimes they were excused, and sometimes
they were distrained upon. They had no church building, and
they claimed that, as they had been taxed to aid in building
and keeping up the meeting-house, they were entitled to share
in its use for their church services. And now, in 1831, another
sect appeared, calling themselves “Christians”, and they
flourished apace. With all these dissenters the Little Minis¬
ter maintained friendly relations. Many of the converts in
the revivals conducted by him joined the Baptist Church.
Some of the Baptists joined his church, and were therefor
roundly labored with by the Elder and his associates. Then
there were a large number who belonged to no church, and
were not willing to be taxed for church support. Annually
the question of providing for the preacher’s salary as one of
the town’s expenses came up at town-meeting, and of late
years the opposition had been growing. It was somewhat of
the old spirit of ‘no taxation without representation’. Those
who had no part in the church management, no control over
its expenditures, and no desire to benefit from its ministra¬
tions, naturally objected to paying the expenses.
This was not in Mason alone, but in every town where
the old contract remained in force. That same year Adeliza
writes: “They are trying to get rid of Mr. Miles in Temple,
and it will be father’s turn next.” So strong was the opposi¬
tion that, at one town-meeting about this time, they voted not
to pay the minister’s salary; but the contract was legal, the
town was bound. Another meeting was called, and the salary
granted. “The opposition party,” I quote from one of Ade-
liza’s letters, “were so much enraged that they determined
to do something, and they had a warrant put up for another
meeting, ‘To see if the town will dismiss the Rev. Ebenezer
Hill, and to adopt measures to carry said article into effect. *
They seemed to think there was no doubt but that they should
accomplish their object; but they found, on examining the
town records, that it was not so easy a matter as they had
The Little Minister
33
imagined, for it is there stated that he was settled for life,
unless he forfeit his ministerial character. They were so much
chagrined that when the time of the meeting arrived, only
about fifteen of their party attended, and there were about
three to one on Father’s side. They appeared very much
ashamed, and slunk away in silence, and probably will remain
so until Satan can invent something new for them.” It may
be as well to mention here that this contract was kept and
faithfully performed by the contracting parties until 1835, a
period of forty-five years, when Mr. Hill voluntarily released
the town* from an obligation that had become irritating to so
many of his townsmen.
In 1832 Rebecca was in Exeter, caring for the home of her
brother Boynton. The younger children were growing up.
Timothy was twelve years of age. Martha, who was sixteen,
was attending the Academy in New Ipswich. Maria’s hus¬
band, Mr. Pratt, and Josiah Merriam, Sally’s husband, looked
after the farm in these years. The latter had sold his farm in
Mason, and later moved to Garland, Maine. In the fall of
1832 Adeliza went to New York to visit her brother Stearns;
and, her engagement to Benjamin Wheeler Merriam having
been renewed, she married him on the fourth of April, 1833.
I do not find a record of the marriage in Mason, and presume
it took place in New York.
But the old manse was not deserted, and still rang with
childish voices. Stearns’ oldest boy, Edward Stearns Hill, Jr.,
and Nabby’s only surviving child, Maria Frances Kimball,
made long visits to their grand-parents ; and Sally and Polly,
living near at hand, and each with a full hand of children,
doubtless contributed to the youthful life in the mansion. The
New York families began to come on in the summer.
In June 1834, the Little Minister and his wife made the
journey to New York to visit their children. In the fall of
that year Martha was critically ill ; and Stearns, who was then
visiting there with his family, wrote that her life was des¬
paired of. But she recovered.
*His pastoral relation to the church, however, was never dissolved
until his death, some nineteen years later.
34
Ebenezer Hill
In the summer of that year, Timothy, just merging into
manhood, bidding fair to become physically the largest of all
(and such he became), and of such “manliness”, his sister
writes, that all loved him, was converted and joined the
church. All were now in the fold, save Martha, and she was,
the next year, reported to be “anxious”. *
I have a letter written by Boynton to his partner Apple-
ton, in September, 1835, that is rather interesting and sugges¬
tive of the conditions of that day. A few days previous, he
had started from Bangor, where he was then located, and
traveling “by mail”, as he expressed it, had reached Lowell,
Mass., where he was at the Merrimac House. He writes
“Judging from what I have seen thus far, it is the prince of
hotels. Nothing in Maine is fit to be compared with it for
comfort and accommodation ; and few, if any, can show a
greater list of entries.” Two days later he writes from Bos¬
ton : “I arrived here this afternoon, on the cars from Lowell.
Of this mode of traveling I am compelled to speak well. It
is indeed admirable. Nothing has so nearly realized the tales
of magic as the application of steam. I pray we may soon
have a railroad from Bangor to Boston, and then it will be
but an excursion of pleasure for our citizens to visit this place,
— and even the New Jersey peach orchards would not be out
of reach of our citizens.” — This was evidently his first ride on
the cars.
In the fall of 1835, Sept. 10, Maria, who had married Mr.
Pratt some six years before, died after a short illness. About
two years before, Mar. 11, 1833, she had lost her only child, a
boy a little over two years of age, whom she had named Eben¬
ezer Hill, and over whom she had prayed that he might become
a minister like his grandfather.
*Martha’s daughter, who read the proof sheets of this Sketch, reports
that her Aunt Rebecca did not unite with the church until March 5, 1866;
and that it was said that she then “ ran all the way to the house when she
went to present herself for that purpose, ‘for fear she would change her
mind.’ The reason, I doubt not, was because she was brought up on a
‘miserable worm’ diet, like myself, and feared she was not truly a child of
God. But that was not due to Grandfather’s instruction but to the teach¬
ing of the celebrated Finney.”
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE
In which the Little Minister preached 47 years. First occupied on the
day of his ordination. Dedicated Nov. 26, 1 795.
THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE
Dedicated in 1837. In this building the Little Minister remained Pastor
for 17 years, after having preached 47 years in the Old Meeting-House.
In the later years the work was increasingly turned over to colleagues.
The Little Minister
35
The children of the Little Minister had a strong affection
for their father, but it was mingled with a reverential admira¬
tion that prevented familiarity. Neither he nor they ever lost
sight of his sacred calling. He was now (1835) approaching
the ‘three score years and ten’. His daughter Polly writes of
him at that time : “Our father is in good health for one of his
years, but I can see that he fails, although his mental faculties
are uncommon. It is thought that he preaches better as he grows
older.” But he himself felt that the church would be more
prosperous under a younger man. He called a public meeting,
and reminded his people that he was growing old, expressed
his willingness to resign, and suggested the appointment of a
committee to nominate his successor. Such a committee was
appointed, and he was made its chairman. He remarked to a
friend : “I wish to resign my pastoral charge now, while I am
in full possession of my mental faculties, lest in remaining longer
they become so impaired that I may be unwilling to resign.”
The next year (1836) the Rev. Andrew Reed was secured
as his colleague. The old church building in which the ordin¬
ation services had taken place nearly forty-seven years before,
was inconveniently located on a windy hilltop, and was no longer
suitable for the church services. In 1837 the present church
edifice was built on a plot of ground given by Mr. Hill for
church purposes.* Thereafter, although he had a colleague,
our Minister did not stop preaching. Every Sunday found him
in the pulpit, often at home, but more frequently in other towns, —
in Ashby, in Sharon, and more than elsewhere in Brookline,
N. H., where he carried on a very successful campaign of church
work.
In the fall of 1836 Boynton came from Bangor, Maine, his
then home, to Mason, and was there very ill. He later writes to
his sister Rebecca that he owed his life to her devoted care and
nursing. She afterwards seems to have developed tuberculosis,
*The old deed is among our papers. Many years later some
thrifty Yankee undertook to convert the horsesheds on that ground
into a storage warehouse, but Uncle Boynton stopped that proceed¬
ing by threatening the forfeiture of the land, if diverted from church
purposes.
36
Ebenezer Hill
and for several years was an invalid, often unable to leave her
chamber, but she slowly recovered a fair degree of health.
In the winter of 1836-37, Martha taught school in Jaffrey,
N. H., boarding with her Aunt Mary Sylvania (Jones) Cutter,
who, she writes, “has eight boys, one named Ebenezer Ban¬
croft”. The following April she went to New York City, and
spent the summer with her sister Adeliza.
About this time Stearns, who had been quite successful in
his business, but who had always longed for a life in the coun¬
try, sold his business, and, leaving his family with his father-in-
law at Milton, made a trip West through Illinois and South as
far as Tennessee, where he visited his brothers, Ebenezer and
Bancroft. He was spying out the land for a good location, but
he came back with the report that it was not so roseate as it had
been painted. His wife was opposed to going West. There was
now a need of someone to carry on the farm at Mason. Mr.
Pratt had gone to New York. The boy Timothy was struggling
to prepare for college, going to school at New Ipswich in the
fall and winter, and working on the farm between times. Stearns
writes to Bancroft: “I have not yet decided where to locate
myself. Father and mother wish me to stay in Mason, for they
do not feel willing to leave the old place ... I don’t like Mason,
but wish to follow duty, and hope it will be made plain to me.”
It was apparently made plain to him that he ought to go to
Mason. In November, 1837, he moved thither and undertook
the management of the farm. He did not live in the mansion,
but hired a house near at hand.
The new meeting-house was finished ; and the bell, secured
by a special deputation sent to Boston for it, had been hung and
rung. “It is the wonder of the town”, writes Rebecca. Mr.
Pratt came back from New York, moved the building where a
store had been kept from the west to the east side of the road
(now the Thompson house), and opened a country store in it.
The next season (1838) Stearns moved the old barn from
the west side of the road to the east side, placing it on a founda¬
tion of rocks collected in enormous quantities from all over the
farm. Martha came back from New York. In August, 1838,
Timothy went to Hanover, N. H., and entered Dartmouth Col¬
lege. As Stearns had undertaken the farm work, Timothy,
The Little Minister
37
then nineteen, could be spared. His brother Boynton loaned him
the needful funds. The old home was growing more quiet.
Timothy was at home for brief visits during his college course,
but his vacations were spent in teaching.
In 1839 Martha again taught school in Mason, and also in
Jaffrey. That same year, Bancroft, after sixteen years of
absence, came from Tennessee to visit the old home. For some
years he had been preaching in the South. He preached in the
new meeting-house at Mason. Mr. Reed desiring to leave, the
church was moved to invite Bancroft to become his father’s
colleague. After his return to Tennessee, a formal call was sent
to him. He accepted, but did not come to Mason until about
June, 1840. The Little Minister was still active, and his fellow
townsmen elected him their representative in the Legislature in
1839 and again in 1840.
Stearns carried on the farm for two years, and worked hard
but it did not pay. He lost money. In 1840 he again went West,
and bought a tract of land near Peoria, Illinois, and moved
thither. It took him seventeen days (9th to 26th of April) to
travel with his family from New York to Peoria, and his goods
which went by way of New Orleans were forty-six days in
transit. But, he says, they “had a very pleasant journey”, “the
scenery most of the way delightful”, and his chattels “came in
good order.” He bought a tract of land, and went courageously
to work, but the title to his land proved defective. He lost all
he paid for it, and early in 1841 returned to New York, and
opened a grocery store in Brooklyn.
Stearns writes of the West: “My disappointment was in
not finding a market for what I could raise, in the want of
schools for our children, and the want of society and the com¬
forts of life in general.” He gives a very interesting sketch of
that country at that day — its advantages: rich soil, abundant
crops, easy of cultivation, excellent for cattle; and its disad¬
vantages : poor market, no schools, no society, chills and fever,
mosquitoes and fleas. He had lost money in every move ; but
with optimistic courage — one of his many excellent traits of
character — he writes: “If I am successful in my present busi¬
ness, I can make that in one year, and support my family.”
Mr. Pratt, who had undertaken to keep a store in Mason,
38
Ebenezer Hill
failed, was sold out, “lost everything but honor,,> and coming
to the old mansion took charge of the farm. Martha had another
term at New Ipswich Academy, and was enthusiastic in her Latin,
particularly in her study of Vergil. Adeliza came on in the sum¬
mer with her family, and Boynton frequently visited the old
home. Bancroft — still a bachelor — lived with the family. He
seems to have been very successful in his church work in the
beginning. There was a great revival, with eighty accessions
to the church in 1841. Mr. Pratt still carried on the farm. Our
Minister, having established the Brookline church, and secured
for it a pastor, the Rev. Daniel Goodwin, was preaching in
Sharon. Martha spent the winter of 1841-42 in New York. In
April, 1842, Edwin R. Hodgman, of the class of 1843 at Dart¬
mouth, was at the Mason home, in poor health. Stearns was
located in Brooklyn.
In 1842 Timothy, who had been teaching at Townsend,
graduated from Dartmouth. He came home, two dollars in poc¬
ket, and remained through the summer, looking for employment.
In the fall he went to New York; and, boarding with his brother
Stearns in Brooklyn, entered Union Theological Seminary. The
following summer he came home to Mason. The Little Minister
was then preaching in Bennington, N. H. Bancroft was in
charge of the Mason church, and that year attended the Dart¬
mouth commencement. On his way thither he visited his
aunts, one in Stoddard and one in Alstead.
In the fall of 1843 Bancroft went West, to bring home from
Illinois his nephew, Samuel Wheeler, who had gone to pieces
physically and financially. Timothy taught school in Stoddard
through the summer. In the fall he returned to the seminary
in New York City, boarding at Mr. Merriam’s in the new house*
then just completed.
In 1844 Mr. Hodgman, who had been at Andover Theologi¬
cal Seminary transferred himself to Union. Martha was then
living with her sister Adeliza. Timothy, having a room in the
seminary building, was (Nov. 29, 1844) looking forward to his
graduation. In this year Stearns, through the failure of a for-
*It was not however the house he built at 312 Fifth Avenue, which was
for over 60 years the home of the Merriam family.
FIVE. OF THE. SIX SONS
EBENEZER
BOYNTON
BANCROFT
STEARNS
TIMOTHY
An effort was made to get pictures sFiowing tFiese brotFiers at somewFiere near tFie same age
FOUR OF THL LIGHT DAUGHTERS
POLLY
SALLY
ADLLIZA
MARTHA
No pictures of the otFier four daughters have been made
The Little Minister
39
mer partner to meet assumed obligations, failed and made an
assignment for the benefit of creditors, but he was cheerful and
courageous.
On July 16, 1844, occurred the meeting at the old mansion
of all the Little Minister’s children then living. Ebenezer (Ten¬
nessee), Boynton and Sally (Maine), Stearns, Adeliza and Tim¬
othy (New York), Bancroft, Polly, Rebecca and Martha
(Mason), for the first and the last time met together. Ebenezer
had gone to Troy, New York before the younger children, Adel¬
iza, Martha and Timothy, were born. He had never seen them
until he came on to attend that meeting. “We are all here,” writes
Martha. “All this side of the spirit land are now congregated un¬
der their father’s roof, to spend a few days renewing the affec¬
tions and sympathies of home . . . There is something in the at¬
mosphere of home that dissolves all formality. The man of fifty,
alike with the youngest member here is known by the name his
mother gave him. . . Our house resounds with the sound of the
viol, the merry laugh and cheerful voices. . . When we are all
gathered around the family board, my father sits like an aged
patriarch at the head, and both sides are lined with his descen¬
dants to the farther end of the room.” Martha says of Eben¬
ezer, Jr., whom she had never seen: “He is a small, dried-up,
mummy-like figure, very plain and simple in his manners, not
at all like Bancroft or any of the rest. But I like him, for he is
kind, amiable and affectionate.” After the July gathering had
separated, the old mansion at Mason was unusually quiet. Of
the children only Bancroft and Rebecca were at home. A hired
man carried on the farm.
Early in the following year (1845) there are rumors that
Bancroft is to be married. Timothy finishes his seminary course,
and after a short visit home in August and September, receives
an appointment from, the American Home Missionary Society,
and leaves for St. Louis. His departure, Sept. 28, was attended
with observances that give us an indication of the deeply relig¬
ious atmosphere that pervaded that household. I copy from an
account written by Martha: “We have gathered around the
family altar, as we were wont in our earliest years. My father’s
voice was unusually tender, solemn and earnest as he commended
‘our son and brother’ to a Covenant-keeping God, asking that,
40
Ebenezer Hill
if it was consistent with His will, we might all be permitted to
meet again on earth. [His prayer was granted.] My brother
Timothy’s simple and heartfelt committal of himself and all his
friends to God was very pleasant to the soul. Brother Bancroft
gave thanks for the special goodness of God as exercised to¬
ward this family in restraining, guiding and directing us until
we reached this period in our youngest brother’s history. Edwin
[Mr. Hodgman] prayed fervently for His blessing and guidance
upon him in all his wanderings. Afterwards we sung the hymn
‘Blest be the tie that binds’, in St. Thomas, my father’s trembling
voice uniting with the rest. Brother Timothy, in a simple and
feeling manner, expressed his gratitude to father and mother
for their kindness and faithfulness to their wayward boy. It
had been the means of saving him from ruin. He had entered
the path of the scorner, but soon retraced his steps, from the
thought of the sorrow it would bring his parents’ hearts.”
Before leaving for Missouri, Timothy attended the wedding
ceremonies of the marriage of Bancroft to Harriet Brown (Aug.
26, 1845), at Antrim, N. H. The newly wed made a wedding
journey to New York, and then came back to the old manse in
Mason, where they remained for a few months, and then set
up housekeeping in a nearby dwelling.
On the 17th of September, 1846, the marriage of Martha
to the Rev. E. R. Hodgman took place at the old mansion.
The Little Minister performed the ceremony. The wedding
guests were numerous. After a trip to Maine, Mr. and Mrs.
Hodgman returned to Mason, and seem to have remained
there for a year or two. In the meantime he was preaching
around the country, wherever he could get a chance. He was
not successful in his profession, and was often compelled to
seek shelter with his father-in-law. On Oct. 17, 1847, his first
child, named Edwin Ruthven Hill Hodgman, was born at Mason.
In 1847, and again in 1850, 1853 and 1854, Timothy, the
youngest son, made the long trip back from Missouri to the
old home to visit his aged parents. After his father’s death he
returned in 1856 and in 1857 to see his mother. On the first of
these return trips he visited his oldest brother Ebenezer in
Fayetteville, Tenn. His niece, Emily A. Hill, an attractive
girl, then about eighteen years of age, accompanied him from
The Little Minister
4i
Fayetteville to Mason, and remained with her grandfather a
year or more; but coming from her father’s large family, in
the genial climate and fertile fields of Middle Tennessee, she
was terribly homesick.
In January, 1847, the church people gave a donation
party to their senior pastor. Address, response, prayer, sing¬
ing of hymns, and Scripture reading made up the exercises.
About this time, the location of the new meeting house, that
had been dedicated about ten years before, began to cause
great dissatisfaction. The little mill that had been construc¬
ted on the Souhegan River in the northwestern corner of the
town, some ninety years before, had been multiplied, and new
mills erected until a thriving village — first called The Harbor,
then Souhegan Village, then Mason Village, now Greenville —
had grown up about them. The accessions to the church had
come so largely from that village that a majority of the mem¬
bers were its inhabitants. They became very tired of climb¬
ing over the hill, two and a half miles, to attend church ser¬
vices, and demanded a change. They even discussed the feasi¬
bility of moving the meeting-house to the village. Such re¬
moval not being practicable, the village members determined to
withdraw and establish a church by themselves. This they
accomplished in 1847. The same year (April 22, 1847) Ban¬
croft resigned the junior pastorate, and a few months later
moved to Colebrook, N. H.
But these things did not trouble our Minister. About
1846 he began to fail in body and mind. There was no sudden
breakdown, but he was eighty years of age. He slowly grew
feebler until he reached the end. The closing years were years
of quiet peace. In the summer season, children and grand¬
children visited the old home.
In 1852, after a visit to Mason, Bancroft writes to Tim¬
othy of his father, then eighty-six years old, “He passes much
of his time in a dozy, rather than a lethargic condition ; but
his condition of mind and body partake so much of lethargy
that he is spared those painful emotions that would be so un¬
pleasant to one of his active and independent temperament,
had he the power to see and contemplate the wreck of what
he once was . . . Mother fails, I think, quite as rapidly as
42
Ebenezer Hill
father did at her age, and is, in some respects, quite as insen¬
sible of her failure. Boynton exercises a watchful care over
their interests, personal and pecuniary, which may set all our
minds at rest with respect to these interests, so far as they can
be made safe and agreeable by the ability of a child anxious
to secure the welfare of parents fast sinking into the vale of
imbecdity. Rebecca has bared her shoulders to the burdens
which have fallen upon her — burdens of no ordinary weight,
which she bears with a self-denial, readiness and cheerfulness
worthy of all praise, and with an ability far beyond what we
could have expected. She appears to feel that she is in the
line of duty, — that it is for this that she has been spared in
health and strength, and that in the performance of that duty
she is saved from a lonesome and solitary condition. She is
freed from cares of a domestic character that she may devote
all her time and energy to the care of her parents.”
I remember, about 1852, the Little Minister as a totter¬
ing old man, his gray hair neatly braided into a queue, clothed
in a luxurious dressing robe (a gift from Adeliza), every step
that he took carefully watched by Aunt Rebecca. And they
wrote of him : “He yields slowly, inch by inch, but calmly,
quietly and submissively. I have never heard the least mur¬
mur or complaint fall from his lips.” Thus he went down,
until, on May 20, 1854, the end came.
A few days before — April 24, 1854 — Martha, after a mar¬
ried life of about seven and a half years of hardship and suf¬
fering, died at Lunenburg, Mass., where her husband was then
preaching. Her remains were brought home and buried in the
old Mason Cemetery.
Rebecca was left alone with her aged mother; but soon
after, Edwin and Harriet Hodgman, Martha’s children, were
brought to the old manse, and there found a home, and in
their Aunt Rebecca a mother’s care and nurture, until they
reached their maturity. Their old Grandmother Abigail Jones
Hill lingered on, in quiet, peaceful helplessness, until April 26,
1859, when she followed her husband.
About 1860 Boynton, who had for many years been the
support of the family, closed his business in Bangor, and took
up his residence in the old mansion. He brought with him his
THE AGED TWINS
Polly and Sally Hill were so much alike that often even
their own children could not tell them apart
NEARING LIFE’S END
The Little Minister and his third wife lived happily
together nearly fifty-five years
The Little Minister
43
library, and filled the house with books and papers. It became
the home of a retired scholar, but not of a recluse or an ascetic.
Fond of the pleasures of the table (leaving out all alcoholic
drinks), his life at Bangor — ease and good living combined —
had developed a tendency to obesity. Short in stature, he be¬
came excessively fat. It was “horrible”, he said. His physi¬
cians warned him of apoplexy. With characteristic energy
and decision, he sold his business, moved to Mason, accepted
the plain fare of a country farmhouse, drank tea like a Rus¬
sian, dug and spaded his garden, and worked on the woodpile,
until he had worked off some thirty to forty pounds of his
corpulence. Thereafter he so regulated his exercise and diet
as to hold it down. The daily papers kept up his interest in
the outside world. For mental recreation he delved into the
classics. If at night he could not sleep, he lighted his bedside
candle, and from some volume in the original, placed on the
stand for such an emergency, he summoned for company the
old Greek heroes, or found pleasure in the wit and humor of
his favorite Horace. He was a favorite with his nephews and
nieces, though the most of them were rather in awe of him, be¬
cause of his learning and of his quick manner of acting and
speaking. He instructed some of them in their preparations
for college. He was hospitable, warm-hearted, fond of good
company, — and there were many visitors at his table.
Thus life went on in the old manse until April 9, 1883,
when the death of Rebecca ended a life of devoted unselfish
service of others. She was a noble woman, aristocratic in the
best sense of the word, fond of her family, deeply religious,
with strong affections, a keen sense of humor and a great in¬
terest in public affairs.
After the death of Rebecca, Boynton remained in the old
home with his niece Hattie Hodgman until 1884, when, the
latter having determined to leave Mason, he removed to Tem¬
ple. With his departure, the life of the Little Minister and
his family in the old home was ended.
44
Ebenezer Hill
H. S.
REV. EBENEZER HILL
BORN IN CAMBRIDGE, JAN. 31, 1766.
GRADUATED AT HARVARD COLLEGE, 1786.
ORDAINED PASTOR OF THE CHURCH
AND MINISTER OF THE TOWN OF MASON
NOVEMBER 3, 1790.
DIED MAY 20, 1854, IN THE 89th YEAR OF HIS
AGE, AND THE 64th OF HIS MINISTRY.
A FAITHFUL SERVANT, HE DEVOTED HIS
TIME AND STRENGTH TO THE WORK OF HIS
LORD AND MASTER; READY AT ALL TIMES
TO DIRECT THE ENQUIRING, TO CHEER THE
DOUBTING, TO WARN THE SINFUL, TO VISIT THE
SICK AND AFFLICTED, AND OFFER TO THEM
THE COMFORT AND SUPPORT OF RELIGION;
AFTER A LONG LIFE OF USEFULNESS, HE
DEPARTED IN PEACE, HUMBLY TRUSTING TO
RECEIVE THE WELCOME MESSAGE, WELL DONE
GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, ENTER THOU
INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD.
HIS CHURCH AND PEOPLE DEVOTE THIS
TABLET TO HIS MEMORY.
The Little Minister’s epitaph on a marble tablet inserted in a granite
monument, in the cemetery at Mason, N. H.
The Family of Ebenezer Hill:
THE LITTLE MINISTER OF MASON
Genealogical Notes by his Grandson, JOHN B. HILL
FIRST GENERATION
1. The Rev. Ebenezer Hill, (son of Samuel Hill and
Sarah Cutler), b. Jan. 31, 1766, Cambridge, Mass.; d. May
20, 1854, Mason, N. H., aged 88 years, 3 months and 20
days; grad. Harvard College, A.B., 1786, A.M., 1789; taught
in Westford, Mass., 1786-88; studied theology under the
Rev. Seth Payson, Rindge, N. H. ; licensed by a Congregation¬
al Association, Oct. 28, 1788, Ashburnham, Mass. ; ordained,
Nov. 3, 1790, Mason, N. H., where he remained pastor nearly
64 years; trustee of Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H.,
1813-30, and sometime President of the Board of Trustees;
representative in the New Hampshire Legislature, 1839 and
1840, declining reelection ; Chaplain of the House ; published
12 sermons, and two lectures on the History of Mason.
Ebenezer Hill married, 1st, Feb. 2, 1791, Townsend,
Mass., Mary Boynton (dau. of Nathaniel Boynton and Re¬
becca Barrett), b. Mar. 26, 1765, Westford, Mass.; d. Mar.
2, 1794, Mason, N. H., aged 28 years, 11 months, 6 days.
Children, Nos. 2-4, below.
Ebenezer Hill married, 2nd, Nov. 18, 1795, Nashua, N.
H., Rebecca (Bancroft) Howard (dau. of Col. Ebenezer Ban¬
croft and Susannah Fletcher), b. Mar. 5, 1771, Tyngsboro,
Mass.; d. July 12, 1797, Mason, N. H., aged 26 years, 4
months, 7 days. She m. 1st, Jan. 6, 1790, Samuel Howard,
of Chelmsford, Mass., who d. May, 1790. They had one
child, Rebecca Howard, b. Oct. 25, 1790; d. Aug. 25, 1793,
Tyngsboro, Mass. Two children by her second marriage,
Nos. 5-6.
Ebenezer Hill married, 3d, Sept. 22, 1799, Bedford, Mass.,
Abigail (Jones) Stearns (dau. of Col. Timothy Jones and
Rebecca Bateman), b. Oct. 12, 1771, Bedford, Mass.; d. Apr.
26, 1859, Mason, N. H., aged 87 years, 6 months, 14 days.
She married, 1st, Jan. 1, 1798, Bedford, Lt. Edward Stearns,
Jr., (b. June 25, 1768; d. May 17, 1798), who had married,
1st, her sister, Polly Jones, (b. Nov. 17, 1769; d. June 28,
1796, having had one child, Edward Stearns, 3d, who d. Feb.
48
Ebenezer Hill
1796). Nine children by Abigail’s second marriage, Nos.
7-15.
All descendants of the Rev. Ebenezer Hill can claim
membership in Revolutionary Societies, through the services
of their ancestor Samuel Hill, who was a private soldier in
the Revolution, from 1776 to 1783. Nathaniel Boynton,
father of the first wife of the Rev. Ebenezer Hill, was fifty-
three years old when the Revolution began, and apparently
never served as a soldier. Ebenezer Bancroft was wounded
at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He had been commissioned
as Ensign in 1757, and became Lieutenant Colonel in 1781.
Timothy Jones was a Second Lieutenant in the Lexington
Alarm, 1775; First Lieutenant, 1781; Captain, 1787; Lt. Col.,
1792. Membership in various Colonial Societies, can also
be claimed by all Hill descendants based upon patriotic
service of several ancestors in each line.
SECOND GENERATION: CHILDREN OF THE
REV. EBENEZER HILL:
2. Ebenezer Hill, Jr., b. Oct. 14, 1791, Mason, N. H.; d.
May 16, 1875, Manchester, Tenn., aged 83 years, 7 months,
2 days; printer, in Amherst and Nashua, N. H., and Troy,
N. Y., 1807-19; and in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee,
1819-75; also farmer in Tennessee; published, 1825-62, Hill's
Almanac, edited by the Rev. Joseph B. Hill. He married,
Feb. 12, 1824, Fayetteville, Tenn., Mary Tate Bryan (dau.
of James Bryan and Elizabeth Neely), b. Feb. 26, 1799,
Pendleton, S. C. ; d. Apr. 18, 1871, Fayetteville, Tenn. Eight
children, 16-23.
3. Polly Hill (twin to Sally), b. Jan. 13, 1793, Mason,
N. H.; d. Mar. 3, 1881, New York City, aged 88 years, 1
month, 20 days. She married, Jan. 17, 1813, Mason, N. H.,
Timothy Wheeler, (son of Timothy Wheeler and Sarah
Hubbard), b. Jan. 16, 1783, Concord, Mass.; d. Jan. 21, 1854,
Mason; a farmer in Mason. Eleven children, 24-34.
4. Sally Hill (twin to Polly), b. Jan. 13, 1793, Mason.
N. H.; d. Nov. 5, 1880, Garland, Maine, aged 87 years, 9
months, 22 days. She married, Oct. 10, 1813, Mason, N. H.,
Josiah Merriam (son of Ezra Merriam and Susannah Eliot),
b. Apr. 19, 1790, Mason, N. H.; d. Aug. 17, 1876, Garland,
Me. ; blacksmith and farmer, Mason, N. H., Exeter and Gar¬
land, Me. ; deacon in Congregational church. Seven chil¬
dren, 35-41.
5. John Boynton Hill, (twin to Joseph Bancroft), b.
Nov. 25, 1796, Mason, N. H.; d. May 2, 1886, Temple, N. H.,
Genealogy
49
aged 89 years, 5 months, 7 days ; grad. Appleton Academy,
New Ipswich, N. H., 1817, and Harvard College, 1821, Phi
Beta Kappa; teacher in Garrison Forest Academy, near Bal¬
timore, Md., 1821-23; admitted to bar, Oct. 7, 1826, Hills¬
boro, N. H.; lawyer, Nashua, N. H., Townsend, Mass., Exeter,
Me., and Bangor, Me. ; in Maine Legislature, 1853-55,
speaker, 1855; retired to Mason, N. H., 1862, and to Temple,
N. H., 1884; author of Memoir of the Rev. Ebenezer Hill ,
1858; History of Mason , N. H., 1858; The Mason Centennial ,
1868; and Reminiscences of Old Dunstable , 1878, all of which
contain valuable historical and genealogical information
bearing upon the Ebenezer Hill and allied families. He
married, Aug. 10, 1829, Hollis, N. H., Achsah Parker (dau.
of Capt. Isaac Parker and Olive Abbott), b. June 24, 1799,
Hollis, N. H.; d. May 6, 1831, Exeter, Me. One child, 42.
6. Rev. Joseph Bancroft Hill (twin to John Boynton),
b. Nov. 25, 1796, Mason, N. H.; d. June 16, 1864, Chattanooga,
Tenn., aged 67 years, 6 months and 21 days; grad. Apple-
ton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., 1817, and at Harvard
College, 1821, Phi Beta Kappa; teacher, Weston and Mil-
ton, Mass., and at Garrison Forest Academy, near Baltimore,
Md. ; admitted to Tennessee Bar, Sept. 19, 1828; ordained,
Cumberland Presbyterian, about 1830, evangelist in the
South, 1830-40; colleague-pastor with his father in the Con¬
gregational church, Mason, N. H., 1841-47 ; pastor, Cole-
brook, N. H., 1847-57; pastor, West Stewartstown, N. H.,
1857-62; school commissioner of Coos County, N. H. ; re¬
moved to Temple, N. H., 1862; agent of U. S. Christian Com¬
mission, 1864, until his death by a railroad accident, while
caring for wounded soldiers; edited Hill’s Almanac , (pub¬
lished by his brother, Ebenezer), 1825-52; also a hymnbook
and other religious literature. A Brief Memoir of the Rev.
Joseph Bancroft Hill, by E. R. Hodgman, was published in
1868. He married, Aug. 26, 1845, Antrim, N. H., Harriet
Brown (dau. of Capt. Isaac Brown and Sarah Flagg), b.
June 20, 1819, Antrim, N. H.; d. Mar. 18, 1910, Temple,
N. H. Six children, 43-48.
7. Edward Stearns Hill, b. July 19, 1800, Mason, N. H.;
d. Mar. 24, 1874, Rosemond, Ill., aged 73 years, 8 months,
5 days; student at academy, Londonderry, N. H. ; taught at
Londonderry and Merrimac, N. H., and Milton and Bedford,
Mass.; merchant in New York City and Brooklyn, 1824-37
and 1842-57 ; farmer, Mason, N. H., 1837-40, Peoria, Ill.,
1840-42, and Rosemond, Ill., 1857-74. Married, June 28, 1827,
Milton, Mass., Catharine Houghton (dau. of Jason Hough¬
ton and Catharine Wilde), b. Oct. 4, 1806, Milton, Mass.; d.
50
Ebenezer Hill
June 20, 1892, Oconto, Wis. Seven children, 49-55.
8. Rebekah* Howard Hill, b. Mar. 13, 1802, Mason,
N. H.; d. Apr. 9, 1883, Mason, aged 81 years, 26 days. She
never married, but spent her whole life at the old home,
caring for her aged parents and others.
9. Abigail Jones Hill, b. Apr. 7, 1804, Mason, N. H.;
d. Sept. 9, 1829, Fitzwilliam, N. H., aged 25 years, 7 months,
2 days. She married, June 2, 1825, Mason, N. H., John
Kimball (son of Isaac Kimball and Sally Cutter), b. Dec.
17, 1798, Temple, N. H.; d. May 7, 1866, Fitzwilliam, N. H.;
blacksmith and toolmaker. He married, 2d, Jan. 24, 1831,
Fitzwilliam, N. H., Jane Sophronia Richardson, 1802-91. Two
children, 56-57, by first wife, and four by second wife.
10. Maria Hill, b. Dec. 14, 1806, Mason, N. H.; d. Sept.
10, 1835, Mason, N. H., aged 28 years, 8 months, 26 days.
She married, June 4, 1829, Mason, N. H., Oliver Hosmer
Pratt (son of Benanuel Pratt and Lucy Hosmer), b. May 17,
1802; merchant and farmer, Mason, N. H., and cooper,
Townsend, Mass.; deacon in Mason Church; member of N. H.
Legislature six terms. He m. 2d, May 6, 1841, Mason, N. H.,
Catharine Warner, of Groton, Mass., who d. Mar. 4, 1860. He
m. 3d, - , Ruth Warner, (cousin of the second wife). One
child by first marriage, No. 58; one child by second marriage,
died young.
11. Timothy Jones Hill, b. Mar. 15, 1808, Mason, N. H.;
d. July 8, 1810, aged 2 years, 3 months, 23 days.
12. Lucy Sylvania Hill, b. June 14, 1810, Mason, N. H.;
d. Aug. 13, 1827, New York City, aged 17 years, 1 month,
29 days.
13. Adeliza Hill, b. July 9, 1812, Mason, N. H.; d.
June 14, 1881, New York City, aged 68 years, 11 months, 5
days. She married, Apr. 4, 1833, - , Benjamin Wheeler
Merriam (son of Samuel Merriam and Lucy Wheeler), b.
May 8, 1803, Mason, N. H. ; d. Apr. 24, 1884, New York City;
manufacturer and dealer in mirrors, New York. Eight chil¬
dren, 59-66.
14. Martha Hill, b. Oct. 31, 1816, Mason, N. H.; d.
May 2, 1854, Lunenburg, Mass., aged 37 years, 6 months, 2
days. She married, Sept. 17, 1846, Mason N. H., Rev. Ed¬
win Ruthven Hodgman (son of Buckley Hodgman and Betsy
Pratt), b. Oct. 21, 1819, Camden, Me.; d. June 1, 1900,
Townsend, Mass.; studied at Amherst College one year,
and Dartmouth College, A.B., 1843, and at Union Theologi¬
cal Seminary and Andover Theological Seminary, 1846; or-
*She always used the spelling “Rebekah — the only way the Bible
spelled it.”
Genealogy
5i
dained, Congregational, May 17, 1849, Orfordville, N. H.; sup¬
plied churches in New Hampshire and Massachusetts; Town
Clerk of Westford, Mass.; nine years Superintendent of
Schools; author of A Brief Memoir of Rev. Joseph B. Hill,
and of the History of Westford. He m. 2d, Jan. 5, 1856, Abbie
Pollard Simonds, who d. June 21, 1881. Four children by
first wife, 67-70, and one (d. young) by the second wife.
15. Rev. Timothy Hill, D.D., b. June 30, 1819, Mason,
N. H.; d. May 21, 1887, Kansas City, Mo., aged 67 years 10
months, 21 days ; educated at Appleton Academy, 1838, Dart¬
mouth College, 1842, and Union Theological Seminary, 1845 ;
D.D., Highland University, Kan., 1873; taught in N. H.,
Mass., and Mo.; licensed by the Third Presbytery of New
York, Apr. 18, 1845; ordained by the Presbytery of St. Louis,
Oct. 22, 1846; supplied churches in Monroe County, Mo.,
1845-46, St. Charles, Mo., 1846-51, St. Louis, Mo., 1851-60,
Rosemond, Ill., 1861-63, Shelbyville, Ill., 1863-65 ; organized
Second Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, Mo., and sup¬
plied it, 1865-68; superintendent of Home Missions in Synod
of Missouri, 1860, and in Missouri, Kansas, Indian Terri¬
tory and Texas, 1868-87; moderator of Synod of Missouri
four times ; frequent contributor to the religious press, and
author of many historical sermons and addresses ; living in
Kansas City, Mo., 1865-87. Copies of a large typewritten
memorial volume — Timothy Hill and Western Presbyterian¬
ism , by his son, John B. Hill (1923) — are to be deposited in
the libraries of Union Theological Seminary and certain
Historical Societies. He married, Nov. 2, 1854, St. Louis, Mo.,
Frances Augusta Hall (dau. of Lewis Hall and Mary Cory),
b. Aug. 26, 1821, Westtown, N. Y. ; d. Jan. 29, 1907, Kansas
City, Mo. ; educated in N. Y. City, and under Mary Lyon
in Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary; taught in New York,
Miss., and Mo., 1843-54. Four children, 71-74.
THIRD GENERATION: GRANDCHILDREN OF THE
REV. EBENEZER HILL
III. Children of Ebenezer Hill, Jr., No. 2.
16. Elizabeth Mary Hill, b. Jan. 13, 1825, Fayetteville,
Tenn. ; d. Mar. 21, 1892, Fayetteville, unmarried.
17. Ebenezer Hill, 3d, b. Apr. 8, 1826, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; d. June 19, 1898, Elora, Tenn.; printer, Fayetteville;
music dealer, Kelso, Tenn. He married, May 20, 1856, Ruth
Ann Gregory (dau. of Tunstall and Elizabeth), b. Nov. 14,
1827, Lincoln County, Tenn.; d. July 18, 1886, Flintville,
Tenn. Four children, 75-78.
52
Ebenezer Hill
18. (Daughter) b. and d. Sept. 25, 1827, Fayetteville,
Tenn.
19. Emily Ann Hill, b. Nov. 21, 1828, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; d. Mar. 30, 1892, Manchester, Tenn. She m. Sept. 21,
1869, Fayetteville, Tenn., James Edwin Hough, M.D., (son
of Ephraim and Jerusha), b. Oct. 26, 1824, Hamptonville,
N. C. ; d. May, 1893; physician, druggist and merchant, Man¬
chester, Tenn. No children by this marriage, four by a for¬
mer one. The wives were cousins.
20. Edward Stearns Hill, b. July 22, 1830, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; d. Sept. 25, 1833, Jackson, Miss.
21. James Bryan Hill, b. June 6, 1832, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; d. Mar. 29, 1892, Fayetteville; daguerreotyper, jewel¬
er, Fayetteville, Tenn.; served in 41st Tennessee regiment,
Confederate. He m. Nov. 26, 1868, Fayetteville, Maggie
Collins Bearden (dau. of Alfred Bearden and Maggie Down¬
ing), b. June 11, 1848, Lincoln County, Tenn.; d. Aug. 12,
1886, Fayetteville, Tenn. Five children, 79-83.
22. Sarah Catharine Houghton Hill, b. Dec. 22, 1835,
Fayetteville, Tenn.; d. July 15, 1861.
23. William Joseph Hill, b. Apr. 11, 1838, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; d. July 23, 1917, Old Soldiers’ Home, Nashville,
Tenn.; farmer, near Fayetteville; Confederate soldier, badly
wounded at Chickamauga. He m. Sept. 17, 1873, Fayette¬
ville, Maggie Tabitha Eldridge (dau. of Bowlin and Susan),
b. June 22, 1856, Fayetteville. Five children, 84-88.
. III. Children of Polly Hill, No. 3.
24. Samuel Hubbard Wheeler, b. Oct. 20, 1813, Mason,
N. H.; d. Mar., 1889, Mason; farmer; served in Co. C., 16th
N. H. Inf., 1862-63. He m. 1st, June 9, 1845, Mason, N. H.,
Mary Ames (dau. of Joel and Sally), b. Dec. 18, 1814, Mason,
N. H.; d. Mar. 4, 1860; four children, 89-92. He m. 2d, Nov.
11, 1862, Sophia Augusta Campbell (dau. of Henry Camp¬
bell and Sophia Lund), b. May 22, 1828, New Boston, N. H.;
d. June 20, 1913; two children, 93-94.
25. Ebenezer Wheeler, b. Aug. 7, 1815, Mason, N. H.;
d. Nov. 17, 1842, near Naples, Ill.; engineer, killed by
machinery of his boat on Illinois River. He m. July 27,
1840, Warsaw, Ill., Maria Magoon. Widow lived at Musca¬
tine, Iowa. One child, 95.
26. William Wheeler, b. Dec. 20, 1818, Mason, N. H.;
d. Oct. 5, 1822.
27. Mary Wheeler, b. Feb. 12, 1820, Mason, N. H.; d.
Oct. 7, 1822.
28. Timothy Wheeler, b. May 9, 1822, Mason, N. H.;
d. Aug. 15, 1824.
Genealogy
53
29. Timothy Wheeler, b. Aug. 17, 1824, Mason, N. H. ;
d. Feb. 13, 1894, Cambridge, Mass.; pianomaker (foreman),
Winchester, Mass., and Deep River, Conn. He m. 1st, Nov.
27, 1845, Mason, N. H., Ann Maria Harding, b. Oct. 5, 1824,
Attleboro, Mass.; d. Dec. 6, 1860, Winchester. Five chil¬
dren, 96-100. He m. 2d, Feb. 20, 1862, Woburn, Mass., Eliza
Ann King, b. May 15, 1834, Plymouth, Mass.; d. Mar. 22,
1917, Cambridge, Mass. Six children, 101-106.
30. William Wheeler, b. May 19, 1827, Mason, N. H.;
d. Oct. 10, 1852, Mason, N. H.; farmer, Mason, N. H. He
m. Dec. 18, 1848, Mason, N. H., Sarah Caroline Merriam
(dau. of Elisha Jones Merriam and Lucy Rebecca Lane),
b. July 23, 1830, Mason, N. H.; d. June 22, 1853. Two chil¬
dren, 107-108.
31. Edward Boynton Wheeler, b. Mar. 20, 1829, Mason,
N. H.; d. May 9, 1854, Mason, N. H.
32. Joseph Bancroft Wheeler, b. Sept. 26, 1831, Mason,
N. H.; d. Feb. 24, 1853.
33. Abbie Maria Wheeler, b. Aug. 13, 1837, Mason,
N. H.; d. Apr. 12, 1870, Mason, N. H. She m. May 31, 1857,
Mason, N. H., George W. Scripture (son of Charles Scrip¬
ture and Prudence Webber), b. Nov. 14, 1823, Mason, N. H.;
d. Sept. 17, 1878, Mason, N. H.; storekeeper. Four children,
109-112.
34. Mary Frances Wheeler, b. Sept. 23, 1839, Mason,
N. H.; d. Sept. 11, 1919, Englewood, N. J. She m. May 26,
1860, Mason, N. H., Orrin Murray Scripture (son of Charles
Scripture and Prudence Webber), b. Jan. 18, 1837, Mason,
N. H.; d. Feb. 11, 1915, Yonkers, N. Y. ; merchant, Mason,
N. H. ; many years a member of New York Produce Ex¬
change, residing in New York City and Brooklyn. Five
children, 113-117.
III. Children of Sally Hill, No. 4.
35. Artemas Merriam, b. Oct. 14, 1814, Mason, N. H.;
d. Feb. 25, 1891, Garland, Me.; farmer, Garland, Me.; artil¬
leryman in Aroostook War, 1839; moderator of town meet¬
ing, 10 years. He m. 1st, June 16, 1842, Angelina Fogg, of
Deerfield, N. H. (dau. of Jeremiah and Angelina), who d.
1869. Three children, 118-120. He m. 2d, 1874.
36. Polly Boynton Merriam, b. Aug. 2, 1816; d. Dec.
15, 1821.
37. Ebenezer Hill Merriam, b. July 24, 1820; d. Aug.
17, 1825.
38. William Bancroft Merriam, b. Mar. 17, 1823; d.
Aug. 27, 1825.
54
Ebenezer Hill
39. Sarah Elizabeth Merriam, b. Oct. 23, 1825, Garland,
Me.; d. Aug. 3, 1886, Garland, Me. She m. Jan. 28, 1843,
Garland, Me., Lebbeus Oak (son of Benjamin Hastings Oak
and Hannah Smith), b. Boscawen, N. H., Dec. 12, 1820; d.
May 23, 1905, Garland, Me.; harness maker, Garland, Me.;
captain of Home Guards, 1861; Major of militia, 1863; re¬
cruiting officer, 1861-5. Six children, 121-126.
40. Charles Ellery Merriam, b. Oct. 20, 1828, Mason,
N. H.; d. Feb. 2, 1899, Garland, Me.; shoemaker, Garland, Me.
He m. May 5, 1858, Eleanor Wilson Seward (dau. of Robert
Seward and Sally Saunders), b. Aug. 15, 1833, Garland, Me;
d. Oct. 29, 1912, Garland, Me. No children.
41. George Parker Merriam, b. July 8, 1832, Garland,
Me.; d. in Soldiers’ Home, Chelsea, Mass.; shoemaker, Lynn,
Mass. He m. 1st, Feb. 24, 1855, Lynn, Mass., Priscilla A.
Tufts (dau. of Geo. D.), b. 1833, Lynn, Mass. He m. 2d,
Dec. 21, 1896, Lynn, Mass., Rose A. Ripley (dau. of William
and Caroline), b. 1840, in Maine.
III. Child of John Boynton Hill, No. 5.
42. Isaac Parker Hill, b. Mar. 26, 1831; d. Mar. 28, 1831,
Exeter, Me.
III. Children of Joseph Bancroft Hill, No. 6.
43. Charles Ebenezer Hill, b. Feb. 7, 1848, Colebrook,
N. H.; d. Apr. 6, 1917, Temple, N. H.; buried in Baltimore,
Md.; educated at Appleton Academy, and Dartmouth Col¬
lege, 1871 ; associate professor of History, U. S. Naval Acad¬
emy, Annapolis, Md., 1871-75; admitted to bar, Feb. 13, 1875;
lawyer, Baltimore, Md., 1871-1909; retired to Temple, N. H.;
trustee of 1st Methodist Church, Baltimore, of Home for
Aged, etc.; one of the founders of The Woman’s College
Baltimore (now Goucher College) ; lecturer on Medical Jur¬
isprudence; member of clubs, etc.; author of The Little Min¬
ister of Mason, published in this volume. He m. Nov. 23,
1875, Annapolis, Md., Keturah Watts Clayton (dau. of Philip
Coleman Clayton and Catharine Guest Schwaerer), b. Apr.
25, 1849, Annapolis; d. Apr. 6, 1907, Baltimore, Md. Four
children, 127-130.
44. Isaac Brown Hill, b. Feb. 20, 1850, Colebrook, N.
H. ; d. Mar., 1850.
45. Joseph Edward Hill, b. Oct. 1, 1852, Colebrook,
N. H.; d. June 5, 1857, Colebrook, N. H.
46. Harriet Hill, b. Nov. 21, 1854, Colebrook, N. H.;
d. 1857, Colebrook, N. H.
47. Rev. William Bancroft Hill, D.D., b. Feb. 17, 1857,
Colebrook, N. H.; educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, 1875,
Genealogy
55
Harvard College, 1879, Phi Beta Kappa, Columbia Law
School, 1880-1, Baltimore Law School, 1881-2, Union Theo¬
logical Seminary, 1886; D.D., Rutgers College, 1905; lawyer,
Baltimore, Md., 1882-3 ; prof, of Philosophy, Park College,
Mo., 1883; ordained by Classis of Greene, Oct. 19, 1886;
pastor of Reformed Church, Athens, N. Y., 1886-90; of Sec¬
ond Reformed Church, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1890-1902; lec¬
turer on Bible, 1899-1902, Vassal* College, prof, of Biblical
Literature, 1902-22, and prof, emeritus, since 1922 ; trustee
of Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., of Roe Indian
Institute, Wichita, Kan., of Fukien Christian University,
China, and of the American University of Cairo, Egypt (v.
pres.) ; vice-president of General Synod of Reformed Church
in America, 1922; missionary traveler, lecturer, author of
Present Problems in New Testament Study , Life of Christ ,
Apostolic Age , The Graves Lectures on Missions , etc.; see Who's
Who. He m. Dec. 29, 1892, St. Paul, Minn., Elsie A. Weyer¬
haeuser (dau. of Frederick Weyerhaeuser and Elizabeth Sarah
Bloedel), Wellesley College, 1882, A. M., 1887, studied abroad.
48. Joseph Adna Hill, Ph.D., b. May 5, 1860, West
Stewartstown, N. H. ; Phillips Exeter Academy, 1881, Har¬
vard College, 1885; postgraduate student in Harvard, Johns
Hopkins, Berlin and Halle Universities; Ph.D., Halle, 1892;
taught in Univ. of Pa., 1893-5, Harvard, 1895-7 ; sent to Eu¬
rope by Mass. Tax Commission, 1897 ; in U. S. Census office,
1898- — , becoming assistant director, 1921 ; Cosmos Club,
Washington; author, etc.; see Who}s Who. Unmarried.
III. Children of Edward Stearns Hill, No. 7.
49. Edward Stearns Hill, Jr., b. Sept. 28, 1828, New
York City; d. Oct. 12, 1900, Oconto, Wise.; bank clerk, New
York City; railroading on various lines in Illinois and Mis¬
souri ; usually residing in St. Louis, Mo., or Rosemond or
Pinckneyville, Ill. He m. Dec. 13, 1853, New York City,
Mary Elizabeth Dater, who d. Nov. 19, 1880, St. Louis, Mo.
Three children, 131-133.
50. Lucy Sylvania Hill, b. Dec. 25, 1829, New York
City; d. Apr. 30, 1918, New York City. She m. Aug. 8, 1850,
N. Y. City, Charles Addison Cragin (son of Simeon Cragin
and Elizabeth Dakin), b. Apr. 12, 1824, Mason, N. H. ; d.
May 21, 1894, N. Y. City; farmer, Mason, N. H., and Rose¬
mond, Ill. ; packer and provision dealer, N. Y. City. Eight
children, 134-141.
51. Abigail Jones Hill, b. Dec. 1, 1832, N. Y. City; d.
Apr. 6, 1914, Oconto, Wise.; taught several years in St.
Louis, Mo. She m. July 3, 1859, Rosemond, Ill., Richard
Lewis Hall (son of Jonathan Cory Hall, M. D., and Lydia
56
Ebenezer Hill
Ann Andrus), b. Aug. 7, 1832, Spencer, N. Y. ; d. Feb. 15,
1892, Oconto, Wise.; surveyor, county clerk, county treas¬
urer, abstractor of titles; Presbyterian elder; Oconto, Wise.;
author of History of Oconto County, 1876. Eight children,
142-149.
52. Harlan Page Hill, b. Sept. 17, 1835, N. Y. City; d.
Dec. 8, 1835.
53. Capt. Ebenezer Bancroft Hill, b. Jan. 24, 1838,
Mason, N. H.; d. Mar. 14, 1900, St. Louis, Mo.; engineer
on steamboats and in factories, St. Louis, Mo., and on the
Union gunboats Lafayette and Benton in the Civil War;
member of the G. A. R., secretary of Commodore Foote
Association of Naval Veterans. He m. Sept. 27, 1865, Nat¬
chez, Miss., Mary Emma Lindsley, b. Apr. 7, 1849. They
had no children, but adopted two: Blanche, who m. John
Calhoun McNary, Jonesboro, Ark., and Lelia, who m. Wil¬
liam Y. Haggard, Dallas, Texas.
54. Charles Walter Houghton Hill, b. Feb. 12, 1842,
Brooklyn, N. Y. ; farmer, Rosemond, Ill., town clerk ; many
years clerk in Pennsylvania Railroad offices, Jersey City,
N. J. ; pensioned at 70; Sunday-school teacher and superin¬
tendent in Rosemond and ever since; in grocery, Jersey City,
1912—; Co. A, 15th Ill. Vols., 1861-5, G. A. R. He m. May
3, 1866, Grand Rapids, Mich., Anna Hawley, who d. June
23, 1914, Jersey City. Four children, 150-153.
55. Catharine Maria Hill, b. Feb. 9, 1846, Brooklyn, N.
Y. ; d. Jan. 5, 1917, Oconto, Wise., unmarried. Many years
clerk in county offices, and manager of title abstract busi¬
ness, Oconto, Wise.
III. Children of Abigail Jones Hill, No. 9
56. Maria Frances Kimball, b. Aug. 29, 1826, Fitzwil-
liam, N. H. ; d. Apr. 22, 1920, New York City, aged 93 years,
7 months, 23 days, the longest-lived descendant of the Rev.
Ebenezer Hill. She m. Oct. 16, 1850, Fitzwilliam, N. H.,
Charles Whittemore (son of Dexter Whittemore and Betsy
Wright), b. Feb. 15, 1828, Fitzwilliam, N. H.; d. Apr. 29>
1904, N. Y. City; manufacturer and dealer in mirrors, N. Y.
City; deacon in Broadway Tabernacle Congregational
church. Three children, 154-156.
57. John Edward Kimball, Jan. 9 to Sept. 25, 1829,
Fitzwilliam, N. H.
III. Child of Maria Hill, No. 10.
58. Ebenezer Hill Pratt, d. 1833, Mason, N. H., aged
2 years, 3 months.
Genealogy
57
III. Children of Adeliza Hill, No. 13.
59. Adeliza Frances Merriam, b. Mar. 3, 1835, New York
City; d. Dec. 26, 1915, N. Y. City. She m. June 22, 1865,
Orange, N. J., Rev. Daniel DuBois Sahler (son of Abraham
Sahler and Eliza Hasbrouck), b. July 7, 1829, Kingston, N.
Y. ; d. Nov. 5, 1882, N. Y. City ; College of N. J., 1853, Phi
Beta Kappa; Princeton Theological Seminary, 1856; ordained
by Presbytery of New Brunswick, July 28, 1858; supplied
churches in Dunleith, Ill., 1856-7, Red Bank, N. J., 1858-63,
Sheffield, Mass., (Cong’l), 1864-69, Gilead Presbyterian
Church, Carmel, N. Y., 1871-82. Four children, 157-160.
60. Maria Hill Merriam, b. Aug. 9, 1837, New York
City; d. Sept. 15, 1909, Tarrytown, N. Y. She m. Dec. 2,
1862, N. Y. City, Walter Franklin Brush, Jr., b. Feb. 15, 1834;
d. June 3, 1865, Rye, N. Y. Two children, 161-162. 'She m.
2d, Oct. 29, 1884, Highland Falls, N. Y., William Nevins
Crane, widower of her sister Carrie (No. 62, below).
61. Harriet Wheeler Merriam, b. Sept. 13, 1839, N. Y.
City; d. Feb. 10, 1845, N. Y. City.
62. Abbie Caroline Merriam, b. Nov. 8, 1841, New York
City; d. Feb. 27, 1880, N. Y. City; president of the N. Y.
City Y. W. C. A., which published a volume In Memoriam
of her. She m. Nov. 3, 1870, Passaic, N. J., William Nevins
Crane (son of Daniel Crane and Elsie Ann Demarest), b.
May 19, 1836, Albany, N. Y.; d. Sept. 14, 1910, N. Y. City;
publisher (Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor Co.), later flour broker;
elder in Madison Square Presbyterian Church, N. Y. City;
member of Presbyterian Board of the Church Erection Fund.
He m. 1st, Oct. 16, 1861, N. Y. City, Sarah Ann Ivison
(dau. of David B.), b. Aug. 29, 1839; d. Nov. 29, 1863. One
child, d. 1863. He m. 2d, Nov. 3, 1870, Abbie Caroline
Merriam, (No. 62), one child, 163. He m. 3d, Oct. 29, 1884,
Highland Falls, N. Y., Maria Hill (Merriam) Brush (No. 60,
above), who d. Sept. 15, 1909, at their summer home in
Tarrytown, N. Y.
63. Henry Everett Merriam, b. Mar. 29, 1844, New York
City; d. Feb. 12, 1891, N. Y. City, unmarried; partner with
his father in firm of B. W. Merriam & Co., manufacturers
and dealers in mirrors, N. Y. City ; member of N. Y. 7th
Regt.
64. Emma Rebecca Merriam, b. Apr. 10, 1850, New
York City; d. Oct. 9, 1873, Scarboro, N. Y.
65. Annie Louisa Merriam, b. Nov. 24, 1852, New York
City. Resides in N. Y. City.
66. Sarah Wheeler Merriam, b. Sept. 1, 1854, New York
City; d. Nov. 15, 1886, N. Y. City.
58
Ebenezer Hill
III. Children of Martha Hill, No. 14.
67. Edwin Ruthven Hill Hodgman, b. Oct. 17, 1847,
Mason, N. H.; d. Aug. 24, 1909, Bozeman, Montana; grad.
Appleton Academy, and Dartmouth College, 1869; taught
in Vermont, Kansas and Missouri, 1869-73; clerk in imple¬
ment house, Kansas City, Mo., 1873-80 ; member of firm of
G. B. Hodgman & Co., wholesale cooperage, Sandusky, O.,
and Port Huron, Mich., 1880-83 ; ranchman, Bozeman, Mont.,
1883-1909; secretary of Farmers’ Canal Co., and of Telephone
Co. He m. Nov. 25, 1882, South Hadley Falls, Mass., Helen
N. Kinsman (dau. of John Kinsman and Lucy A. Greeley), who
still resides in Bozeman. No children.
68. James Fletcher Hodgman, b. Jan. 30, 1850, Orford-
ville, N. H.; d. Feb. 6, 1850.
69. Harriet Hodgman, b. Dec. 8, 1851, Lunenburg, Mass.;
grad. Appleton Academy; taught in Westford, Mass., and
Kansas City, Mo.; proof-reader, University Press, Cambridge;
private secretary in Chicago and Cambridge. Resides in Walt¬
ham, Mass.
70. Martha Hill Hodgman, b. Apr. 24, 1854, Lunen¬
burg, Mass. ; d. May 26, 1854.
III. Children of Timothy Hill, No. 15.
71. Francis Lewis Hill, b. Sept. 17, 1858, St. Louis,
Mo.; d. May 11, 1864, Shelbyville, Ill.
72. Rev. John Boynton Hill, D.D., b. Nov. 3, 1860, St.
Louis, Mo.; Knox College, 1881, A.M., 1884; Union Theo¬
logical Seminary, 1887, alternate fellow, president of Alumni,
1902; D.D., Westminster College, Mo., 1903; prof, of Greek,
Park College, Mo., 1881-4; ordained by Presbytery of To¬
peka, July 5, 1889; organized Westminster Presb. Church,
Topeka, Kan., and supplied it, 1889-90; pastor, Butler, Mo.,
1890-94; supplied churches in Missouri, 1895-1903; moder¬
ator of Synod of Missouri, 1903 ; synodical superintendent of
Home Missions in Missouri, 1903-12; trustee of Lindenwood
College and Omaha Theological Seminary; member of Pres¬
byterian Advisory Council on Home Missions and Church
Erection ; resided in Kansas City, Mo., 1865-89, and 1895-
1913; secretary of Presb. Joint Executive Committee, New
York City, 1913-15; staff positions on Presb. Board of Home
Missions, Y. M. C. A. War-work Council, Interchurch World
Movement, Association of American Colleges, and Council
of Church Boards of Education; author of History of the
Presbytery of Kansas City, 1821-1901, of Timothy Hill and
Western Presbyterianism (in manuscript, 1923), of this Gen¬
ealogy, and of similar (unpublished) Notes on some branches
of the Bullard, Cory, Gardiner, Hall, Jones and Nelson fam-
Genealogy
59
ilies ; residence, Queens, N. Y. He m. Nov. 23, 1911, St. Louis,
Mo., Alice Margaret Bullard, of St. Joseph, Mo. (dau. of the
Rev. Dr. Henry Bullard and Helen Maria Nelson), b. Oct.
4, 1876, St. Joseph, Mo. Three children, 164-166.
73. Henry Edward Hill, b. Feb. 9, 1863, Rosemond,
Ill.; educated at Knox College, Washington University, and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; architect* Kansas
City, Mo., 1886-1921 ; resident in Peking, China, as archi¬
tect for Peking University, 1921-1923. Unmarried.
74. Son, b. and d. Oct. 20, 1866, Kansas City, Mo.
FOURTH GENERATION : GREAT-GRANDCHIL¬
DREN OF THE REV. EBENEZER HILL
IV. Children of Ebenezer Hill, 3d, No. 17.
75. Mary Emily Hill, b. Feb. 15, 1860, Franklin Co.,
Tenn. ; d. July 1, 1861.
76. William Brown Hill, b. Dec. 26, 1862, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.; salesman, Huntsville, Ala. He m. May 13, 1891, Jack-
son Co., Ala., Julia B. Alspaugh (dau. of Simeon and Eliza¬
beth), b. Dec. 25, 1869, Jackson Co., Ala. Seven children,
167-173.
77. Ebenezer Boynton Hill, b. Oct. 14, 1865, Lincoln
Co., Tenn.; d. June 21, 1867, Fayetteville, Tenn.
78. Cora May Hill, b. May 26, 1869, Fayetteville, Tenn.
She m. Apr. 15, 1887, Kelso, Tenn., James M. Cambron (son
of E. J.) ; merchant, Fayetteville, Tenn. Six children, 174-
179.
IV. Children of James Bryan Hill, No. 21.
79. Charles Bright Hill, b. Sept. 1, 1869, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; train-despatcher, Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis
Railroad, Nashville, Tenn. He m. July 5, 1894, Chattanooga,
Tenn., Edna Jones (dau. of Dallas J. Jones and Rebecca
Cively), b. Florence, Ala. Two children, 180-181.
80. Mary Bryan Hill, b. Apr. 17, 1871, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; m. Jan. 17, 1893, Fayetteville, Tenn., Joseph Carri-
gan Higgins (son of George W. Higgins and Susan Carri-
gan), b. May 13, 1872, Lincoln Co., Tenn.; lawyer, Nashville,
Tenn.; judge of the State Court of Appeals, Nashville, Tenn.
Two children, 182-183.
81. Alfred Ebenezer Hill, b. Feb. 8, 1874, Fayetteville,
Tenn.; geologist, living in Tampico, Mexico. Unmarried.
82. Maggie Bearden Hill, b. Sept. 12, 1879, Fayette¬
ville, Tenn. She m. Feb. 8, 1901, Fayetteville, Tenn., Eu¬
gene Forest Shofner (son of William L. Shofner and Lillian
6o
Ebenezer Hill
Powers), b. Sept. 25, 1878, Lincoln Co., Tenn. ; life-insurance
underwriter, Fayetteville, Tenn. Three children, 184-186.
83. Emily Hough Hill, b. Feb. 4, 1882, Fayetteville,
Tenn. She m. July 22, 1908, Fayetteville, Tenn., Holman C.
Milhous (son of W. A. Milhous and Susan Holman), b.
May 25, 1885, Lincoln Co., Tenn.; d. Sept. 16, 1918; Fayette¬
ville, Tenn.; farmer, Woolley Springs, Ala. Three children,
187-189.
IV. Children of William Joseph Hill, No. 23.
84. Kate Eldridge Hill, b. Dec. 14, 1874, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn. She m. Oct. 31, 1895, A. R. Goodenough, farmer in
Tenn. and Mich. Four children, 190-193.
85. Walter Vance Hill, b. July 6, 1881, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.; farmer. He m. Aug. 2, 1903, Nellie Hall (dau. of
Thomas and Anna). Three children, 194-196.
86. Maggie Sue Hill, b. Apr. 6, 1887, Lincoln Co., Tenn.
She m. John I. Williams, farmer. Three children, 197-199.
87. Oscar J. Hill, b. May 28, 1894.
88. William Ernest Hill, Feb. 7-11, 1899, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.
IV. Children of Samuel Hubbard Wheeler, No. 24.
89. Clara Ann Wheeler, b. June 19, 1846, Mason, N. H. ;
d. May 15, 1875. She m. Nov. 28, 1873, John W. Converse,
lawyer, Springfield, Mass. No children.
90. Horace Boynton Wheeler, b. in Mason, N. H. ; lived
in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He m. Nov. 24, 1874, Mary Emma
Bullard (dau. of Silas Bullard and Elizabeth Blair). Three
children, 200-202.
91. Fred. Martin Wheeler, b. June, 1852; d. May, 1856.
92. Addie Laura Wheeler, b. Aug. 28, 1859; d. in N. J.
She m. Fred. Lowell, Mason, N. H.
93. Fred. Campbell Wheeler, b. Aug. 20, 1866; d. Sept.
22, 1866.
94. Charles Henry Wheeler, b. Sept. 2, 1868, Mason,
N. H.; salesman, Keene, N. H. He m. Dec. 20, 1898, Harris-
ville, N. H., Minnie Belle Seaver, Aug. 29, 1872, Harrisville,
N. H. One child, 203.
IV. Child of Ebenezer Wheeler, No. 25.
95. One child, d. at age of six months.
IV. Children of Timothy Wheeler, No. 29.
96. Harriet Maria Wheeler, b. Nov. 5, 1846, South-
bridge, Mass. ; d. Aug. 28, 1848, Mason, N. H.
97. Flora Annjeanette Wheeler, b. Nov. 8, 1848, Mason,
N. H. She m. May 14, 1868, Boston, Mass., William C. Hall;
Genealogy
6i
lived in Plymouth, Cambridge, Watertown and Belmont, Mass.
Three children, 204-206.
98. George Arthur Wheeler, b. Dec. 21, 1850, Lancaster,
Mass.; d. June 4, 1922, Wakefield, Mass.; overlooker in piano
factories. He m. Feb. 24, 1897, Wakefield, Mass., Margaret
E. Wells. No children.
99. Frank Eddy Wheeler, b. June 22, 1853, Mason, N.
H.; workman in piano factories; residence, Belmont, Mass.
He m. Apr. 29, 1880, Cambridge, Mass., Charlotte J. Sandi-
son. Two children, 207-208.
100. William Boynton Wheeler, b. July 22, 1857, Ply¬
mouth, Mass.; d. Dec. 3, 1863, Woburn, Mass.
101. Fred. Dexter Wheeler, b. Feb. 16, 1863, Woburn,
Mass. ; d. Aug. 16, 1864.
102. William Everett Wheeler, b. July 20, 1864, Woburn,
Mass.; d. Oct. 3, 1865, Boston, Mass.
103. Ann Maria Wheeler, b. May 6, 1866, Boston, Mass.;
res. Cambridgeport, Mass.
104. Robert Chester Wheeler, b. Aug. 6, 1870, Boston,
Mass.; d. Nov. 20, 1875, Woburn, Mass.
105. Everett Dexter Wheeler, b. Mar. 24, 1873, Woburn,
Mass.; d. Feb. 6, 1886, Deep River, Conn.
106. Clarence Boynton Wheeler, b. Dec. 31, 1874, Wo¬
burn, Mass.; church organist, music dealer, Boston, Mass.;
res. Cambridgeport, Mass. He m. June 28, 1918, Allston,
Mass., Florence F. Grant, church organist.
IV. Children of William Wheeler, No. 30.
107. Henry E. Wheeler, b. Aug. 22, 1850; d. 1877.
108. William Wheeler, b. Oct. 7, 1852; d. July 30, 1871,
New York City.
IV. Children of Abbie Maria Wheeler, No. 33.
109. Josephine Maria Scripture, b. Nov. 28, 1858, Mason,
N. H.; d. Nov. 28, 1877, Mason, N. H.
110. Frank Percy Scripture, b. Nov. 24, 1861, Mason,
N. H.; d. Aug. 23, 1863.
111. Herbert Everett Scripture, b. Sept. 18, 1864, Mason,
N. H.; ranchman, Stanton, Neb.
112. Anna Bertha Scripture, b. Sept. 17, 1867, Mason,
N. H. She m. Sept. 4, 1889, Waltham, Mass., Wilford Al-
void Hill (son of Luther Nathan Hill and Lucretia Nancy
Read), b. May 5, 1867, Keene, N. H.; inventor of machines;
Waltham, Mass. One child, 209.
IV. Children of Mary Frances Wheeler, No. 34.
113. Clayton Orrin Scripture, b. May 23, 1861, Mason,
N. H.; d. Aug. 1, 1863.
62
Ebenezer Hill
114. Fred. Percy Scripture, b. May 18, 1862, Mason, N.
H. ; d. Aug. 12, 1863.
115. Edward Wheeler Scripture, Ph.D., M.D., b. May 21,
1864, Mason, N. H.; College of City of New York, 1884;
Ph.D., Univ. of Zurich, 1890; fellow of Clark Univ., 1891;
M. D., Univ. of Munich, 1906; psychologist, neurologist, pro¬
fessor, author; see Who’s Who, and American Men of Science.
He m. Apr. 22, 1890, Leipzig, Germany, May Kirk (dau. of
Robert T. Kirk and Mary Garvie), b. June 24, 1864, Halifax,
N. S. ; grad. N. Y. Normal College, 1883; studied in Leipzig
and Berlin, 1889-91 ; lecturer, N. Y. University ; clinical as¬
sistant in College of Physicians and Sugeons (Columbia) in
speech-reeducation; lecturer at Tulane Univ., 1922-24, and at
Univ. Cal., 1924; see Womans Who’s Who in America, and
Who’s Who in New York. Three children, 210-212.
116. Arthur Percy Scripture, b. Sept. 22, 1866, Mason,
N. H. ; began business with his father on the Produce Ex¬
change, New York; later in steel business, N. Y. ; residence,
Yonkers, N. Y. He m. June 1, 1896, Brooklyn, N. Y., Sarah
R. Kirk (dau. of Robert T. Kirk and Mary Garvie). One
child, 213.
117. Mary Josephine Scripture, b. Sept. 25, 1874, New
York City; d. Nov. 9, 1879, N. Y. City.
IV. Children of Artemas Merriam, No. 35.
118. Leander Otis Merriam, b. May 5, 1843, Garland,
Me.; d. Dec. 8, 1919, Minneapolis, Minn.; Bowdoin College,
1866; Union Army, 3 years, wounded three times, vice-com¬
mander Minn. G. A. R. ; lumber business, Petitcodiac, New
Brunswick, 14 years; officer in Railway Transfer Co., Min¬
neapolis, Minn., 1891-1915; Episcopal vestryman. He m. Dec.
22, 1870, Petitcodiac, N. B., Georgiana Elizabeth Humphreys
(dau. of Hiram Humphreys and Mary M. Crawford), b. Apr.
7, 1853, Petitcodiac. Four children, 214-217.
119. Charles Enoch Merriam, b. Sept. 12, 1845, Garland,
Me.; d. Mar. 7, 1906, New London, Conn.; commercial trav¬
eler, New London, Conn. He m. Apr. 20, 1882, New London,
Conn., Emeline Louise Miner (dau. of George R. and Harriet
W.), b. Mar. 18, 1856. Four children, 218-221.
120. Sarah Louisa Merriam, b. Nov. 4, 1847, Garland,
Me.; d. Mar. 9, 1897, Petitcodiac, N. B. She m. Jan., 1873,
Edward Payson Eastman, b. Dec. 26, 1839, Dennysville, Me.;
d. Feb. 14, 1907, Petitcodiac; in lumber business; private
in 6th Maine Regt. in Civil War. Four children, 222-225.
IV. Children of Sarah Elizabeth Merriam, No. 39
121. Henry Lebbeus Oak, b. May 13, 1844, Garland,
Genealogy
63
Me.; d. May 20, 1905, Seigler Springs, Cal.; Bowdoin College,
2 years, Dartmouth College, 1866; teacher in Exeter, Garland
and Westport, Me., Morristown, N. J., and two years in Cal¬
ifornia; editor of Occident, San Francisco, 1868; librarian and
superintendent of Bancroft Library, San Francisco, 1869-87 ;
author of ten volumes of Bancroft Histories, and of an
Oak-O aks-Oakes Genealogy (ms. in library of N.-Eng. Hist.
Geneal. Soc., Boston, and Part I published in 1906, by Ora
Oak). Unmarried.
122. Sarah Adeliza Oak, b. June 15, 1846, Garland, Me.;
d. Nov. 23, 1891, Garland, Me.; lived in Maine, Mass., and
Cal. Unmarried.
123. Edward Merriam Oak, b. July, 1850, Garland, Me.;
d. Sept. 3, 1852.
124. Ora Oak, b. June 21, 1851, Garland, Me.; Foxcroft
Academy, Me., and one term in Univ. of Maine; clerk, mer¬
chant, ranchman, etc., in Pembroke, Me., Petitcodiac, N. B.,
San Francisco, Cal., 1872-6, Nevada mining camps, ’76-81, Old
Mexico, ’82-86, Perris, Cal., ’87-98, Cucamonga, Cal., 1900-07,
Colton, Cal., ’07-15, Riverside, Cal., 1917 — . He m. 1st, Dec.
23, 1881, Benicia, Cal., Bertha M. Millett (dau. of Orrin B.
Millett and Nancy Minerva Bradbury), b. 1855, Bangor, Me.;
d. June 5, 1887, Los Angeles, Cal.; no children. He m. 2d,
September 25, 1889, Los Angeles, Cal., Ellen Beardsley
Hewitt (dau. of Rev. Enoch W. Hewitt and Lucy M. Beards¬
ley), b. Sept. 16, 1857, Pecatonica, Ill. Five children, 226-230.
125. Mary Elizabeth Oak, b. Feb. 28, 1853, Garland, Me.;
d. May 25, 1853.
126. Orman Oak, b. Nov. 1, 1856, Garland, Me.; harness
maker, Caribou, Me., and Glendale, Cal. ; foreman of Ameri¬
can Art Leather Co., Los Angeles, Cal. He m. Dec. 19, 1877,
Belle Haskell (dau. of Kent Haskell and Georgiana Towle),
b. Sept. 26, 1860, Dover, Me.; d. Feb., 1913, Orange, Cal.
Three children, 231-233.
IV. Children of Charles Ebenezer Hill, No. 43.
127. Bancroft Clayton Hill, b. Feb. 17, 1877, Annapolis,
Md.; d. July 7, 1877, Temple, N. H.
128. Col. John Philip Hill, b. May 2, 1879, Annapolis,
Md. ; A.B., Johns Hopkins Univ., 1900; LL.B., Harvard Univ.,
1903; lawyer, Boston, Mass., ’03-04; Baltimore, Md., since
1904, at first with his father, Hill, Ross & Hill, later Hill,
Randall & Leser; U. S. Dist. Atty. for Md., 1910-15; repre¬
sentative in U. S. Congress, 1921 - ; enlisted in Md. Nat.
Guard, 1904; served on Mexican Border, 1916; Lt. Col. in
A. E. F. in France; Croix de Guerre, 1918; author Public Service
Commission Law of Maryland , The Federal Executive , National
64
Ebenezer Hill
Protection , etc.; member and trustee of many organizations;
see Who's Who. He m. Oct. 18, 1913, Baltimore, Md., Suzanne
Carroll (dau. of John Howell Carroll and Mary Grafton Rogers),
b. Nov. 14, 1889, Baltimore, Md. Three children, 234-236.
129. Capt. Eben Clayton Hill, M. D., b. Oct. 9, 1881, Balti¬
more, Md.; Johns Hopkins Univ., A.B., 1903; M.D., ’07; stu¬
dent at Univ. of Freiburg, Germany, ’04; physician, Balti¬
more, Md., ’07-08; U. S. Army Medical Corps, ’08-13, retired
as Captain ; physician and pathologist, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.,
1913-20; roentgenologist, U. S. Med. Advisory Board, N. Y.,
1918-19; prof. Johns Hopkins Med. Coll.; member of Ameri¬
can and Foreign medical and scientific societies, etc. ; see
Who’s Who. He m. Sept. 19, 1908, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Lucy
Lovell Atwater (dau. of Edward Storrs Atwater and Caro¬
line Swift), b. Mar. 30, 1883. No children.
130. (Joseph) Bancroft Hill, b. May 5, 1887, Baltimore,
Md.; educ. at Johns Hopkins Univ. and Mass. Inst, of Tech¬
nology ; civil engineer, Baltimore, Md. ; engineer of Balti¬
more Harbor. He m. May 5, 1915, Baltimore, Md., Frances
Moale McCoy (dau. of James Espy McCoy and Catharine
Lardner Gibbon). No children.
IV. Children of Edward Stearns Hill, Jr., No. 49.
131. Lewis Lang Hill, b. Sept. 25, 1854, New York City;
long a clerk in Laclede Gas Co., St. Louis, Mo.
132. Adeliza Merriam Hill, b. Dec. 26, 1861, Rosemond,
Ill. ; trained nurse, supt. of Henrietta Hospital, East St. Louis,
Ill. She m. Sept. 19, 1906, East St. Louis, Capt. Augustus M.
Kirby; served in Spanish American War; lawyer of Inter¬
national Harvester Co., St. Louis, Mo., Regina, Sask., and
Dallas, Tex., and for Moline Plow Co. Res., St. James, Mo.
No children.
133. Mary Anna Hill, b. Jan. 27, 1870, St. Louis, Mo.
She m. Feb. 3, 1891, Pinckneyville, Ill., William Sebastian
Berkeley (son of Augustus Berkeley and Elizabeth Downs),
b. Dec. 4, 1854; d. Oct. 23, 1897, St. Louis, Mo.; painter.
Since his death she has lived in Oconto, Wise.; clerk in an
abstract office. Three children, 237-239.
IV. Children of Lucy Sylvania Hill, No. 50.
134. Edward Willis Cragin, b. June 6, 1851 ; d. Aug. 16,
1865, N. Y. City.
135. Carrie Tenney Cragin, b. June 6, 1853; d. Sept. 7,
1859, Rosemond, Ill.
136. Ida Belle Cragin, b. Nov. 18, 1855; d. Aug. 1, 1865,
N. Y. City.
137. Frank Addison Cragin, b. Feb. 6, 1858; d. Feb. 10,
1882, N. Y. City.
Genealogy
65
138. Lillie Sylvania Cragin, b. June 2, 1865, Rosemond,
III. ; d. Aug. 11, 1865, N. Y. City.
139. Emma Florence Cragin, b. Jan. 15, 1870, N. Y. City;
graduate of Hunter College; supt. of circulation cataloguing,
N. Y. Public Library ; library work with the A. E. F., in
France and Germany, 1919.
140. Grace May Cragin, b. Jan. 15, 1871; d. 1871, Rye,
N. Y.
141. Eva Cragin, b. Nov. 1, 1872; d. 1874.
IV. Children of Abigail Jones Hill, No. 51.
142. Mary Frances Hall, b. Nov. 13, 1860, Oconto,
Wise.; d. Mar. 6, 1863, Oconto, Wise.
143. Edward Jonathan Hall, b. July 13, 1862, Marinette,
Wise.; surveyor in Wise., Tex., and Cal. He m. 1st, 1893,
Mary Ulysses Brown; no children. He m. 2d, Aug. 9, 1903,
Houston, Tex., Dora (Allen) Gossett, who had one daughter
(Mabel Gossett) ; and one child by her 2d marriage, 240.
144. Kate Lydia Hall, b. May 31, 1864, Oconto, Wise.;
d. Feb. 8, 1884, Oconto, Wise.
145. Richard Lewis Hall, Jr., b. Aug. 19, 1866, Marinette,
Wise.; surveyor, Oconto, Wise.; clerk of County Court. He
m. Dec. 17, 1896, Oconto, Wise., Minerva Jane Fitzgerald
(dau. of Edward Fitzgerald and Catharine Crane), b. May 19,
1875, Oconto, Wise. Five children, 241-245.
146. Ben Allan Hall, b. Jan. 31, 1868, Oconto, Wise.;
supposed to have been lost at sea.
147. Col. William Bentley Hall, b. Mar. 1, 1870, Oconto,
Wise.; 1st Lieut., Co. M, 12th Wise. Vols., in Porto Rico
campaign, 1898; Capt. 1899; Major with A. E. F. in France
and Germany; Lt. Col., Wise. Nat. Guard; abstracts of title,
city engineer, Oconto, Wise. Unmarried.
148. Charles Bancroft Hall, b. July 15, 1871, Oconto,
Wise.; electrician, Oconto, Wise.; mgr. of waterworks and
electric light, Lamar, Mo.
149. Andrus Houghton Hall, b. Mar. 13, 1873, Oconto,
Wise.; d. Sept. 11, 1874, Oconto, Wise.
IV. Children of Charles Walter Houghton Hill, No. 54.
150. Kate Agnes Hill, b. Apr. 20, 1872, Rosemond, Ill.
She m. June 20, 1894, Jersey City, N. J., John Holliday (son
of Edward), b. May 3, 1870, St. John’s, Nova Scotia; pilot,
West Shore Ferry; res. Jersey City. Four children, 246-249.
151. Mary Emma Hill, b. Apr. 20, 1873, Rosemond, Ill.
She m. Oct. 29, 1896, Jersey City, N. J., Gustav Martin Fet-
zer, b. Jan. 13, 1865; printer, N. Y. City; res. Maywood, N. J.,
fire chief; N. Y. State militia, in service in Buffalo and Brook¬
lyn riots. Six children, 250-255.
66
Ebenezer Hill
152. Grace Rebecca Hill, b. July 24, 1875, Rosemond,
Ill. She m. July 14, 1896, Jersey City, N. J., Jacob Kegelmann
(son of Christian and Marie), b. Oct. 26, 1865, Paterson, N.
J.; grocer and provision dealer, Jersey City, N. J.; 1st Lieut.,
4th Regt., State Militia; 18 years Sunday-school supt., in
Presbyterian and Reformed churches, deacon and elder. Three
children, 256-258.
153. Frances Augusta Hill, b. Aug. 19, 1878, Rosemond,
Ill. She m. Dec. 20, 1896, Jersey City, N. J., John Hoffman
(son of John and Augusta), b. Sept., 1874, Jersey City, N. J.,
machinist, Meadows, N. J.; was foreman in munition plants,
N. Y. City, and Savannah, Ga., during World War, also in ship
building plant. Three children, 259-261.
IV. Children of Maria Frances Kimball, No. 56.
154. Charles Erving Whittemore, b. Aug. 18, 1856,
Fitzwilliam, N. H.; d. Jan. 12, 1913, New York City; with
his father in mirror business, later salesman in Tiffany’s,
N. Y. City. He m. Oct. 24, 1889, N. Y. City, Catharine Leigh
Taylor (dau. of William Taylor and Mary Leigh), b. Aug.
7, 1860, N. Y. City. One child, 262.
155. William John Whittemore, b. Mar. 26, 1860, New
York City; artist, N. Y. City; summer home, Robinsfield,
Easthampton, L. I. ; see Who’s Who. He m. 1st, Sept. 19,
1895, Springfield, Mass., Alice Vaud Whitmore (dau. of
Frederick H. Whitmore and Mary E. Curtis), b. - ; d.
Nov. 26, 1911, Easthampton, N. Y. He m. 2d, June 2, 1921,
N. Y. City, Charlotte Helen Simpson (dau. of Robert W.
Simpson and Charlotte Harrold), - ; artist, member of
N. Y. Water Color Club, and of National Association of
Women Painters and Sculptors.
156. Frances Maria Whittemore, b. Nov. 11, 1862, New
York City. She and Mrs. Chas. E. Whittemore live together
in N. Y. City.
IV. Children of Adeliza Frances Merriam, No. 59.
157. Henry Hasbrouck Sahler, b. Mar. 14, 1867, Shef¬
field, Mass.; d. July 26, 1868.
158. Emma Frances Sahler, b. May 7, 1869, Passaic,
N. J. She m. Oct. 20, 1903, New York City, Arthur Hazard
Dakin (son of Francis Elihu Dakin and Emily Hazard), b.
Apr. 27, 1862, Freeport, Ill.; Amherst College, 1884; Harvard
Law School; lawyer, Boston, Mass. Two children, 263-264.
159. Florence Louise Sahler, b. Sept. 15, 1871. She m.
Oct. 11, 1911, New York City, Alfred Brooks Merriam (son
of Aaron Brooks Merriam and Hannah Matilda Wentworth),
b. Apr. 17, 1859; real estate, N. Y. City.
Genealogy
6 7
160. Helen Gertrude Sahler, b. Dec. 23, 1877, Carmel,
N. Y. ; sculptor, New York City; see Who’s Who.
IV. Children of Maria Hill Merriam, No. 60.
161. Adeliza Frances Brush, b. Dec. 14, 1863, - ; d.
Feb. 15, 1915, New York City. She m. Dec. 12, 1903, N. Y.
City, John A. O’Connor (son of Thos. H.), lawyer N. Y.
City. Two children, 265-266.
162. Walter Franklin Brush, Jr., b. Sept. 27, 1865, Rye,
N. Y. ; d. Dec. 26, 1919, Richmond, Mass. ; Harvard College,
1888; special courses in Union Theological Seminary, Har¬
vard Divinity School, Episcopal Divinity School (Cambridge,
Mass.), and Columbia Law School, 1894-8. Teaching and
philanthropic work, N. Y. City and Boston, Mass. Unmarried.
IV. Child of Abbie Caroline Merriam, No. 62.
163. Rev. William Merriam Crane, Ph.D., b. Feb. 26,
1880, New York City; Harvard Univ., A.B., 1902, Ph.D.,
1906; Harvard Divinity School, 1904; studied also in France,
Germany and Syria; ordained Nov. 15, 1907, pastor Congre¬
gational church, Richmond, Mass., 1907-21 ; member of
learned societies, college trustee, etc., see Who’s Who in Nezv
England. He married July 29, 1902, Cambridge, Mass.,
Eleanor Winslow Runkle (dau. of John D. Runkle, Pres, of
Mass. Inst. Technology, and Catharine Robbins Bird), grad¬
uate of Radcliffe College. Seven children, 267-273.
IV. Children of John Boynton Hill, No. 72.
164. Helen Frances Hill, b. June 7; d. June 24, 1913,
Kansas City, Mo.
165. John Timothy Hill, b. Jan. 15, 1915, Brooklyn,
N. Y.
166. Mary Margaret Hill, b. Dec. 30, 1916, Brooklyn,
N. Y.; d. Feb. 6, 1919, Brooklyn, N. Y.
FIFTH GENERATION: GREAT-GREAT-GRAND¬
CHILDREN OF THE REV. EBENEZER HILL
V. Children of William Brown Hill, No. 76.
167. Eben Alspaugh Hill, b. Jan. 11, 1892; d. Nov. 9,
1892, Fayetteville, Tenn.
168. Twin, b. and d. Jan. 11, 1892.
169. Mary Ruth Hill, b. Oct. 23, 1893, Fayetteville,
Tenn.
170. James Bryan Hill, b. Apr. 15, 1895, New Market,
Ala.
68
Ebenezer Hill
171. Joseph Bancroft Hill, b. Sept. 5, 1897, Elora, Tenn.
172. Brown Gregory Hill, b. Jan. 5, 1899, Elora, Tenn.
173. Rebekah Eustis Hill, b. July 8, 1907, Elora, Tenn.
V. Children of Cora May Hill, No. 78.
174. Carl McPherson Cambron, b. Nov. 26, 1889, Flint-
ville, Tenn.
175. Ebenezer Jasper Cambron, b. Jan. 17, 1892, Flint-
ville, Tenn.
176. Mary Emily Cambron, b. June 10, 1894, Flintville,
Tenn.
177. James Baylor Cambron, b. Jan., 1897, Flintville,
Tenn.
178. Mattie Ruth Cambron, b. Oct. 1, 1899; d. Oct. 5,
1899, Flintville, Tenn.
179. Joseph Monroe Cambron, b. Dec. 8, 1901, Flintville,
Tenn.
V. Children of Charles Bright Hill, No. 79.
180. Charles Dallas Hill, b. July 25, 1898, Nashville,
Tenn.
181. Margaret Rebecca Hill, b. Mar. 4, 1900, Nashville,
Tenn.
V. Children of Mary Bryan Hill, No. 80.
182. Jimmie Margaret Higgins, b. Nov. 30, 1893, Fayette¬
ville, Tenn; Belmont College. She m. Sept. 25, 1918, Nash¬
ville, Tenn., Charles Frank Bagley (son of Thomas O. Bag-
ley and Ellen Colville), b. Nov. 27, 1884, Lincoln Co., Tenn.;
Washington and Lee Univ.; banker, Fayetteville, Tenn. Two
children, 274-275.
183. Joseph Carrigan Higgins, Jr., b. Aug. 28, 1897,
Fayetteville, Tenn.; Vanderbilt Univ.; lawyer, Atlanta, Ga. ;
in army, 1918. He m. Nov. 8, 1921, Nashville, Tenn., Louella
Whorley (dau. of William H. Whorley and Laura Lu Whit-
sitt), b. Feb. 12, 1899, Nashville, Tenn.; Ward-Belmont Col¬
lege and Vanderbilt Univ.
V. Children of Margaret Bearden Hill, No. 82.
184. James Newton Shofner, b. Sept. 6, 1902, Fayette¬
ville, Tenn.; U. S. Naval Academy, class of 1926.
185. Margaret Hill Shofner, b. Jan. 21, 1905.
186. Phoebe Page Shofner, b. Nov. 25, 1912.
V. Children of Emily Hough Hill, No. 83.
187. John Philip Milhous, b. Mar. 6, 1909.
188. Margaret Hill Milhous, b. Apr. 16, 1910.
189. Plolman Cannon Milhous, b. Apr. 26, 1913.
Genealogy
69
V. Children of Kate Eldridge Hill, No. 84.
190. Ethel May Goodenough, b. Jan. 19, 1897, Lincoln
Co., Tenn.
191. Mary Pearl Goodenough, b. Nov. 29, 1899, in Mich-
igan.
192. Raymond Leo Goodenough, b. Sept. 24, 1902, in
Michigan.
193. Dilbert Delile Goodenough, b. Aug. 27, 1906, Lin¬
coln Co., Tenn.
V. Children of Walter Vance Hill, No. 85.
194. William Henry Hill, b. July 10, 1904, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.
195. Robert E. Lee Hill, b. Mar. 18, 1907, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.
196. Eddie Margaret Hill, b. Apr. 12, 1909, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.
V. Children of Maggie Sue Hill, No. 86.
197. Oscar Raymond Williams, b. Aug. 8, 1905, Lincoln
Co., Tenn.
198. Hubert Howard Williams, b. Nov. 21, 1907, Lincoln
Co., Tenn.
199. Walter Lee Williams, b. Feb. 24, 1909, Lincoln Co.,
Tenn.
V. Children of Horace Boynton Wheeler, No. 89.
200.
201.
202.
V. Child of Charles Henry Wheeler, No. 94.
203. Maude Frances Wheeler, b. Dec. 29, 1899; grad,
first honor, Keene, N. H. High School, 1917 ; N. H. Normal
School; B.S., Boston Univ., 1922; teacher in high schools,
Somerville, Mass., Brattleboro, Vt.
V. Children of Flora Ann jeanette Wheeler, No. 97.
204. Arthur Eddy Hall, b. Nov. 12, 1869, Plymouth, Mass.;
action worker in piano factory, Cambridge, Mass. He m.
July 30, 1904, Amy H. Morrison. Three children, 276-278.
205. Abbie Thomas Hall, b. Aug. 8, 1872, Plymouth,
Mass. She m. Nov. 18, 1898, Watertown, Mass., John William
Coe, b. Mar. 6, 1871, Newfields, N. H.; armament foreman,
Watertown Arsenal; res. Belmont, Mass. Four children
279-282.
206. Charles William Hall, b. Sept. 25, 1873, Plymouth,
Mass.; foreman in piano factory; res. Greenwood, Mass. He
7 o
Ebenezer Hill
m. Jan. 31, 1900, Elizabeth Young, b. Apr. 5, 1877, St. John’s,
New Brunswick. Seven children, 283-289.
V. Children of Frank Eddy Wheeler, No. 99.
207. Inez Eliza Wheeler, b. Apr. 19, 1881; d. July 4,
1881, Annapolis, N. S.
208. Marion Sandison Wheeler, b. Aug. 9, 1886.
V. Child of Anna Bertha Scripture, No. 112.
209. Dorotha Scripture Hill, b. Oct. 14, 1900, Waltham,
Mass.
V. Children of Edward Wheeler Scripture,. No. 115.
210. Winifred Scripture, b. July 15, 1891, Worcester,
Mass.; educated abroad, Bryn Mawr College, 1912. She
m. Apr. 21, 1917, New York City, Percy Custer Fleming, b.
1890, Jacksonville, Fla.; Capt. U. S. Army, 26th Cavalry, in
Philippines since 1920. Two children, 290-291.
211. Elsa Scripture, b. Jan. 15, 1894, New Haven, Conn.;
educated abroad, Bryn Mawr College, ex-1915. She m. Aug.
25, 1922, New York City, Archibald Erskine Kidd, b. 1887,
Glasgow, Scotland; secretary of Personnel Committee, Western
Electric Co. One child, 291^.
212. Edward Wheeler Scripture, Jr., b. Dec. 19, 1899,
New Haven, Conn.; with A. E. F. in France, two and a half
years, wounded at d’Haumont, Oct. 23, 1918; Tome School,
Md. ; Harvard Univ., 1921, A. M., 1922; Univ. of Caen, France;
chemist; instructor in chemistry, Lowell Textile Institute.
V. Child of Arthur Percy Scripture, No. 116.
214. Dorothy Kirk Scripture, b. Oct. 14, 1902, Yonkers,
N. Y.; Vassar College. She m. Sept. 12, 1923, Yonkers, N. Y.,
Chauncey Tompkins Secor.
V. Children of Leander Otis Merriam, No. 118.
214. Agnes Louisa Merriam, b. Dec. 13, 1872, Petit-
codiac, New Brunswick. She m. Sept. 16, 1896, John H.
Groesbeck, of Janesville, Wise. She is a teacher in public
schools, Minneapolis, Minn. One child, 292.
215. Charles Fred. Otis Merriam, b. Oct. 30, 1875, Pet-
itcodiac, N. B.; mining engineer, Wallace, Idaho. He m.
Aug. 16, 1905, Granite, Idaho, Ethel Steen (dau. of John),
of Murray, Idaho.
216. Raymond Fogg Merriam, b. Jan. 6, 1877, Petit-
codiac, New Brunswick; attorney, Minneapolis, Minn. He
m. Feb. 16, 1906, Minneapolis, Minn., Laura Berger (dau.
of John R. and Clementine). Two children, 293-294.
Genealogy
7 1
217. Robert Stanley Merriam, b. July 4, 1878, Petit-
codiac, New Brunswick; mining engineer, Wallace, Idaho;
Spokane, Wash. He m. Dec. 21, 1907, Mabel Fleming, of
Minneapolis, Minn., (dau. of Geo. W. Fleming and Flora
Trent). Three children, 295-297.
V. Children of Charles Enoch Merriam, No. 119.
218. Anna Louise Merriam, b. Oct. 23, 1883, New Lon¬
don, Conn. In City Hall, New London, Conn.
219. Harriet Eleanor Merriam, b. Jan. 20, 1885, New
London, Conn. She m. the Rev. Charles Raymond Chappell,
who is a Baptist minister, Middleboro, Mass. Two children,
298-299.
220. Ethel Agnes Merriam, b. Sept. 29, 1888, New
Haven, Conn. She m. William A. Elrick. commercial traveler,
Hartford, Conn. Three children, 300-302.
221. Leroy Otis Merriam, b. July 29, 1891 ; d. May, 1892.
V. Children of Sarah Louise Merriam, No. 120.
222. Anna W. Eastman, b. Apr. 8, 1876; in Public
Library, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Lansing, Mich.
223. Horace Merriam Eastman, b. Nov. 4, 1878, Petit-
codiac, New Brunswick; Provincial Normal School of N.
B., Univ. of New Brunswick, 1902; civil engineer; chief
draftsman, Keystone works, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corpn.,
Pittsburgh, Pa. He m. Sept. 5, 1911, Pittsburgh, Pa., Mabel
Vandervort (dau. of Walter Vandervort and Mathilda Berry),
b. Feb. 20, 1883, Sewickley, Pa. No children.
224. Arthur Eastman, b. Dec. 26, 1880, Petitcodiac, N.
B. ; Provincial Normal School and Univ. of New Brunswick;
civil engineer, Ogdensburg, N. Y. He m. Jan. 4, 1911, Car¬
dinal, Ontario, Pearl Curry (dau. of Charles Curry and Pris¬
cilla Anderson), b. Sept. 22, 1882, Cardinal, Ontario. Child,
303.
225. Robert Felt Eastman, b. Mar. 11, 1887, Petitcodiac,
N. B.; B.S. in engineering, Univ. of New Brunswick, 1912;
civil engineer, in the firm of Hall and Lethly, Springfield,
Ohio; officers’ training camp, 1918; 2d Lieut., O. R. C., Coast
Artillery. He m. June 16, 1917, Brooklyn, N. Y., Ethel Un¬
derhill, of Youngstown, Ohio (dau. of Chas. F. and Rachel
W.), b. Dec. 19, 1885, Brooklyn; Vassar College, 1907; Phi
Beta Kappa; Pittsburgh Library School, 1908; children’s li¬
brarian, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; head of children’s dept., Worcester,
Mass., and Youngstown, Ohio. Three children, 304-306.
72
Ebenezer Hill
V. Children of Ora Oak, No. 124.
226. Alfred Henry Oak, b. Apr. 20, 1891, Perris, Cal.;
Univ. of Cal., 1915; chemist, asst. supt. Newport Chemical
Co., Milwaukee, Wise.; during World War in munition plants
at Emporium, Pa., New Brunswick, N. J., and Milwaukee.
He m. 1917, Gladys Godfrey, of Chattanooga, Tenn. Two
children, 307-308.
227. Lyndon Hewitt Oak, b. Nov. 15, 1892, Perris, Cal.;
Univ. of Cal., 1915; chemist; during World War in munition
plants, New Brunswick, N. J., and Gary, Ind. ; latterly with
oil companies of Chicago, Oklahoma and Boston.
228. Liston Merriam Oak, b. Sept. 18, 1895, Perris, Cal. ;
Los Angeles Normal School, Columbia Univ. summer school;
Univ. of Cal., 1923 ; taught illiterates in Camp Kearney and
in the A. E. F. in France; taught in Katonah, N. Y., Long
Beach and Los Angeles, Cal. He m. May, 1915, Imperial Val¬
ley, Cal. Lura Sawyer, b. 1892, in Maine; a teacher and settle¬
ment worker. Two children, 309-310.
229. Irving Oak, b. Feb. 4, 1899, Perris, Cal.; d. 1899.
230. Harold Lebbeus Oak, b. Oct. 11, 1900, Cucamonga,
Cal. ; artilleryman, trained at San Diego, Cal., 1918; Univ.
of Cal., 1923, B. S. in chemistry; chemist in Berkeley, Cal.
V. Children of Orman Oak, No. 126.
231. Edward Oak, b. 1879; d. 1882.
232. Ralph Lane Oak, b. Nov. 29, 1880, Caribou, Me.;
bank cashier, Areata, Cal. ; secy, of Chamber of Commerce.
He m. Ella Dey Conser (dau. of Elder Thompson Conser
and Catharine Jane McAuley), b. Jan. 4, 1883, Highland, Kan.
Two children, 311-312.
233. Aimee Oak, m. Fred Allen, proprietor of Allen’s
Water Gardens, Los Angeles, Cal. No children.
V. Children of John Philip Hill, No. 128.
234. Susan Carroll Hill, b. May 19, 1916, Baltimore, Md.
235. Elise Bancroft Hill, b. Feb. 9, 1920, Baltimore.
236. Catharine Clayton Hill, b. Jan. 23, 1923, Washing¬
ton, D. C.
V. Children of Mary Anna Hill, No. 133.
237. Edward Augustus Berkeley, b. Feb. 23, 1892, St.
Louis, Mo.; res. Oconto, Wise., Milwaukee, Wise. He m.
Dec. 26, 1918, Milwaukee, Wise., Margaret Frances Langlois
(dau. of C. A.). Child, 313.
238. Mary Louise Berkeley, b. Jan. 31, 1894, Pinckney-
ville, Ill.; clerk; deputy Register of Deeds, Oconto County,
Wise.
Genealogy
73
239. William Lewis Ambrose Berkeley, b. Dec. 2, 1895,
Pinckneyville, Ill.; res. Kenosha, Wise. He m. Nov. 19, 1914,
Marinette, Wise., Edna Sauve (dau. of Frank), of Coleman,
Wise. Two children, 314-315.
V. Child of Edward Jonathan Hall, No. 143.
240. Ben. James Hall, b. July 31, 1905, Oil Fields, Cal.
V. Children of Richard Lewis Hall, Jr., No. 145.
241. David Edward Hall, b. Nov. 26, 1897, Oconto, Wise.
242. Harry Alden Hall, b. Apr. 18, 1899, Oconto, Wise.
243. Agnes Catharine Hall, b. May 24, 1902, Oconto,
Wise.
244. Geo. Emmet Benj. Hall, b. Apr. 1, 1904, Oconto,
Wise.
245. Abbie Jane Hall, b. Aug. 23, 1909, Oconto, Wise.
V. Children of Kate Agnes Hill, No. 150.
246. Edward Charles Holliday, b. Nov. 2, 1895.
247. Ethel Holliday, b. Sept. 3, 1898. She m. Julius
Swanson, tugboatman, Union Hill, N. J.
248. Ruth Holliday, b. Sept. 17, 1901. She m. Henry
Korbach, baker, West Hoboken, N. J.
249. Catharine Houghton Holliday, b. Dec. 30, 1906.
V. Children of Mary Emma Hill, No. 151.
250. Dorothy Mae Fetzer, b. Sept. 1, 1897.
251. Grace Myra Fetzer, b. and d. Mar. 16, 1900.
252. Walter Fred. Fetzer, b. June 22, 1901.
253. Myra Anna Fetzer, b. Nov. 6, 1903. She m. Jan.
22, 1922, Maywood, N. J., Vinton Stuart Knorr; electric
powerhouse, Hackensack, N. J.
254. Harriet Elizabeth Fetzer, b. Dec. 30, 1906.
255. Viola Gertrude Fetzer, b. Mar. 26, 1912.
V. Children of Grace Rebecca Hill, No. 152.
256. Grace Adelaide Kegelmann, b. July 12, 1897, Jersey
City, N. J.
257. Mildred Kegelmann, b. Feb. 23, 1900, Jersey City,
N. J.
258. Franklin Hill Kegelmann, b. Dec. 7, 1908, Jersey
City, N. J.
V. Children of Frances Augusta Hill, No. 153.
259. Florence Evelyn Hoffman, b. June 1, 1899. She m.
Sept. 16, 1918, John Simkins, bank clerk.
260. John William Hoffman, b. May 11, 1901.
261. Grace Hill Hoffman, b. Dec. 11, 1908.
74
Ebenezer Hill
V. Child of Charles Erving Whittemore, No. 154.
2 62. Charles William Whittemore, b. Nov. 13, 1894, New
York City; d. May 5, 1905, N. Y. City.
V. Children of Emma Frances Sahler, No. 158.
263. Arthur Hazard Dakin, Jr., b. Jan. 25, 1905, Bos¬
ton, Mass.
264. Winthrop Saltonstall Dakin, b. Oct. 21, 1906, Bos¬
ton, Mass.
V. Children of Adeliza Frances Brush, No. 161.
265. Elizabeth Franklin O’Connor, b. May 10, 1906; d.
May 16, 1906, N. Y. City.
266. Sarah Patricia Franklin O’Connor, b. Dec. 5, 1907,
N. Y. City.
V. Children of William Merriam Crane, No. 163.
267. William Merriam Crane, Jr., b. June 22, 1903, Cam¬
bridge, Mass.
268. Edward Payson Crane, b. Nov. 12, 1904, Berlin,
Germany.
269. Gordon Crane, b. Nov. 28, 1909, Richmond, Mass.
270. Chilton Crane, b. May 19, 1911, Richmond, Mass.
271. Caroline Merriam Crane, b. Oct. 18, 1912, Rich¬
mond, Mass.
272. Frances Whitney Crane, b. Oct., 1915, Richmond,
Mass.
273. Eleanor Winslow Crane, b. Aug., 1917, Richmond,
Mass.
SIXTH GENERATION: GREAT-GREAT-GREAT¬
GRANDCHILDREN OF THE REV. EBENEZER HILL
VI. Children of Jimmie Margaret Higgins, No. 182.
274. Charles Frank Bagley, Jr., b. Sept. 21, 1919, Nash¬
ville, Tenn.
275. Joseph Higgins Bagley, b. Jan. 28, 1923, Nash¬
ville, Tenn.
VI. Children of Arthur Eddy Hall, No. 204.
276. Arthur Morrison Hall, b. Apr. 26, 1906.
277. Malcolm Frank Hall, b. Feb. 2, 1909.
278. Claribel Wheeler Hall, b. Nov. 11, 1911.
VI. Children of Abbie Thomas Hall, No. 205.
279. Arthur Lewis Coe, b. Jan. 31, 1900; 71st Coast
Artillery, 1918-19.
Genealogy
75
280. Edward Curtis Coe, b. Oct. 25, 1903.
281. Ralph William Coe, b. Aug. 15, 1907.
282. Elinor Imogene Coe, b. Sept. 2, 1910.
VI. Children of Charles William Hall, No. 206.
283. Chas. William Hall, Jr, b. May 8, 1902.
284. George Wheeler Hall, b. June 23, 1903.
285. Alice Dorothy Hall, b. Nov. 2, 1905.
286. Robert Henry Hall, b. Apr. 30, 1907.
287. Flora Sylvia Hall, b. May 16, 1910.
288. Ruth Ellis Hall, b. June 6, 1915.
289. John Frederick Hall, b. Sept. 8, 1917.
VI. Children of Winifred Scripture, No. 210.
290. Peter D. Fleming, b. Jan. 17, 1918, N. Y. City.
291. Barbara Fleming, b. Nov. 30, 1920, Camp Dix, N. J.
VI. Child of Elsa Scripture, No. 211.
29U/2. Mary Kirk Kidd, b. June 21 , 1923, Montclair, N. J.
VI. Child of Agnes Louisa Merriam, No. 214.
292. Robert Merriam Groesbeck, b. July 26, 1897, Janes¬
ville, Wise. He m. June 28, 1920, Manhattan, Kan., Lillian
Louise Amos (dau. of Frank and Cora). Child, 316.
VI. Children of Raymond Fogg Merriam, No. 216.
293. John Leander Merriam, b. June 9, 1913, Minneap¬
olis, Minn.
294. George Clement Merriam, b. Feb. 2, 1919, Min¬
neapolis, Minn.
VI. Children of Robert Stanley Merriam, No. 217.
295. Virginia Agnes Merriam, b. Aug. 25, 1909, Wal¬
lace, Idaho.
296. Flora Elizabeth Merriam, b. Dec. 9, 1911, Wallace,
Idaho.
297. Eleanor Merriam, b. July 10, 1913, Wallace, Idaho.
VI. Children of Harriet Eleanor Merriam, No. 219.
298. Raymond Merriam Chappell, b. Aug. 15, 1911, Bath,
Me.
299. Ethel Louise Chappell, b. Aug. 29, 1916, Bath, Me.
VI. Children of Ethel Agnes Merriam, No. 220.
300. Donald William Elrick, b. Dec. 27, 1915, New Lon¬
don, Conn.
301. Robert Merriam Elrick, b. Apr. 29, 1919, New Lon¬
don, Conn.
302. Richard Grant Elrick, b. Dec. 6, 1921, Hartford,
Conn.
7 6
Ebenezer Hill
VI. Child of Arthur Eastman, No. 224.
303. John Edward Eastman, b. Jan. 12, 1912.
VI. Children of Robert Felt Eastman, No. 225.
304. Robert Merriam Eastman, b. Apr. 18, 1918
305. Richard Payson Eastman, b. Aug. 5, 1920.
306. Rachel Underhill Eastman, b. Feb. 5, 1922
VI. Children of Alfred Henry Oak, No. 226.
307. Elinor Buell Oak, b. June 18, 1918, New Brunswick,
N. J.
308. Dorothy Marie Oak, b. Aug. 5, 1919, Milwaukee,
Wise.
VI. Children of Liston Merriam Oak, No. 228.
309. Joan Oak, b. Mar. 18, 1920, New York City.
310. Alan Ben Oak, b. Feb. 12, 1922, Long Beach, Cal.
VI. Children of Ralph Lane Oak, No. 232.
311. Orman Haskell Oak, b. Jan. 20,1913, Imperial, Cal.
312. Eugene Kent Oak, b. Sept. 15, 1915, Areata, Cal.
VI. Child of Edward Augustus Berkeley, No. 237.
313. William Francis Berkeley, b. Sept. 11, 1920
VI. Children of William Lewis Ambrose Berkeley, No. 239.
314. William Edward Berkeley, b. Jan. 29, 1916
315. Harry Lloyd Berkeley, b. Apr. 7, 1919.
SEVENTH GENERATION: GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-
GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF THE
REV. EBENEZER HILL
VII. Child of Robert Merriam Groesbeck, No. 292.
316. Donald Carleton Groesbeck, b. Sept. 23, 1921, Minn¬
eapolis, Minn.
INDEX OF PERSONS
Genealogical numbers precede the names, page numbers follow.
ABBOTT, Olive, 49
ADAMS, Mary, 19
ALLEN, Dora, 65
Fred, 72
ALSPAUGH, Julia B., 59
Simeon, 59
AMES, Joel, 52
Mary, 52
AMOS, Frank, 75
Lillian Louise, 75
ANDERSON, Priscilla, 71
ANDRUS, Lydia Ann, 56
APPLETON, John, 34
ATWATER, Edward S., 64
Lucy Lovell, 64
BAGLEY, Charles Frank, 68
274 Chas. Frank, Jr., 74
275 Joseph Higgins, 74
Thomas O., 68
BANCROFT, Aaron, 5
Ebenezer, 13, 21, 47, 48
George, 5
Hubert Howe, 63
Rebecca, 13, 47
BARRETT, Jesse, 19
Moses, 19
Rebecca, 47
BATEMAN, Rebecca, 17, 47
BEARDEN, Alfred, 52
Maggie Collins, 52
BEARDSLEY, Lucy M., 63
BERGER, John R., 70
Laura, 70
BERKELEY, Augustus, 64
237 Edward Augustus, 72
315 Harry Lloyd, 76
238 Mary Louise, 72
314 William Edward, 76
313 William Francis, 76
239 William Lewis Ambrose, 73
William Sebastian, 64
BERRY, Mathilda, 71
BINGHAM, James, 26
BIRD, Catharine Robbins, 67
BLAIR, Elizabeth, 60
BLOEDEL, Elizabeth Sarah, 55
BOYNTON, Mary, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12,
47 .
Nathaniel, 47, 48
BRADBURY, Nancy Minerva, 63
BROWN, Harriet, 40, 49
Isaac, 49
BROWN, Mary Ulysses, 65
161 BRUSH, Adeliza Frances, 67
60 Maria H. (Mernam), 57
Walter Franklin, Jr., 5 7
162 Walter Franklin, Jr. (3d), 67
BRYAN, James, 48
Mary Tate, 48
BULLARD, Alice Margaret, 59
Henry, 58, 59
Mary, 60
Silas, 60
174 CAMBRON, Carl McPherson, 68
175 Ebenezer Jasper, 68
177 James Baylor, 68
James M., 59
179 Joseph Monroe, 68
176 Mary Emily, 68
178 Mattie Ruth, 68
CAMPBELL, Henry, 52
Sophia Augusta, 52
CARR1GAN, Susan, 59
CARROLL, John Howell, 64
Suzanne, 64
CHAMBERS, William, 10
CHAPPELL, Charles Raymond,
7i
299 Ethel Louise, 7 5
298 Raymond Merriam, 75
CIVELY, Rebecca, 59
_ 27
CLAYTON. Keturah Watts, 54
Philip Coleman, 54
279 COE, Arthur Lewis, 74
280 Edward Curtis, 7 5
282 Elinor Imogene, 75
John William, 69
281 Ralph William, 75
COLVILLE, Ellen, 68
CONSER, Elder Thompson, 72
Ella Day, 72
CONVERSE, John W. 60
CORY, Mary, 51, 58
135 CRAGIN, Carrie Tenney, 64
Charles Addison, 55
134 Edward Willis, 64
139 Emma Florence, 65
141 Eva, 65
137 Frank Addison, 64
140 Grace May, 65
136 Ida Belle, 64
138 Lillie Sylvania, 65
Simeon, 55
78
Index of Persons
271 CRANE, Caroline Merriam, 74
Catharine, 65
270 Chilton, 74
Daniel, 57
268 Edward Payson, 74
273 Eleanor Winslow, 74
272 Frances Whitney, 74
269 Gordon, 74
163 William Merriam, 67
267 William Merriam, Jr., 74
William Nevins, 57
CRAWFORD, Mary M., 62
CURRY, Charles, 71
Pearl 7 1
CURTIS,' Mary E., 66
CUSHING, Joseph, 18
CUTLER, Ebenezer, 11
Sarah, 11, 47
CUTTER, Ebenezer Bancroft, 36
Mary Sylvania (Jones,) 36
Sally, 50
DAKIN, Arthur Hazard, 66
263 Arthur Hazard, Jr., 74
Elizabeth, 55
Francis Elihu, 66
264 Winthrop Saltonstall, 74
DATER, Mary Elizabeth, 55
DEMAREST, Elsie Ann, 57
DIX, Samuel, 10, 12, 13
DOWNING, Maggie, 52
DOWNS, Elizabeth, 64
222 EASTMAN, Anna W., 71
224 Arthur, 71
Edward Payson, 62
223 Horace Merriam, 71
303 John Edward, 76
306 Rachel Underhill, 76
305 Richard Payson, 76
225 Robert Felt, 71
304 Robert Merriam, 76
ELDRIDGE, Bowlin, 52
Maggie, Tabitha, 52
ELIOT, Susanna, 48
300 ELRICK, Donald William, 75
302 Richard Grant, 75
301 Robert Merriam, 75
William A., 71
FARLEY, Mark, 27
250 FETZER, Dorothy Mae, 73
251 Grace Myra, 73
Gustav Martin, 65
254 Harriet Elizabeth, 73
253 Myra Anna, 73
255 Viola Gertrude, 73
252 Walter Fred, 73
FINNEY, Charles G., 34
FITZGERALD, Edward, 65
Minerva Jane, 65
FLAGG, Josiah, 16
Sarah, 49
291 FLEMING, Barbara, 75
George W., 71
Mabel, 71
Percy Custer, 70
290 Peter D., 75
FLETCHER, Susanna, 47
FOGG, Angelina, 53
Jeremiah, 53
GARDNER, - , 58
GARVIE, Mary, 62
GIBBON, Catharine Lardner, 64
GODFREY, Gladys, 72
GOODENOUGH, A. R., 60
193 Dilbert Delile, 69
190 Ethel May, 69
191 Mary Pearl, 69
192 Raymond Leo, 69
GOODWIN, Daniel, 38
GOSSETT, Dora (Allen), 65
Mabel, 65
GOULD, Daniel, 61
GRANT, Florence F., 61
GREELEY, Horace, 18
Lucy A., 58
GREGORY, Ruth Ann, 51
Tunstall, 51
316 GROESBECK, Donald Carleton,
76
John H., 70
292 Robert Merriam, 75
HAGGARD, William Y., 56
245 HALL, Abbie Jane, 73
205 Abbie Thomas, 69
243 Agnes Catharine, 73
285 Alice Dorothy, 75
149 Andrus Houghton, 65
204 Arthur Eddy, 69
276 Arthur Morrison, 74
146 Ben Allan, 65
240 Benj. James, 73
148 Charles Bancroft, 65
206 Charles William, 69
283 Charles William, Jr., 75
278 Claribel Wheeler, 74
241 David Edward, 73
143 Edward Jonathan, 65
287 Flora Sylvia, 75
Frances Augusta, 51
244 Geo. Emmet Benj., 73
284 George Wheeler, 75
242 Harry Alden, 73
289 John Frederick, 75
Index of Persons
79
HALL, Jonathan Cory, 55
144 Kate Lydia, 65
Lewis, 51, 58
277 Malcolm Frank, 74
142 Mary Frances, 65
Nellie, 60
Richard Lewis, 55
145 Richard Lewis, Jr., 65
286 Robert Henry, 75
288 Ruth Ellis, 75
Thomas, 60
147 William Bentley, 65
William C., 60
HARDING, Anna Maria, 53
HARROLD, Charlotte, 66
HASBROUCK, Eliza, 5 7
HASKELL, Belle, 63
Kent, 63
HAWLEY, Anna, 56
HAZARD, Emily, 66
HEWITT, Ellen Beardsley, 63
Enoch W., 63
HIGGINS, George W., 59
182 Jimmie Margaret, 68
Joseph Carrigan, 59
183 Joseph Carrigan, Jr., 68
HILL, Abigail (Jones-Stearns),
16, 24, 33, 40, 41, 42, 47
9 Abigail Jones, 17, 24, 26, 28,
. 29, 30, 33. 50
51 Abigail Jones, 55
13 Adeliza, 18, 24, 30, 31, 32, 33,
36, 38, 39, 42, 50
132 Adeliza Merriam, 64
81 Alfred Ebenezer, 59
Almira, 19
130 Bancroft, 64
127 Bancroft Clayton, 63
Blanche S., 56
172 Brown Gregory, 68
236 Catharine Clayton, 72
55 Catharine Maria, 56
79 Charles Bright, 59
180 Charles Dallas, 68
43 Charles Ebenezer, 1, 3, 4, 5,
20, 42, 54
54 Charles Walter Houghton, 56
78 Cora May, 59
209 Dorotha Scripture, 70
1 Ebenezer, 1 -47 passim, 49
2 Ebenezer, Jr., 1 1, 17, 20, 21, 22,
26, 30, 36, 39, 40, 48, 49
17 Ebenezer, 3d, 51
167 Ebenezer Alspaugh, 67
S3 Ebenezer Bancroft, 56
77 Ebenezer Boynton, 59
129 Eben Clayton, 64
196 Eddie Margaret, 69
7 HILL, Edward, Stearns, 17, 18, 19,
20, 22,23, 24,25,26, 27, 28,
29* 30. 33. 36, 37. 38, 39. 49
49 Edward Stearns, Jr., 33, 55
20 Edward Stearns, 52
235 Elise Bancroft, 72
16 Elizabeth Mary, 51
19 Emily Ann, 40, 52
83 Emily Hough, 60
152 Frances Augusta, 66
71 Francis Lewis, 58
152 Grace Rebecca, 66
52 Harlan Page, 56
46 Harriet, 54
164 Helen Frances, 67
73 Henry Edward, 59
Isaac, 19
44 Isaac Brown, 54
42 Isaac Parker, 54
21 James Bryan, 52
170 James Bryan, 67
5 John Boynton, 12, 14, 17, 18,
19,20, 21,22, 23,25,2 7, 29,
30,3L33. 34,35, 37. 38, 39,
42, 48
72 John Boynton, 1,3, 13,47,51,58
128 John Philip, 63
165 John Timothy, 67
48 Joseph Adna, 55
6 Joseph Bancroft, 14, 17, 18, 19
20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30
36, 37, 38, 39, 40,41, 48, 49
5i
130 (Joseph) Bancroft, 64
171 Joseph Bancroft, 68
45 Joseph Edward, 54
150 Kate Agnes, 65
84 Kate Eldridge, 60
Lelia, 56
131 Lewis Lang, 64
12 Lucy Sylvania, 18, 24, 28, 29,
30, 50
50 Lucy Sylvania, 55
Luther Nathan, 61
82 Maggie Bearden, 59
86 Maggie Sue, 60
131 Margaret Rebecca, 68
10 Maria, 17, 24, 29, 33, 34, 50
14 Martha, 22, 24, 31, 33, 34, 36,
37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 50
Mary, 19
123 Mary Anna, 64
80 Mary Bryan, 59
151 Mary Emma, 65
75 Mary Emily, 59
166 Mary Margaret, 67
169 Mary Ruth, 67
8o
Index of Persons
3 HILL, Polly, n, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24,
33. 35. 39, 48
Polly (Boynton), 12, 47
87 Oscar J., 60
Rebecca, 19
173 Rebekah Eustis, 68
Rebekah (Bancroft-Howard),
13, 15, 47
8 Rebekah Howard, 17, 18, 24,
26, 3°, 33, 35, 36, 39, 42,
43, 50
195 Robert E. Lee, 69
4 Sally, ii, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25,
3L 33, 39, 48
Sally, 19
Samuel, 9, 15, 47, 48
Samuel, Jr., 9, 11, 15, 19, 22
Samuel, 3d, 19
22 Sarah Catharine Houghton, 52
Sarah (Cutler), 9, 15, 17, 18
234 Susan Carroll, 72
15 Timothy, 24, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38,
39, 40, 41, 51, 58
11 Timothy Jones, 18, 29, 50
85 Walter Vance, 60
Wilford Alvoid, 61
47 William Bancroft, 3, 54
76 William Brown, 59
88 William Ernest, 60
194 William Henry, 69
23 William Joseph, 52
HODGMAN, Buckley, 50
Edwin Ruthven, 38, 40, 49, 50,
58
67 Edwin (Ruthven Hill), 40, 42,
58
George B., 58
69 Harriet, 34, 42, 43, 58
68 James Fletcher, 58
70 Martha Hill, 58
259 HOFFMAN, Florence Evelyn, 73
261 Grace Hill, 73
John, 66
260 John William, 73
249 HOLLIDAY, Catharine Hough¬
ton, 73
Edward, 65
246 Edward Charles, 73
247 Ethel, 73
John, 75
248 Ruth, 73
HOLMAN, Susan, 60
HOSMER, Lucy, 50
HOUGH, Ephraim, 52
James Edwin, 52
HOUGHTON, Catharine, 27, 28, 49
Jason, 27, 49
HOWARD, Rebecca, 47
Rebecca (Bancroft), 13, 17, 47
Samuel, 47
HUBBARD, Sarah, 48
HUMPHREYS, Georgiana Eliza¬
beth, 62
Hiram, 62
IVISON, David B., 57
Sarah Ann, 57
JOHNSON, Willis, 24
JONES, Abigail, 16
Betsy, 18, 20
Dallas J., 59
Edna, 59
Mary Sylvania, 36
Polly, 16, 47
Rebecca (Bateman), 18
Samuel, 58
Timothy, 16, 18, 47, 48, 58
Timothy, Jr., 16
KEGELMANN, Christian, 66
258 Franklin Hill, 73
256 Grace Adelaide, 73
Jacob, 66
257 Mildred, 73
KIDD, Archibald Erskine, 70
291 Yz Mary Kirk, 75
KIDDER, Rev. - , 13
KIMBALL, Isaac, 50
John, 28, 29, 50
57 John Edward, 56
59 Maria Frances, 33, 56
KING, Ann Eliza, 53
KINSMAN, Helen N., 58
John, 58
KIRBY, Augustus M., 64
KIRK, May, 62
Robert T., 62
Sarah, 62
KNORR, Vinton Stuart, 73
KORBACH, Henry, 73
LANE, Lucy Rebecca, 53
LANGLOIS, C. A., 72
Margaret Frances, 72
LEIGH, Mary, 66
LINDSLEY, Mary Emma, 56
LOWELL, Fred, 60
LUND, Sophia, 52
McAULEY, Catharine Jane, 72
McCOY, Frances Moale, 64
James Espy, 64
McNAIRY, John Calhoun, 56
MAGOON, Maria, 52
MANLY, Capt. - , 10
MERRIAM, Aaron Brooks, 66
Index of
62 MERRIAM, Abbie Caroline, 5 7
59 Adeliza Frances, 57
Alfred Brooks, 66
218 Anna Louise, 71
65 Annie Louise, 57
35 Artemas, 53
Benjamin Wheeler, 30, 33, 38,
5°. 57
40 Charles Ellery, 54
1 19 Charles Enoch, 62
215 Charles Fred. Otis, 70
37 Ebenezer Hill, 53
297 Eleanor, 75
Elisha Jones, 53
64 Emma Rebecca, 57
220 Ethel Agnes, 71
Ezra, 48
296 Flora Elizabeth, 75
294 George Clement, 75
41 George Parker, 54
219 Harriet Eleanor, 71
61 Harriet Wheeler, 57
63 Henry Everett, 57
293 John Leander, 75
Josiah, 20, 33, 48
1 18 Leander Otis, 62
60 Maria Hill, 57
36 Polly Boynton, 53
216 Raymond Fogg, 70
217 Robert Stanley, 71
Samuel, 50
Sarah Caroline, 53
39 Sarah Elizabeth, 54
120 Sarah Louise, 62
66 Sarah Wheeler, 57
295 Virginia Agnes, 75
38 William Bancroft, 53
MILES, Noah, 32
MILHOUS, Holman C., 60
189 Holman Cannon, 68
187 John Philip, 68
188 Margaret Hill, 68
W. A., 60
MILLETT, Bertha M., 63
Orrin, 63
MINER, Emeline Louise, 62
George Rand, 62
MORRISON, Amy H., 69
NEELY, Elizabeth, 48
NELSON, Helen Maria, 58, 59
233 OAK, Aimee, 72
226 Alfred Henry, 72
310 Alan Ben, 76
Benjamin Hastings, 54
308 Dorothy Marie, 76
123 Edward Merriam, 63
231 Edward, 72
Persons 81
307 OAK, Elinor Buel, 76
312 Eugene Kent, 76
230 Harold Lebbeus, 72
121 Henry Lebbeus, 62
229 Irving, 72
309 Joan, 76
Lebbeus, 54
228 Liston Merriam, 72
227 Lyndon Hewitt, 72
125 Mary Elizabeth, 63
124 Ora, 63
136 Orman, 63
31 1 Orman Haskell, 76
232 Ralph Lane, 72
122 Sarah Adeliza, 63
265 O’CONNOR, Elizabeth Franklin,
74
John A., 67
266 Sarah Patricia Franklin, 74
Thomas H., 67
PARKER, Achsah, 29, 31, 49
Isaac, 31, 49
PAYSON, Seth, 6, 47
POWERS, Lillian, 60
PRATT, Benanuel, 50
Betsy, 50
57 Ebenezer Hill, 34, 56
Oliver Hosmer, 29, 33, 34, 36,
37. 38> 50
READ, Lucretia Nancy, 61
REED, Andrew, 35, 37
RICHARDSON, Charles Parker,
19
Jane Sophronia, 50
Jonathan, 19
RIPLEY, Rose A., 54
William, 54
ROBBINS, - , 18
ROGERS, Mary Grafton, 64
ROSS, Fred P., 63
RUNKLE, Eleanor Winslow, 67
John D., 67
SAHLER, Abraham, 57
Daniel DuBois, 5 7
158 Emma Frances, 66
159 Florence Louise, 66
160 Helen G., 67
157 Henry Hasbrouck, 66
SANDISON, Charlotte J., 61
SAUNDERS, Sally, 54
SAUVE, Edna, 73
Frank, 73
SAWYER, Lura, 72
SCHWAERER, Catharine Guest,
54
1 12 SCRIPTURE, Anna Bertha, 61
82
Index of Persons
116 SCRIPTURE, Arthur Percy, 62
Charles, 53
1 13 Clayton Orrin, 61
213 Dorothy Kirk, 70
115 Edward Wheeler, 62
212 Edward Wheeler, Jr., 70
211 Elsa, 70
110 Frank Percy, 61
1 14 Fred. Percy, 62
George W., 53
hi Herbert Everett, 61
109 Josephine Maria, 61
117 Mary Josephine, 62
Orrin Murray, 53
210 Winifred, 70
SEAVER, Minnie Belle, 60
SECOR, Chauncey Tompkins, 70
SEWARD, Eleanor Wilson, 54
Robert, 54
SHOFNER, Eugene Forest, 59
184 James Newton, 68
185 Margaret Hill, 68
186 Phoebe Page, 68
William L., 59
SIMONS, Abbie Pollard, 51
SIMKINS, John, 73
SIMPSON, Charlotte Helen, 66
Robert W., 66
SMITH, Hannah, 54
STEARNS, Abigail (Jones), 16
Edward, Jr., 16, 47
Edward, 3d, 16, 47
STEEN, Ethel, 70
John, 70
SWANSON, Julius, 73
SWIFT, Caroline, 64
TAYLOR, Catharine Leigh, 66
William, 66
THOMPSON, - , 11, 36
TOWLE, Georgiana, 63
TOWNE, - , 21
TRENT, Flora, 71
TUFTS, George D., 54
Priscilla, 54
UNDERHILL, Charles F., 71
Ethel, 71
VANDEVORT, Mabel, 71
Walter, 71
WARNER, Catharine, 50
Ruth, 50
WEBBER, Prudence, 53
WELLS, Margaret E., 61
WENTWORTH, Hannah Ma¬
thilda, 66
WEYERHAEUSER, Elise, 55
Frederick, 55
33 WHEELER, Abbie Maria, 53
92 Addie Laura, 60
103 Ann Maria, 61
94 Charles Henry, 60
89 Clara Ann, 60
100 Clarence Boynton, 61
25 Ebenezer, 52
Ebenezer Boynton, 53
31 Edward Boynton, 31
105 Everett Dexter, 61
97 Flora Annjeanette, 60
99 Frank Eddy, 61
93 Fred Campbell, 60
101 Fred. Dexter, 61
91 Fred. Martin, 60
98 George Arthur, 61
96 Harriet Maria, 60
107 Henry Everett, 61
90 Horace Boynton, 60
207 Ines Elizabeth, 70
32 Joseph Bancroft, 53
Lucy, 50
208 Marian Sandison, 70
27 Mary, 52
34 Mary Frances, 53
203 Maude Frances, 69
104 Robert Chester, 61
24 Samuel Hubbard, 38, 52
Timothy, 20, 48
28 Timothy, 52
29 Timothy, Jr., 53
26 William, 52
30 William, 53
108 William, 61
100 William Boynton, 61
102 William Everett, 61
WHITTEMORE, Alice Vaud, 66
Frederick H., 66
Charles, 56
154 Charles Erving, 66
262 Charles William, 74
Dexter, 56
156 Frances Maria, 66
155 William John, 66
WHORLEY, Luella, 68
William H., 68
WILDE, Catharine, 49
193 WILLIAMS, Hubert Howard, 69
John I., 60
197 Oscar Raymond, 69
199 Walter Lee, 69
WOOD, James, Jr., 20
WOODBURY, Charles Jeptha
Hill, 19
J. Porter, 19
WRIGHT, Betsy, 56
WYETH, Dorcas, 91
YOUNG, Elizabeth, 70