William Hills, of Hartford

Summary:

Relationships:

Parents:

• Father: Thomas Hills (unconfirmed)
• Mother: Jane Scarborough (unconfirmed)

Siblings:

• None known.

Spouses and Children:

• First Wife: Phillis Lyman (11 September 1611 - 1648)
  • 1. Sarah Hills (b. c1638, m1. John Ward, m2. after 1684 Stephen Davis)
  • 2. William Hills (b. Fall 1640, m before 1665 Sarah)
  • 3. John Hills (b. c1644, m. c1678 Mary)
• Second Wife: Mary MNU (Widow of Richard Risley, d. 1655 from childbirth)
  • 1. Joseph Hills (b. c1649, baptized 17 March 1649, m1. before 1676 Hannah Edwards, m2. c1699 Mehitable Hinsdale, widow of Dickinson, m3. before 1703 Elizabeth.)
  • 2. Susannah Hills (b. c1651, m. John Kilborn in Wethersfield 4 March 1673, d. 23 October 1701 in Glastonbury)
  • 3. Benjamin Hills (b. c1653, m. Mary Bronson in Wethersfield 11 January 1668)
  • 4. Benoni Hills (c1655 - after 8 July 1659 when treated by John Winthrop, Jr.)
• Third Wife: Mary Warner (1626 - after Febuary 1681 when she is named in husband's will)
  • 1. Abraham Hills (Late 1656 - after 14 March 1659, date of last record)
  • 2. Hannah Hills (b. c 6 December 1658, m. c1677 Thomas Kilborn, first child born same year)
  • 3. Mary Hills (b. c1660 - after 25 February 1681, date of last record)
  • 4. Jonathan Hills (b. c1664, m. Dorothy Hale before 1668 - first child on 22 July, d. 29 September 1727)
  • 5. Hester Hills (b. cMarch 1667, d. before 25 February 1681)

Basic Information:

Birth: Circa November 1598 - Upminster, Essex, England, (Present UK)

Baptism: 27 December 1598 - Upminster, Essex, England, (Present UK) ... based on Jacobus

Marriages:

• First Marriage: 14 May 1634 - Phyllis Lyman (Unsourced information from Bill Lyman, sourced alternate is before 1638, location unspecified.)
• Second Marriage: Late 1648 - Mary (MNU) Risley, widow of Richard Risley.
• Third Marriage: Circa 1656 - Mary Warner (widow of John Steele)

Death: July 1683 - Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony, (Present USA) ... based on date of inventory.

Burial: Unknown.

Occupation:

• Immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632 on board the William and Francis (passage from London to Saugus on March 9 to May 26 Julian calendar under Master Thomas, one of 60 passengers that included preacher John Wilson, Rev. Stephen Bachiler, Rev. Thomas James, and Rev. Thomas Welde),
• Probably assigned at Saugus to be a servant to Reverend John Eliot, who arrives at Boston on the ship "Lyon" on November 2 (with Governor Winthrop's family). Rev. Eliot is selected to go to Roxbury on December 2 as Thomas Oliver becomes Ruling Elder in the now dominant town of Boston. William Hills apparently follows Rev. Eliot to Roxbury at this time, given that he is said to have settled there in 1632.
• 14 May 1634, one of 12 Roxbury residents to become Freemen.
• February 1636, defects from Rev. Eliot's Roxbury and joins up with Rev. Thomas Hooker's party to settle a new colony on the Connecticut River called Hartford. Rev. Eliot, who later becomes famous for translating the Bible into Algonquin and ministering to the Praying Indians, never forgives Hills for the defection.
• 14 June 1636, Rev. Hooker's party of about 100 arrives after a 2-week trek from present Cambridge at present Hartford (called Newtowne, the same name as was given to early Cambridge); included in this party is William Hills. Each family builds their own home, then a communal meeting house is built before winter. A month later, the Pequot War breaks out on the coast. Still, by next spring, the colony grows to about 800 people in three towns (Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor).
• 23 April 1637, after Sachem Sowheag's attack on Wethersfield, the colonists arm themselves and prepare to counterattack the Pequot. Captain John Mason levies 90 men, including 42 from Hartford. William Hill's history doesn't mention military service in this war, so he was probably one of the men who stayed behind to defend the colony from a raiding party of several hundred Pequot warriors (an assertion later borne out by his being described as a man with "some military talent"). By the end of the summer, Sachem Sassacus is captured and the Pequot are quelled in what was effectively the first North American Indian war.
• By February 1640, significant land owner according to the Hartford land survey.
• 29 January 1644, begins to serve as Hartford constable.
• 1648, after the death of his first wife, marries the Widow Risley and relocates to Hockanum, where he farms for the remainder of his life (to 1683).

Alternate names: William Hills, William Hill.

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CHILDREN:

• ----------
• Full text of "The Risley family history, including records of some of the early English Risleys' a geneaology of the descendants of Richard Risley, of Newtown (Cambridge), Massachusetts (1633), and of Hartford, Connecticut (1636); an account of the family reunion at Hartford, August 3, 1904, and a list of the founders of the commonwealth of Connectucut;"
• http://www.archive.org/stream/risleyfamilyhist00lcrisl/risleyfamily...
• In the book of distribution of property in Hartford it is stated: " Samuel Wrislea, son of Richard Wrislea, bap. Nov. 1, 1645. Richard Risla bap. Aug. 2, 1648." These baptisms occurred in the First Church of Hartford. Richard and Mary, his wife, lived on the east of the " Great River."
• October, 1648, Richard, sr., died at Hockanum, leaving his wife and three children surviving. December 7, 1648, an inventory of his estate, amounting to 135£ 5s. lOd., was filed in court. ..............
• Richard Risley was married about 1640 to Mary , who was probably born in England.
• After the death of her husband, Richard, she became the second or third wife of Will Hill (Hills), who was also one of the landed proprietors of Hartford. He lived at Hockanum, on the east side of the " Great River," and was possessed of some military talent.
• The date of the death of Mary Risley Hill is probably prior to 1680.
• The proof of the marriage of Mary with Mr. Hill (Hills) is found in the inventory of Richard Risley's estate and the book of distribution in the Hartford clerk's office, p. 219, it is recorded that on Feb. 26, 1680, Thomas Bunse bought land of Wm. Hill in Podunk Swamp, which formerly belonged to Richard Risley and came to said Hill by right of his wife Mary, " relict of said Risley." The land was a part of the early undivided lands belonging to Richard Risley and others of Hartford.
• Richard and Mary Risley had three children:
  • 2 Sarah.
  • 3 Samuei..
  • 4 Richard.
• Who after Richard's death were reared in the family of Wm. Hill, who married Mary Risley.
• _______________
• 'The Society of the Descendents of the Founders of Hartford
• http://www.foundersofhartford.org/founders/risley_richard.htm
• The Founders of Hartford
• 'Richard Risley (Wrigley), an original proprietor of Hartford; his home-lot in 1639 was on the west side of the road from George Steel's to the Great Swamp. He afterward went to Hockanum, and settled near Willow Brook. He d. about 1648; inv. £135. 5. 10. His widow m. William Hills, who agreed to bring up the children to read and write, and to give them their several portions.-Ch.: i. Sarah, b. about 1641. ii. Samuel, bapt. Nov. 1, 1646; freeman, May 20,1668 ; d. July 8, 1670, a'. 23 yrs. 8 mos. iii. Richard, bapt. Aug. 21, 1648; freeman, 1669; lived in Hockanum, married and had seven children, and through them had numerous descendants in East Hartford.
• ________________________
• The Hills family in America; the ancestry and descendants of William Hills, the English emigrant to New England in 1632; of Joseph Hills, the English emigrant to New England in 1638, and of the great-grandsons of Robert Hills, of the parish of Wye, county of Kent, England, emigrants to New England 1794-1806"
• http://www.archive.org/details/hillsfamilyiname00hill
• http://www.archive.org/stream/hillsfamilyiname00hill#page/3/mode/1up
• It has been generally accepted as a fact that Mary, the widow of the emigrant of 1632, was his second wife, but it appears by probate records that she had two predecessors. The distribution of the estate of Thomas Bunce shows that one parcel of real estate, about four acres on the east side of the great river, had been bought by the decedent of William Hills, and that the lot was " formerly Richard Risley's, and came to said Hills by right of his wife relict of said Risley, as appears by a writing under said Hills hand, dated Feb. 26, 1680," witnessed by James Steele and Thomas Watts. The inventory of the Risley estate was filed October 17, 1648. The court records show there were three children, the eldest less than eight years old, "William Hill bringing them up and giving security to the court " for their several portions of their father's estate.
• The wife who probably survived William Hills was, before her last marriage, Mary, the widow of John Steele, Junior, who died about 1653 leaving two sons, John and Samuel. The inventory of his estate was taken March 11, 1654. The Warner genealogy states that Mary, daughter of Andrew Warner, of Hadley, Mass., married John Steele, January 22, 1646, and that her second husband was William Hill, of Hartford. When the widow Steele again became a wife is unknown. It was before the 25th of January, 1669, for at that date the Steele estate was settled, and in the instrument of distribution she is referred to as Mary Hill, and William Hill, her husband, " having taken upon himself to administer the estate, is to make good to the children as they come of age." That her second husband was William Hills, of Hartford, and that she was living some twelve years later, appear from the will of the emigrant of 1632, which is dated February 21, 1681, in which he refers to the revenues of the lands in Farmington as those he has " right unto by and in right of my wife," and provides that they be " demanded and received " for her. She probably was the mother of Jonathan ( born about 1664 ), youngest son of the emigrant. .......
• http://www.archive.org/stream/hillsfamilyiname00hill#page/4/mode/1up
• 1. William1, born in England came in ship " Lyon," arrived in Boston, September, 1632; probably died at Hartford, 1683, where his will was probated, December 6 of that year. Married 1st, Phillis Lyman, daughter of Richard and Sarah (Osborne) Lyman who emigrated from High Onger, Essex County, England, in 1631. He married, 2d, the widow of Richard Risley, who died prior to October 17, 1648, the date of the inventory of his estate. The date of her death is unknown. He married, 3d, Mary, widow of John Steele, Jr., of Farmington, who died there, 1653-4, daughter of Andrew Warner of Hadley, Hampshire Co., Mass., who was living in 1681.
• http://www.archive.org/stream/hillsfamilyiname00hill#page/5/mode/1up
• Children of William Hills, the emigrant of whom record has been found :
  • 2. William, b. Hartford, about 1646; d. (Savage says buried at Hartford, Aug. 15, 1693).
  • 3. John, b. Hartford, about 1648; d. (buried April 5, 1692).
  • 4. Joseph, bapt. March 17, 1650; d. Glastonbury, Conn., Nov. 8, 1713.
  • 5. Benjamin, b. Hartford, — ; d. Hartford (not before 1726, not after 1728).
  • 6. Susannah, b. " 1651; d. — Oct., 1701.
  • 7. Mary, b. Hartford (Porter Gen. says 1654); d. — .
  • 8. Lt. Jonathan, b. Hartford, about 1665; d. Hartford, Sept. 29, 1727.
  • 9. Hannah, b. Hartford, — ; d. before Oct., 1712.
  • 10. Sarah, b. " — ; d. Newark, N. J., 1691.
• ____________________
• was along with Rev. Thomas Hooker - Original Proprietors of Hartford
• --------------------
• arrived 1632 in Roxbury on "William & Francis"
• --------------------

A Massachusetts Bay First Settler. Came over as a single man, servant of a Rev. Eliot in 1632 on the William & Mary. I wonder why he decided to make the voyage. Ended up in Roxbury, Connecticut. He apparently did not pass this life in good standing with some churchmen of the town, since he is said to have died "without giving such good satisfaction to the consciences of the saints." This may have been because he left his servanthood to Rev Eliot to join the Hooker party, and Rev. Eliot did not reconcile to the defection.

But the records suggest he was reasonably responsible manager of his life and property.

from Encyclopedia of Connecticut Biography: Genealogical-memorial, Representative ... By American Historical Society, Samuel Hart :

The family ... is an old and highly respected one in Connecticut, where the members thereof have resided since the very beginning of the colony's history. The founder of the Hills family in this country was William Hills, who set sail from England, his native land, for the

American colonies in the year 1632, and was one of the party which, under the Rev. Thomas Hooker, founded the city of Hartford in the wilderness.

On May 31st 1636, the entire company turned their backs on the Massachusetts Bay Colony, leaving behind nothing to be desired and betook themselves through a trackless wilderness on foot to the locality now occupied by the city of Hartford, reaching their destination in about a month. A treaty was consummated with the Indians for a tract of land, embracing the present city of Hartford and the adjoining towns of East Manchester and East and West Hartford.

William Hills removed to Hockanum, Connecticut, and his death occurred there in July, 1683 (see list of original proprietors of Hartford, Trumbull's History, Hartford County, Volume I, page 245).

I get the impression that, like many immigrants from England, it is hard to verify the details of his origin in England.

from http://members.aol.com/tlnnash/williamhills.html :

The Great Migration Begins

Sketches

WILLIAM HILLS

• ORIGIN: Unknown
• MIGRATION: 1632 on the William & Francis [Hotten 149]
• FIRST RESIDENCE: Roxbury
• REMOVES: Hartford 1636
• CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Roxbury church records: "William Hills, a man servant, he came over in the year 1632. He married Phillice Lyman, the daughter of Richard Liman. He removed to Conecticott, where he lived several years, without giving such good satisfaction to the consciences of the saints" [RChR 77].
• FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 (eleventh in a sequence of twelve Roxbury men) [MBCR 1:368]. "Will[ia]m Hills Sen[io]r" was in the October 1669 list of freemen on the south side in Hartford [CCCR 2:519].
• EDUCATION: Signed his will.
• OFFICES: Appointed Hartford constable, 29 January 1643/4 [HaTR 69].

On 18 May 1653 Connecticut General Court ordered that the "inhabitants of the east side of the Great River are exempted from training with the towns on the west side, this present time, & are to meet on the east side as Will[iam] Hill shall appoint & train there together, and so to continue on their training days until the Court take further order: & Will[iam] Hill is to return the names of those that do not meet according to appointment, as notice shall be given them" [CCCR 1:240-41].

ESTATE: In the Hartford land inventory of February 1639[/40] "William Hills" held nine parcels of land, six of which were granted to him: one acre and one rood with dwelling house, outhouses, yards and gardens; seven acres of upland; nine acres of upland; one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; another one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; one acre and one rood in the South Meadow; five hundred seventeen acres of upland in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore"; ten acres of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore"; and three acres, two roods and twenty-nine rods of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Frances Andrews" [HaBOP 262-64]. At the end of this list of parcels is an additional entry, undated: "W[illia]m Hill doth grant to W[illia]m Hill his son, to John Hill, Joseph Hill, Benjamin Hill & Thomas Kilborn, that they their heirs & successors shall forever have free liberty to pass through the said W[illia]m Hill's lot from the highway on the east to Hoccanum Meadow on the west on the south side of W[illia]m Hill's lot, to pass with cart & horse according as they shall have occasion" [HaBOP 264].

In his will, dated 25 February 1680/1 and brought to court sometime in 1683, "William Hills Senior of Hocanum within the township of Hartford ... being weak in body through old age" made "my loving wife Mary Hills and my son Jonathan Hills" joint executors; "my wife shall have the use and improvement of the one half of my housing and lands that I now live in and upon and the one half of all my stock cattle and moveables during her natural life, which said lands are eight acres on the east side of my dwelling house and eighteen acres on the west side of my said house, also the use and improvement of one half of seventeen rods of unimproved lands and eight acres ... [at] the three mile lots during her natural life"; to "my son Jonathan Hills" the other full half "and after my wife's decease ... that land left in his hands to my son Jonathan Hills ... with all the cattle stock and moveables"; "that my son Jonathan behave himself suitably to his mother after my death, hoping she will encourage him that he may so do"; any disagreements to be settled by the overseers; two-thirds of a twenty-five rod lot to "my daughter Mary Hills"; the other third to "my daughter Hanna Kilbern"; land in the south division "which I have not yet taken up" to "my daughter Mary"; a parcel of sixscore acres near the end of the Three Mile lots to "my son William Hills, to my son John Hills, to my son Joseph Hills, and to my son Benjamin Hills, to my daughter Sarah Ward and to my daughter Suzanah Kilburn" in equal proportions; "at the death of my son William Hill, that proportion ... I give and bequeath to my grandson the eldest son of my son William who is of the same name"; "one year after the death of my wife Mary Hills, that my son Jonathan Hills shall pay out of the estate ... £10 to my daughter Mary Hills"; in case of son Jonathan's death before the death of "my wife and without issue", overseers to distribute "to my surviving children according to their good and sound discretion"; "my loving friends Major John Talcott, Mr. Jonathan Gilbert and Corporal John Gilbert" overseers with power of survivorship; the revenues of the lands in Farmington "that I have right unto by and in right of my wife that it be duly demanded and received for the help of my wife" [Hartford PD Case #2724].

The inventory of the estate of William Hills Senior, deceased, was taken in July 1683 and totalled £274 2d. [so stated, but incorrectly summed], including real estate valued at £259 14s.: "the dwelling house and half the barn," £42; "thirty-one acres of upland fenced in & improved," £196; "two hundred seventeen acres of land," £21 14s.; and "more upland lying near the widow Andrews we are not informed how many acres," no value stated [Hartford PD Case #2724].

• ---
• BIRTH: By about 1607 based on estimated date of marriage. (Jacobus suggested that he may be that William Hills baptized at Upminster, Essex, on 27 December 1598, son of Thomas Hills; the age is not far off and Upminster is near High Ongar, the home of his future wife [Ackley-Bosworth 144].)
• DEATH: Hartford by July 1683 (date of inventory).
• MARRIAGE: (1) By about 1638 Phyllis Lyman, daughter of RICHARD LYMAN. Eliot reports that "she came to the land with her father anno 1631. God wrought upon her heart in this Land, she grew deaf which disease increasing was a great affliction to her, she was married to William Hills & lived with him at Hartford on Conecticot" [RChR 78].
• (2) Late 1648 Mary (_____) Risley, widow of Richard Risley [TAG 25:233; Manwaring 1:31]; she died about 1655, presumably at or shortly after the birth of her son Benoni.
• (3) Late 1655 or early 1656 Mary (Warner) Steele, widow of John Steele (son of JOHN STEELE) and daughter of ANDREW WARNER; she died after February 1680[/1] (when she is named in her husband's will).

CHILDREN:

With first wife

• *1. i SARAH, b. say 1638; m. (1) by an uncertain date John Ward; m. (2) after 1684 Stephen Davis (see COMMENTS below). (In her will of 27 March 1691 Sarah Davis bequeathed to "my son Josiah and his heirs twenty acres of land at Hockanum, which was given to me by my father's will" [Mulford Anc 261]. This matches precisely a bequest of twenty acres to "my daughter Sarah Ward" by William Hills.)
  • 2. ii WILLIAM, b. about 1640 (aged seventeen and a half on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged eighteen on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. by about 1665 Sarah _____ ("Hill, Sarah 2½ y: daughter of Willia[m] Hill Junior of Hockanu[m]," 27 February 1667/8 [WMJ 788]).
  • 3. iii JOHN, b. about 1644 (aged thirteen on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged "above thirteen" on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. by about 1678 Mary _____ [Hale, House 581-82; TAG 69:178].

With second wife (our line):

• *4. iv JOSEPH (our line), bp. 17 March 1649 [HaVR 581] (aged eight on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged nine on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. (1) by about 1676 Hannah Edwards [NEHGR 149:41-45]; m. (2) about 1699 Mehitable (Hinsdale) Dickinson [Hale, House 586]; m. (3) by about 1703 Elizabeth _____ [Hale, House 585].
  • 5. v SUSANNAH, b. about 1651 (aged six on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged seven on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]; d. Glastonbury 23 October 1701 in her 50th year [Hale, House 657]); m. Wethersfield 4 March 1673[/4] John Kilborn [WetVR Barbour 174 (surname of bride not given); Hale, House 657].
  • 6. vi BENJAMIN, b. about 1653 (aged four on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged five on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. Wethersfield 11 January 1688[/9] Mary Bronson [TAG 39:120-21].
  • 7. vii BENONI, b. about 1655 (aged two and three-quarters on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged four years on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); treated by John Winthrop Jr. on 8 July 1659 [WMJ 163]; no further record.

With third wife

• *8. viii ABRAHAM, b. late in 1656 (aged one on 23 February 1657/8 [WMJ 87]; aged two and a quarter on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); no further record.
  • 9. ix HANNAH, b. Hartford about 6 December 1658 ("Hill, William, his wife, hath been delivered about ten days, hath now great cough," 16 December 1658 [WMJ 131]; "Hill, Hanna, 1½," 26 August 1660 [WMJ 216]); m. by about 1677 Thomas Kilborn (eldest child was born about 1677 [Hale, House 658-59]).
  • 10. x MARY, b. say 1660; living unmarried on 25 February 1680/1; no further record.
  • 11. xi JONATHAN, b. about 1664 (aged 4½ on 6 May 1669 [WMJ 910], and deposed aged twenty-eight on 1 September 1692 [Manwaring 1:466]; but d. 29 September 1727 aged sixty-one [Hale, House 591]); m. by 1688 Dorothy Hale (eldest child bp. 22 July 1688 [Hale, House 8, 591-93]), daughter of Samuel and Mary (Smith) Hale [Hale, House 8, 608-09]..
  • 12. xii HESTER, b. about 1667 ("Hill, Hester, 3/4 y: daughter of Willia[m] Hill Senior," 7 January 1667/8 [WMJ 773]); not named in father's will, 25 February 1680/1.

ASSOCIATIONS: Edward Harrison by a nuncupative will in 1650 gave William Hills his chest and contents because Hills "was his countryman and that he had no other that he knew in the country" [RPCC 81; Manwaring 1:123].

COMMENTS: Pope has mingled some records relating to WILLIAM HILL of Dorchester and Windsor in his account of William Hills of Roxbury and Hartford.

Jacobus included in his account of this family a listing of children who were treated on one day in 1658 by John Winthrop Junior, comprising children by all three of his wives, as well as children of his second and third wives by their first husbands [Hale, House 580]. This list omits the daughter Susannah, who was in the original. The Winthrop medical records also contain a similar list from about a year earlier, and many other entries on this family, many, but not all, of which are incorporated in the present treatment.

These lists of children treated by Winthrop provide part of the evidence identifying the second and third wives of William Hills. In the probate of the estate of Richard Risley, on 7 December 1648, William Hills is required to post bond for the payment of legacies to the Risley children and to provide for their education [Manwaring 1:31], thus completing the identification of the second wife of William Hills. In the case of the third wife, we have the bequest in the will of ANDREW WARNER, on 18 June 1681, of ten shillings to "my daughter Hills" [Hale, House 580].

The eldest child of William Hills, Sarah, is here assigned a birth date of about 1638, some years younger than that proposed by most other writers. She married first John Ward of Branford, and if she was the mother of all his children she must have married him by about 1651 (assuming that his first child was Sarah, born at Branford on 22 March 1651[/2] [TAG 12:102]; there were two John Wards having children in Branford in the 1650s and early 1660s). Since her parents cannot have married until 1633, Sarah Hills could not have been born until 1634 at the earliest, and would have been sixteen or seventeen at marriage to John Ward. And if this is the case, there would be a gap of six years until the birth of the second child of William Hills.

There seem to be two possibilities: William and Phyllis (Lyman) Hills did have daughter Sarah in 1634, and then no other children until about 1640, and Sarah did marry John Ward at the age of about sixteen; or Sarah Hills was not born until about 1638, and she was the second wife of John Ward. We have chosen the latter option, and recommend further research on the two John Wards of Branford and Newark.

On 4 June 1640 William Hill of Hartford was fined £4 for "buying a stolen piece of Mr. Plum's man and breaking open the cobbler's hogshead & pack" [RPCC 12]. It must have been actions such as these that earned for Hill the description given by John Eliot as "without giving such good satisfaction to the consciences of the saints."

On 25 January 1650 servant Richard Harrow was assigned over to "Will[iam] Hill of Hartford" for his remaining time by "Tho[mas] Allcott of Hartford" [RPCC 121]. On 7 June 1655 "Will[iam] Hill" sued Edward Andrews over the loss of a mare [RPCC 143].

Inasmuch as they involve Hartford men, two additional items probably also pertain to this William Hills: He sued Peter Bassaker for an undisclosed cause December 1644 [RPCC 30]. Richard Fellows sued him for 39s. on 24 April 1649, but Hill failed to appear and lost the case [RPCC 62, 63; CCCR 1:181].

On 18 February 1675/6 the Council reported that the "enemy having come to Hoccanum and shot at W[illia]m Hill and sorely wounded him, the Council sent forth a party of soldiers to make search for the enemy" [CCCR 2:410]; later inquiry identified the Indian who shot Hill, and assaulted other English men [CCCR 2:472, 479]. This was almost certainly the son of the immigrant rather than the immigrant himself.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: The best treatment of the family of William Hills was prepared by Donald Lines Jacobus in 1952 [Hale, House 579-611]. Although more recent research has augmented and revised his findings in some places, we rely heavily on several of his identifications, and in these instances refer the reader to the detailed arguments made by Jacobus, and the evidence he marshalled in support of his conclusions.

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Biographical Summary:

Williah Hills, an original proprietor; his home-lot in 1639 was on the corner of the highways now Front and Sheldon streets. He is supposed to have been the William Hills who came in the "Lion" in 1632; freeman, Massachusetts, May 14,1634; married (1) Phillis, daughter of Richard Lyman; removed to Hartford; chosen constable, 1644; removed early to Hockanum, where it is a well-accepted tradition that he was one of the first settlers. He was captain of the first trainband on the east side of the river, in 1653; made freeman 1669; he was shot by the Indians in the beginning of King Philip's War, 1675; he married (2) Mary, widow of John Steele, Jr., of Farmington, and daughter of Andrew Warner, of Hartford; but he married, for 2nd or 3rd wife, the widow of Richard Risley.2 Died July, 1683; inventory £274. 3; will, dated February 25, 1681-2, names wife Mary and children; mentions lands in Farmington that he has a right unto by right of his wife.

Children:

i. Mary

ii. Hannah, married Sargent Thomas Kilbourn, of East Hartford,

iii. William, proposed freeman, May, 1668; buried at Hartford, August 15, 1693; left seven children.

iv. John, buried at Hartford, April 5, 1692, leaving wife and 2 daughters

v. Joseph; his descendants reside in Glastonbury,

vi. Benjamin, married Jan. 11, 1688, Mary, daughter of John Bronson.

vii. Sarah, married William Ward, of Middletown; died before 1660.

viii. Susannah, born 1651; married March 4, 1674, John Kilbourn, of Glastonbury; died October 1701, aged 50.

ix. Lieutenant Jonathan; married (1) Dorothy, daughter of Samuel Halo, of Glastonbury; (2) Mary, daughter of Robert Reeve, widow of Asa Merrills; a prominent man in East Hartford; townsman, 1698, 1706, 1712.

SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), pages 244-245. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books

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Notes for WILLIAM HILLS:
--married Sarah? : ch, William, Ignatius and James --came in the ship "Lyon," arrived in Boston, Sept, 1632. --(Perhaps) the one baptized at Upminster, Essex, England

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(f/g) William Hills Birth: 1607, England Death: 1683 Hartford Hartford County Connecticut, USA

Born by about 1607, based on estimated date of marriage. (Jacobus suggested that he may be that William Hills baptized at Upminster, Essex, on 27 December 1598, son of Thomas Hills; the age is not far off and Upminster is near High Ongar, the home of his future wife.) Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1632 on the "William & Francis." First settled in Roxbury; moved to Hartford in 1636. Died in Hartford by July 1683 (date of inventory). Married: (1) By about 1638 Phyllis Lyman, daughter of RICHARD LYMAN . Eliot reports that "she came to the land with her father anno 1631. God wrought upon her heart in this Land, she grew deaf which disease increasing was a great affliction to her, she was married to William Hills & lived with him at Hartford on Conecticot." (2) Late 1648 Mary (_____) Risley, widow of Richard Risley; she died about 1655, presumably at or shortly after the birth of her son Benoni. (3) Late 1655 or early 1656 Mary (Warner) Steele, widow of John Steele (son of JOHN STEELE) and daughter of ANDREW WARNER; she died after February 1680[/1] (when she is named in her husband's will). Source: Anderson's Great migration Study Project.

FAG contributor Judi Schoonover offers birthdate of Dec. 27, 1608, but cites no source.

Family links:

Spouses:

 Phyllis Lyman Hills (1611 - ____)

 Mary Risley Hills

 Mary Warner Steele Hills (1626 - ____) 

Children:

 Sarah Hills Ward Davis (1638 - 1691)*

 William Hills (1640 - 1693)*

 John Hills (1644 - 1692)*

 Joseph Hills (1649 - 1713)*

 Susannah Hills Kilborn (1651 - 1701)*

 Benjamin Hills (1653 - 1728)*

 Benoni Hills (1655 - 1728)*

 Abraham Hills (1656 - 1658)*

 Hannah Hills Kilborn (1658 - 1686)*

 Mary Hills (1661 - ____)*

 Jonathan "Lieut" Hills (1664 - 1727)*

 Hester Hills (1667 - 1680)

Burial: Ancient Burying Ground Hartford Hartford County Connecticut, USA Created by: Linda Mac Record added: Apr 08, 2009 Find A Grave Memorial# 35660448 -tcd

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Born in England, came in ship "Lyon" arrived in Boston, Sept. 1632 Married (first), Phillis Lyman, Daughter of Richard and Sarah (Osborne) Lyman, who imagrated from High Onger, Essex County, England in 1631. He married (second) the widow of Richard Risley. He married (third) Mary Warner, widow of John Steele, daughter of Andrew Warner of Hadley, Hampshire Co. , Mass.

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Arrived on the "LION" , moved to Hartford CT.

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Short bio on Find a grave. Listed birth is 1607 but it is an admitted estimate with acknowledgement that it could be the same William Hills born around 1598

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William Hill, who came to America in 1632, as a servant, settled at Roxbury, and was made freeman May 14, 1632; he married Phillis, daughter of Richard Lyman [the first in America, born about 1580], and removed to Hartford.

His second [third] wife was widow Mary Steele, daughter of Andrew Warner of Hadley. William died in Hartford, July, 1683. In his will he names the following children: William, John, Joseph, bapt. March 17, 1650; Benjamin, Jonathan, Hannah, wife of Thomas Kilburn; Susannah, wife of John Kilburn; Sarah Ward, and Mary Hills.

His son Joseph perhaps settled in Glastonbury, and was the father of Dorothy, wife of Thomas Hollister. (North America, Family Histories)

"Great Migration" states William Hills was born in 1598, immigrated in 1632 on the ship William and Francis. He was first at Roxbury, Suffolk, Mass., then in 1636 moved to Hartford. He died in 1683. He married Phillice Lyman, the daughter of Richard Liman, by about 1638. Phyllis Lyman "came to the land with her father anno 1631. God wrought upon her heart in this Land, she grew deaf which disease increasing was a great affliction to her, she was married to William Hills and lived with him at Hartford on Conecticot."

He second married late in 1648 Mary (___) Risley, widow of Richard Risley; she died about 1655, presumably at or shortly after the birth of her son Benoni.

Third, he married late in 1655 or early 1656 Mary (Warner) Steele, widow of John Steele, son of John Steele, and daughter of Andrew Warner; she died after February 1680/1, when she was named in her husband's will.

Children by his first wife: The only children listed for Phyllis in the "Great Migration" are Sarah, born about 1638 who married John Ward and then second married Stephen Davis after 1684; William born about 1640 who married by about 1665 Sarah ___; and John born about 1644 who married by about 1678 Mary ___.

With the second wife: Joseph married first Hannah Edwards, second Mehitable (Hinsdale) Dickinson, and third Elizabeth; Susannah married John Kilborn, Benjamin married Mary Bronson, Benoni.

With third wife: Abraham, Hannah married Thomas Kilborn Mary, Jonathan married Dorothy Hale, Hester.

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GEDCOM Note

Category:Founders of Hartford Category:Lyon,_sailed_June_22,_1632

Biography ==Donald L Jacobus in Hale, House and Related Families, suggests that William Hills who died at Hartford, was perhaps the Wlliam Hills baptized at Upminster 27 Dec 1608.Jacobus, Donald Lines, and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley. (Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1952), p. 579.

Evidence is certainly not conclusive:
:The Lymans lived in a neighboring parish:Both families lived in Roxbury when William Hills (later of Hartford)m. Phillis Lyman.:The Upminster Hills had sons William and Thomas. William and Thomas Hills (immigrants) lived together in Roxbury. William Hills and his brother Thomas were likely born in Upminister, Essex Co., England that county having a great concentration of the nameHills and historical references. The Lyman family were from a neighboring parish in Essex, although William Hills and Phillis Lyman marriedin Roxbury, MA. According to the "Hills Family in America," William and and his brother Thomas immigrated to New England on the ship "Lyon," arriving in Boston September, 1632. The ship's master was William Pearce. It sailed from Bristol 24 June 1632 and entered Boston harbor September, 1632. This date is confirmed in the "History of the First Church in Roxbury, MA, 1630-19084," by Walter Eliot Thwing. However, "The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. II," by Robert Charles Anderson, 1995, indicates that William migrated in 1632 on the ship"William & Francis" and that it's not proven that he & Thomas were brothers. (According to another text, the Rev. John Eliot, Sr arrived onthe ship "Lyon" in 1631; perhaps this is where the confusion arose from.) It is likely that both men became manservants indentured to clergyman Rev. John Eliot at Roxbury, having come on the same ship as Ann Mumford, intended wife of the same minister. Both John Eliot and Ann Mumford/Mountfort were originally from Essex Co. as well. Eliot was referred to as the "Apostle to the Indians." :: The church history cited above states that William Hills was a member between 1631 and 1650. He was a manservant who came to Roxbury in 1632. He married Phyllis Lyman; became a Freeman in Roxbury 14 May 1634. Rev. Eliot wrote the following about William: "Williams Hills, a man servant, he came over in the yeare 1632. he married Phillice Lyman, the daughter of Richard Liman, he removed to Hartford on Conecticott, where he lived seuerall years, whout giving such good satisfaction to the conscienes of the saints." :: [HISTORIC NOTE: The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed in 1629. The period between that date and 1641, just prior to the English Civil War,is described as the "Great Migration" during which more than 13,000 left Old England for New.] :: Rev. Eliot owned a farm of 48 1/2 acres, 9 acres of salt marsh, 55 1/2acres in another part of Roxbury, 39 acres in Dedham, Massachusetts and 2 other lots of more than 20 acres. It is likely that the Hills brothers worked on this property while in Eliot's employ. :: Thomas Hills, possibly William's brother, died in November or December, 1634 while still indentured. William is shown as a resident of Roxbury, a freeman, 14 May 1634. (Roxbury became part of the city of Bostonin 1868.) His period of indenture was less than 2 years. He left Roxbury 15 Oct. 1635 with Richard Lyman, his father-in-law and moved to Hartford, Connecticut. They appear to have migrated with a group from the church of Cambridge which migrated as a body to Hartford with Rev. Hooker and originated the First Church of Hartford. William's name is listed on the Founders Monument in Hartford. :: [HISTORIC NOTE: Three areas of Connecticut were settled in 1634 as offshoots of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Wethersfield, Hartford and Windsor. CT became self-governing in 1639 and their Royal Charter was granted in 1662. The movement to CT was accelerated in 1636 when eminent minister Thomas Hooker brought a portion of his Cambridge congregationwith him to Hartford. Hooker, formerly an English Anglican minister, had been exiled to Holland for a number of years before coming to the colonies. There he was "rival" to minister Joseph Cotton, the two differing on several doctrinal issues. While some followed Hooker for religious reasons, most were merely economic opportunists. From its beginning, then, CT was unlike the Bay Colony - CT was comprised mainly of young, unmarried men seeking to establish themselves on the land. It wasn't until later that the colony began to take on the demographics of the "parent."] :: In the Hartford land inventory of 1639/40, William held nine parcels of land, six of which were granted to him: one acre and one rood with dwelling house, outhouses, yards and gardens; sevens acres of upland; nice acres of upland; one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; another one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; one acre and one rood in the South Meadow; five hundred seventeen acres of upland in Hockanum"bought of Thomas Hosmore;" ten acres of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore;" and three acres, two roods and 29 rods of meadow inHockanum "bought of Francis Andrews." :: In the records of the First Church of Hartford, Williams Hills is shown as one of the original members, later noted as "dismissed July 1683,moved to Hadley." Hadley, Massachusetts was the home of William's wife, Mary (Warner) Steele and William died in that month and that year: however, Williams' will was proved 6 Dec. 1683 in Hartford and it's believed that he never made the removal to Hadley; the will is dated 21 Feb. 1681. Jacobus states he died in July, 1683, the inventory being taken in August, totaling 274 pounds, 0s, 2d. He named his wife Mary and son Jonathan as executors. Prior to his death, he agreed to bring upthe children of Richard Risley, children of his wife Mary, Risley's widow, and to give them their several portions. Barbour calls Mary Risley his 3rd wife, but she was more likely his 2nd, as Mary (Warner) Steele, who I believe was his 3rd wife, from from Hadley, MA where they removed in about 1683. This order of marriage is confirmed by "The Descendants of Andrew Warner," 1919, by "The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley and his wife Emma Arabella Bosworth," N.G. Parke & D.L. Jacobus, 1960, pages. 144-45 and "Hale, House & Related Families," pages. 579-581.

: Note: The Great Migration Begins [copyrighted material deleted]

Marriage

:: DECEMBER 1648 Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut?<ref>#GMB|Anderson Note: & "Hills Family in America," 1906 & "The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley...," N.G. Parke & D.L. Jacobus, 1960, pg. 145. William HILLSMARRIAGE: BEF. DEC 1648, Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut?</ref>

Children

:William and Phyllis had<ref name=Anderson />
:: 1. Sarah Hills, b. abt. 1638 Hartford, Conn. :: 2. William Hills, b. abt. 1640 Hartford, Conn. :: 3. John Hills, b. abt. 1644 Hartford, Conn.:William Hills and Mary _____ had the following children:<ref name=Anderson /> :: 4. Joseph Hills bp 17 Mar 1649 :: 5. Susannah Hills b about 1651 :: 6. Benjamin Hills b. about 1653 :: 7. Benoni Hills b. about 1655 :William and Mary Warner had:<ref name=Anderson/> :: 8. Abraham b. late in 1656 :: 9. Hannah b. Hartford about 6 Dec 1658 ::10. Mary b. say 1660; living unmarried 1680/1. no further record ::11. Jonathan b. about 1664 ::12. Hester b. about 1667

Notes

: Married #2 Mary (--?--) Risley, #2 Mercy (Warner) Steele, daughter of my ancestors Andrew and Mary (Humphrey) Warner. : : Torrey: William (-1683) & 1/wf Phillis [LYMAN] (1611-); ca 1632, bef22 Apr 1640?; Roxbury/Hartford {Ackley-Bosworth 145, 149; Stevens-Miller 385; McIntire Anc. 344; Hale (1952) 579; Dunham-Boyd 156; HartfordProb. 1:22; Reg. 87:374; Lyman 37; Flagg Anc. 208; Cross Anc. 132; Hills; Deerfield 233; Boddie 206; Windsor CT 2:392; Wethersfield 2:426; Upton (1893) 171, 172}: ?William1 (-1683) & 2/wf [?Mary]/ _____ RESLEY/RISELY, w ?Richard; aft 17 Oct 1648, bef 7 Dec 1648?; Hartford {TAG 25:233; Ackley-Bosworth145; Hills 3, 4; Warner (1919) 31; Dunham-Boyd 156; Hartford Prob. 1:31; McIntire Anc. 344; Hale (1952) 579, 657}: ?William1 (-1683) & 3/wf Mary (WARNER) [STEELE], w John; bef 1658, aft 1653, bef 25 Jan 1669; Hartford/Hadley {Warner-Harrington 705; McIntire Anc. 544; Hale (1952) 579, 658; Ackley-Bosworth 145; Bassett-Preston 309; Dunham-Boyd 156; Hartford Prob. 1:321; Hale (1952) 8; Reg. 12:197; Hadley 146; Flagg Anc. 208; French Anc. 82; Fulton Anc. 310; Warner (1919) 30; Hills 3, 4; Steele 7; Upton (1893) 171}

Sources

• Anderson, Robert Charles. Space:The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England|The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995)
• Talcott, Mary Kingsbury, 1847-1917 The Original Proprietors Publication: Robert A. Buckman, 2001 (electronic edition), 3rd printing. Society of The Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, Inc. http://www.3ri.com/Hartford/The_Original_Proprietors_3rd_Ed.pdf
• Hills, William Sanford. Space:Genealogical Data Relating to the Ancestry and Descendants of William Hills|Genealogical Data Relating to the Ancestry and Descendants of William Hills (A. Mudge & son, 1902) Page 18
• Yates Publishing, Space:U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900|U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA, The Generations Network, Inc., 2004)
• Barbour, Lucius Barnes, 1982, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut pp.301
• Hills Family Genealogical and Historical Association, "Annual Reportof the Directors, Volumes 1-14."
• Prominent Families of New York, pg 286: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=PyRKAQAAMAAJ&printsec=front... Verified from the Genealogy worksheets compiled by Pryor-355 | Ralph Pryor during his 40 years of research, traveling extensively in the military and in retirement. Entered by *Rose-3933 | Greg Rose, Grandson. <references/>

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Came from England on the Lyon. Had three wives Phyllis Lyman, the widow Mrs. Richard Risley, and the widow Mrs. (Mercy) John Steel and daughter of Andrew Warner of hadley Mass. These notes are from Aunt Millicent's notes.

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 13 2019, 17:13:27 UTC

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GEDCOM Source

@R-1196578217@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=74642411&pid...

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Burial record:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35660448/william-hills

Born by about 1607, based on estimated date of marriage. (Jacobus suggested that he may be that William Hills baptized at Upminster, Essex, on 27 December 1598, son of Thomas Hills; the age is not far off and Upminster is near High Ongar, the home of his future wife.) Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1632 on the "William & Francis."

First settled in Roxbury; moved to Hartford in 1636. Died in Hartford by July 1683 (date of inventory).

Married:

(1) By about 1638 Phyllis Lyman, daughter of RICHARD LYMAN . Eliot reports that "she came to the land with her father anno 1631. God wrought upon her heart in this Land, she grew deaf which disease increasing was a great affliction to her, she was married to William Hills & lived with him at Hartford on Conecticot."

(2) Late 1648 Mary (_____) Risley, widow of Richard Risley; she died about 1655, presumably at or shortly after the birth of her son Benoni.

(3) Late 1655 or early 1656 Mary (Warner) Steele, widow of John Steele (son of JOHN STEELE) and daughter of ANDREW WARNER; she died after February 1680[/1] (when she is named in her husband's will).

Source: Anderson's Great migration Study Project.

FAG contributor Judi Schoonover offers birthdate of Dec. 27, 1608, but cites no source.

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http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=twigsandb...

• Name: William HILLS 1
• Sex: M
• Birth: in England
• Immigration: SEP 1632 Came on the LYON from England to Boston
• Death: ABT 06 DEC 1683 in Hartford, Connecticut, probably
• Marriage 1 Mary Warner STEELE

Children

• Has Children William HILLS b: ABT 1646
• Has No Children John HILLS b: ABT 1648
• Has Children Joseph HILLS b: ABT MAR 1650
• Has Children Benjamin HILLS
• Has Children Susannah HILLS b: 1651 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut
• Has No Children Mary HILLS b: ABT 1654
• Has No Children Jonathan (Lieutenant) HILLS b: ABT 1665
• Has Children Hannah HILLS b: BET 1658 AND 1659 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut
• Has No Children Sarah HILLS

Sources:

Title: Hills, William Sanford; Genealogical data relating to the ancestry and descendants of William Hills, 1632, etc. (1902)

Note:

Source Medium: Book

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GEDCOM Note

William Hills, Sr BIRTH 27 Dec 1608 Essex, England DEATH 15 Aug 1683 (aged 74) Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA

Born by about 1607, based on estimated date of marriage. (Jacobus suggested that he may be that William Hills baptized at Upminster, Essex, on 27 December 1598, son of Thomas Hills; the age is not far off and Upminster is near High Ongar, the home of his future wife.) Came to Massachusetts Bay in 1632 on the "William &amp;amp; Francis." First settled in Roxbury; moved to Hartford in 1636. Died in Hartford by July 1683 (date of inventory). Married: (1) By about 1638 Phyllis Lyman, daughter of RICHARD LYMAN . Eliot reports that "she came to the land with her father anno 1631. God wrought upon her heart in this Land, she grew deaf which disease increasing was a great affliction to her, she was married to William Hills &amp;amp; lived with him at Hartford on Conecticot." (2) Late 1648 Mary (_____) Risley, widow of Richard Risley; she died about 1655, presumably at or shortly after the birth of her son Benoni. (3) Late 1655 or early 1656 Mary (Warner) Steele, widow of John Steele (son of JOHN STEELE) and daughter of ANDREW WARNER; she died after February 1680[/1] (when she is named in her husband's will). Source: Anderson's Great migration Study Project.

FAG contributor Judi Schoonover offers birthdate of Dec. 27, 1608, but cites no source.

William Hills had 3 marriges: in 1632 to Phyllis Lyman (1611-1648), in 1648 to Mary Arnold (1619-1656), in 1653 to Mary Warner (1626-1680). Mother of Joseph was Mary Arnold. Joseph Hills had at least 3 marriages, this shows only one. The mother of Benoni was Mehitable Hinsdale.

Name: William Hills Gender: Male Christening Date: 27 Dec 1608 Christening Place: Upminster, Essex, England Death Date: Jul 1683 Death Place: Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA Marriage Date: 1648 Father: Thomas Hills Mother: Jane Scarborrow Spouse: Mary Arnold Children: Susanna Hills Spouse Father: Henry Arnold

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GEDCOM Note

My line follows Joseph Hills (s. William) through second marriage to widow Risley. Unnamed (or perhaps Mary) at this point, but Phyllis and Mary Warner Steele were wives 1 and 3.

12/12/20

Updated 2/13/21

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GEDCOM Note

The cemetery is located to the rear of the First Congregational Church at the corner of Main and Gold Streets in Hartford. The original brownstone monument erected in 1837 was replaced by this one in 1986. This cemetery is also known as Old Center Cemetery.WILLIAM HILLS ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1632 on the William & Francis [ Hotten 149] FIRST RESIDENCE: Roxbury REMOVES: Hartford 1636 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Roxbury church records: "William Hills, a man servant, he came over in the year 1632. He married Phillice Lyman, the daughter of Richard Liman. He removed to Conecticott, where he lived several years, without giving such good satisfaction to the consciences of the saints" [ RChR 77]. FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 (eleventh in a sequence of twelve Roxbury men) [ MBCR 1:368]. "Will[ia]m Hills Sen[io]r" was in the October 1669 list of freemen on the south side in Hartford [ CCCR 2:519]. EDUCATION: Signed his will. OFFICES: Appointed Hartford constable, 29 January 1643/4 [ HaTR 69]. On 18 May 1653 Connecticut General Court ordered that the "inhabitants of the east side of the Great River are exempted from training with the towns on the west side, this present time, & are to meet on the east side as Will[iam] Hill shall appoint & train there together, and so to continue on their training days until the Court take further order: & Will[iam] Hill is to return the names of those that do not meet according to appointment, as notice shall be given them" [CCCR 1:240-41]. ESTATE: In the Hartford land inventory of February 1639[/40] "William Hills" held nine parcels of land, six of which were granted to him: one acre and one rood with dwelling house, outhouses, yards and gardens; seven acres of upland; nine acres of upland; one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; another one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; one acre and one rood in the South Meadow; five hundred seventeen acres of upland in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore"; ten acres of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore"; and three acres, two roods and twenty-nine rods of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Frances Andrews" [ HaBOP 262-64]. At the end of this list of parcels is an additional entry, undated: "W[illia]m Hill doth grant to W[illia]m Hill his son, to John Hill, Joseph Hill, Benjamin Hill & Thomas Kilborn, that they their heirs & successors shall forever have free liberty to pass through the said W[illia]m Hill's lot from the highway on the east to Hoccanum Meadow on the west on the south side of W[illia]m Hill's lot, to pass with cart & horse according as they shall have occasion" [HaBOP 264]. In his will, dated 25 February 1680/1 and brought to court sometime in 1683, "William Hills Senior of Hocanum within the township of Hartford ... being weak in body through old age" made "my loving wife Mary Hills and my son Jonathan Hills" joint executors; "my wife shall have the use and improvement of the one half of my housing and lands that I now live in and upon and the one half of all my stock cattle and moveables during her natural life, which said lands are eight acres on the east side of my dwelling house and eighteen acres on the west side of my said house, also the use and improvement of one half of seventeen rods of unimproved lands and eight acres ... [at] the three mile lots during her natural life"; to "my son Jonathan Hills" the other full half "and after my wife's decease ... that land left in his hands to my son Jonathan Hills ... with all the cattle stock and moveables"; "that my son Jonathan behave himself suitably to his mother after my death, hoping she will encourage him that he may so do"; any disagreements to be settled by the overseers; two-thirds of a twenty-five rod lot to "my daughter Mary Hills"; the other third to "my daughter Hanna Kilbern"; land in the south division "which I have not yet taken up" to "my daughter Mary"; a parcel of sixscore acres near the end of the Three Mile lots to "my son William Hills, to my son John Hills, to my son Joseph Hills, and to my son Benjamin Hills, to my daughter Sarah Ward and to my daughter Suzanah Kilburn" in equal proportions; "at the death of my son William Hill, that proportion ... I give and bequeath to my grandson the eldest son of my son William who is of the same name"; "one year after the death of my wife Mary Hills, that my son Jonathan Hills shall pay out of the estate ... £10 to my daughter Mary Hills"; in case of son Jonathan's death before the death of "my wife and without issue", overseers to distribute "to my surviving children according to their good and sound discretion"; "my loving friends Major John Talcott, Mr. Jonathan Gilbert and Corporal John Gilbert" overseers with power of survivorship; the revenues of the lands in Farmington "that I have right unto by and in right of my wife that it be duly demanded and received for the help of my wife" [ Hartford PD Case #2724]. The inventory of the estate of William Hills Senior, deceased, was taken in July 1683 and totalled £274 2d. [so stated, but incorrectly summed], including real estate valued at £259 14s.: "the dwelling house and half the barn," £42; "thirty-one acres of upland fenced in & improved," £196; "two hundred seventeen acres of land," £21 14s.; and "more upland lying near the widow Andrews we are not informed how many acres," no value stated [Hartford PD Case #2724]. BIRTH: By about 1607 based on estimated date of marriage. (Jacobus suggested that he may be that William Hills baptized at Upminster, Essex, on 27 December 1598, son of Thomas Hills; the age is not far off and Upminster is near High Ongar, the home of his future wife [ Ackley-Bosworth 144].) DEATH: Hartford by July 1683 (date of inventory). MARRIAGE: (1) By about 1638 Phyllis Lyman, daughter of RICHARD LYMAN. Eliot reports that "she came to the land with her father anno 1631. God wrought upon her heart in this Land, she grew deaf which disease increasing was a great affliction to her, she was married to William Hills & lived with him at Hartford on Conecticot" [RChR 78]. (2) Late 1648 Mary (_____) Risley, widow of Richard Risley [ TAG 25:233; Manwaring 1:31]; she died about 1655, presumably at or shortly after the birth of her son Benoni. (3) Late 1655 or early 1656 Mary (Warner) Steele, widow of John Steele (son of JOHN STEELE) and daughter of ANDREW WARNER; she died after February 1680[/1] (when she is named in her husband's will). CHILDREN: With first wife i SARAH, b. say 1638; m. (1) by an uncertain date John Ward; m. (2) after 1684 Stephen Davis (see COMMENTS below). (In her will of 27 March 1691 Sarah Davis bequeathed to "my son Josiah and his heirs twenty acres of land at Hockanum, which was given to me by my father's will" [ Mulford Anc 261]. This matches precisely a bequest of twenty acres to "my daughter Sarah Ward" by William Hills.) ii WILLIAM, b. about 1640 (aged seventeen and a half on 24 February 1657/8 [ WMJ 88]; aged eighteen on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. by about 1665 Sarah _____ ("Hill, Sarah 2½ y: daughter of Willia[m] Hill Junior of Hockanu[m]," 27 February 1667/8 [WMJ 788]). iii JOHN, b. about 1644 (aged thirteen on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged "above thirteen" on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. by about 1678 Mary _____ [ Hale, House 581-82; TAG 69:178]. With second wife iv JOSEPH, bp. 17 March 1649 [ HaVR 581] (aged eight on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged nine on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. (1) by about 1676 Hannah Edwards [ NEHGR 149:41-45]; m. (2) about 1699 Mehitable (Hinsdale) Dickinson [Hale, House 586]; m. (3) by about 1703 Elizabeth _____ [Hale, House 585]. v SUSANNAH, b. about 1651 (aged six on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged seven on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]; d. Glastonbury 23 October 1701 in her 50th year [Hale, House 657]); m. Wethersfield 4 March 1673[/4] John Kilborn [ WetVR Barbour 174 (surname of bride not given); Hale, House 657]. vi BENJAMIN, b. about 1653 (aged four on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged five on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); m. Wethersfield 11 January 1688[/9] Mary Bronson [TAG 39:120-21]. vii BENONI, b. about 1655 (aged two and three-quarters on 24 February 1657/8 [WMJ 88]; aged four years on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); treated by John Winthrop Jr. on 8 July 1659 [WMJ 163]; no further record. With third wife viii ABRAHAM, b. late in 1656 (aged one on 23 February 1657/8 [WMJ 87]; aged two and a quarter on 14 March 1658/9 [WMJ 148]); no further record. ix HANNAH, b. Hartford about 6 December 1658 ("Hill, William, his wife, hath been delivered about ten days, hath now great cough," 16 December 1658 [WMJ 131]; "Hill, Hanna, 1½," 26 August 1660 [WMJ 216]); m. by about 1677 Thomas Kilborn (eldest child was born about 1677 [Hale, House 658-59]). x MARY, b. say 1660; living unmarried on 25 February 1680/1; no further record. xi JONATHAN, b. about 1664 (aged 4½ on 6 May 1669 [WMJ 910], and deposed aged twenty-eight on 1 September 1692 [ Manwaring 1:466]; but d. 29 September 1727 aged sixty-one [Hale, House 591]); m. by 1688 Dorothy Hale (eldest child bp. 22 July 1688 [Hale, House 8, 591-93]), daughter of Samuel and Mary (Smith) Hale [Hale, House 8, 608-09].. xii HESTER, b. about 1667 ("Hill, Hester, 3/4 y: daughter of Willia[m] Hill Senior," 7 January 1667/8 [WMJ 773]); not named in father's will, 25 February 1680/1. ASSOCIATIONS: Edward Harrison by a nuncupative will in 1650 gave William Hills his chest and contents because Hills "was his countryman and that he had no other that he knew in the country" [ RPCC 81; Manwaring 1:123]. COMMENTS: Pope has mingled some records relating to WILLIAM HILL of Dorchester and Windsor in his account of William Hills of Roxbury and Hartford. Jacobus included in his account of this family a listing of children who were treated on one day in 1658 by John Winthrop Junior, comprising children by all three of his wives, as well as children of his second and third wives by their first husbands [Hale, House 580]. This list omits the daughter Susannah, who was in the original. The Winthrop medical records also contain a similar list from about a year earlier, and many other entries on this family, many, but not all, of which are incorporated in the present treatment. These lists of children treated by Winthrop provide part of the evidence identifying the second and third wives of William Hills. In the probate of the estate of Richard Risley, on 7 December 1648, William Hills is required to post bond for the payment of legacies to the Risley children and to provide for their education [Manwaring 1:31], thus completing the identification of the second wife of William Hills. In the case of the third wife, we have the bequest in the will of ANDREW WARNER, on 18 June 1681, of ten shillings to "my daughter Hills" [Hale, House 580]. The eldest child of William Hills, Sarah, is here assigned a birth date of about 1638, some years younger than that proposed by most other writers. She married first John Ward of Branford, and if she was the mother of all his children she must have married him by about 1651 (assuming that his first child was Sarah, born at Branford on 22 March 1651[/2] [TAG 12:102]; there were two John Wards having children in Branford in the 1650s and early 1660s). Since her parents cannot have married until 1633, Sarah Hills could not have been born until 1634 at the earliest, and would have been sixteen or seventeen at marriage to John Ward. And if this is the case, there would be a gap of six years until the birth of the second child of William Hills. There seem to be two possibilities: William and Phyllis (Lyman) Hills did have daughter Sarah in 1634, and then no other children until about 1640, and Sarah did marry John Ward at the age of about sixteen; or Sarah Hills was not born until about 1638, and she was the second wife of John Ward. We have chosen the latter option, and recommend further research on the two John Wards of Branford and Newark. On 4 June 1640 William Hill of Hartford was fined £4 for "buying a stolen piece of Mr. Plum's man and breaking open the cobbler's hogshead & pack" [RPCC 12]. It must have been actions such as these that earned for Hill the description given by John Eliot as "without giving such good satisfaction to the consciences of the saints." On 25 January 1650 servant Richard Harrow was assigned over to "Will[iam] Hill of Hartford" for his remaining time by "Tho[mas] Allcott of Hartford" [RPCC 121]. On 7 June 1655 "Will[iam] Hill" sued Edward Andrews over the loss of a mare [RPCC 143]. Inasmuch as they involve Hartford men, two additional items probably also pertain to this William Hills: He sued Peter Bassaker for an undisclosed cause December 1644 [RPCC 30]. Richard Fellows sued him for 39s. on 24 April 1649, but Hill failed to appear and lost the case [RPCC 62, 63; CCCR 1:181]. On 18 February 1675/6 the Council reported that the "enemy having come to Hoccanum and shot at W[illia]m Hill and sorely wounded him, the Council sent forth a party of soldiers to make search for the enemy" [CCCR 2:410]; later inquiry identified the Indian who shot Hill, and assaulted other English men [CCCR 2:472, 479]. This was almost certainly the son of the immigrant rather than the immigrant himself. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: The best treatment of the family of William Hills was prepared by Donald Lines Jacobus in 1952 [Hale, House 579-611]. Although more recent research has augmented and revised his findings in some places, we rely heavily on several of his identifications, and in these instances refer the reader to the detailed arguments made by Jacobus, and the evidence he marshalled in support of his conclusions. The Great Migration Begins Sketches PRESERVED PURITAN