Hill, George

HILL, STAVELEY, MCLEAN, ROBINSON, MCLAIN, SCOTT

Posted By: Volunteer Subscribers
Date: 4/15/2003 at 21:49:37

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

GEORGE HILL.

This well-known farmer of Brookfield township was born in Yorkshire, England, on the 31st of August, 1826, and is a son of John and Susana (Staveley) Hill, both of whom were born in County Surrey, near London. Bidding good-by to friends and native land, our subject sailed from Hull, on the sailing vessel Fergus, in 1847, and after a voyage of six weeks and one day, landed in Quebec, Canada. After spending about three months in that country, he went to Vermont, where the following six months were passed, and he then spent a year in Upper Canada. We next find him in Roscoe, Illinois, where he made his home until coming to Clinton county, Iowa, in the fall of 1855. He first located near what is now Lost Nation, and entered eighty acres of wild prairie land, on which not an improvement had been made. Subsequently he purchased forty acres additional, and the whole tract he fenced and placed under cultivation, and erected thereon good and substantial buildings. Selling that place, in 1869, he bought the farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Brookfield township, where he now resides. At that time it was only partially improved, but the old log house has since been replaced by a better and more comfortable residence, and other buildings have also been erected. About fifteen years ago Mr. Hill had the misfortune to lose his barn in a cyclone.

On the 6th of July, 1870, Mr. Hill led to the marriage altar Miss Sarah J. McLean, daughter of John and Emily (Robinson) McLain, both natives of Canada. She lost her father during childhood, and her mother subsequently came to Iowa, but spent her last days in Nebraska, where she died in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are the parents of six children, namely: Sarah Luella, wife of John Scott, a resident of Sonoma county, California; George Walter, John Edwin and Howard, all farmers of Clinton county; and Scott Nettleton and Merta Drury, twins, at home. The mother of these children is a member of the Methodist church, and is a most estimable lady. In politics Mr. Hill is a Republican, and has most efficiently filled the offices of school director and road supervisor. For almost a half a century he has been a resident of this county and has been prominently identified with its growth and development. He is held in high regard by all who know him, and has a host of warm friends.