HILL, Howard Clinton

HILL, CROWTHER, MCPHAIL, SWENEY

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 6/27/2009 at 20:29:47

H. Clinton Hill, well known in journalistic circles, has been owner and publisher of the Mitchell County Press since March, 1912.

He was born in Little Cedar, Mitchell county, on the 13th of May, 1890, a son of Fred E. and Alice (Crowther) Hill. The father was a farmer and a reliable and enterprising citizen of Liberty township, Mitchell county. The mother died when her son, Clinton, was but three years of age and the father afterward married Minnie McPhail, who gave to Clinton Hill the thoughtful, loving care and attention of an own mother.

Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, Clinton Hill attended the Little Cedar graded and high schools until graduated from the latter with the class of 1906. Subsequently he entered the Cedar Valley Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1909, having in the meantime pursued one year of college work. He then entered the Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa, where he took an additional year of college work. When his textbooks were put aside he was employed for a short time in Chicago and later for a brief period at Elkhart, Indiana, where he engaged in clerical work.

Upon his return to his native county he spent one year in the employ of T. M. Atherton, publisher of the Mitchell County Press, and in March, 1912, purchased the paper, which he has since owned and edited, making it a popular sheet. It is devoted to the dissemination of general and local news and has been the champion of many progressive measures which have had to do with the upbuilding and progress of the community.

On the 29th of August, 1912, in Osage, Mr. Hill was united in marriage to Miss Faith Sweney, a daughter of J. I. Sweney, president of the Mitchell County Savings Bank, and Sophie (Tucker) Sweney, whose father was one of the pioneer Baptist ministers of this section of the country. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been born twin daughters, Jean and Phyllis, whose birth occurred February 16, 1914.

Mr. Hill holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and he is identified with the Masonic lodge, the modern Woodmen of America and other organizations., He is secretary of the Osage Businessmen's Association and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. His position upon and vital question is never an equivocal one. He fearlessly supports any measure in which he believed and he is actuated by a spirit of advancement and progress in all things.

Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, Vol. II, page 60.