THE HILL FAMILY NEWSLETTER

October, 2000 Issue No. 2

Edited and Published by:

Jerry Webb 8706 Salisbury Lubbock, Texas 79424 jerrydwebb@aol.com

Carthage is the county seat of Moore County, and is located about sixty miles southwest of Raleigh, NC.

The Kennedys and the Stutts came to Moore County from Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. Alexander Kennedy owned a rifle manufacturing company. At such time the British invaded Philadelphia, they moved their factory to Orange County, North Carolina. They later moved it to Moore County, North Carolina. The Stutts families were gunsmiths and worked for the Kennedy Gun Factory. In 1823, David Kennedy, son of Alexander Kennedy, left for Lauderdale county and built a gun factory at Greenhill, Alabama about 15 miles northeast of Florence, Alabama, on the Jackson Military Road, (US 43 today). The road was a major connection from Nashville to New Orleans and was obviously an optimum place for a gun factory due to the use by the military and travelers moving to the west and south. There was an abundance of trade and migrating families using this road.

The Stutts obviously accompanied the Kennedys and lived in the same area. Leonard Stutts daughter, Catherine, married James Hill in Moore County and they had four children while living there before moving to Lauderdale in approximately 1832. The rest of their children were born in Lauderdale County.

While the Kennedys and the Stutts were primarily engaged in gun manufacturing and some farming the Hills were predominately in farming. James accumulated a rather large amount of land and his sons were able to purchase land and farmed in the same area. They lived in the Atlas community located a few miles east of Florence, Alabama. Atlas was about five miles south of Greenhill, Alabama.

I have Hill and Eason family trees that you can look up and print out. I have several photographs of our ancestors. There will also be a copy of the past and current newsletters for your reference. I will also have a listing of individuals that I have received information from. It will also be a source document listing of Books, Census records, marriage records, death certificates, tombstones, libraries and government records that I think would be of interest to our family. If you have trouble finding the site, email me and I will send a hyperlink to the site.

I failed to include Percy Dee "Pete" Hill in the children of Henry Augustus Hill. I had Pete in the tree, just failed to copy him down.

The following recipe is a favorite among those that ever had a meal at Ada Hill’s home. Simply called "Grandmother’s Hot Rolls" is probably the one recipe I would rescue over all others. Thanks to Derinda Hill Moerer, daughter of Hershell and Maurice Woods Hill, we have that recipe preserved in a book of recipes she gathered and printed for a family reunion we had at Lake LBJ in Texas a number of years ago. With Derinda’s permission we share the following recipe:

1. cup of warm water

1. pkg. yeast

1. egg

1. tsp. salt

¼ cup sugar

3 cups of flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add egg, salt, and sugar. Add flour. I, Derinda, mix this in my food processor for a few minutes, but if you like to do it the "real" way, knead it by hand.

Sit in a warm place to rise until the dough doubles.

Punch down and roll out ½ inch thick on board. Cut with the lip of a glass the size you want and place in 12x9 baking dish. My glass cuts so that I have exactly 12 rolls unless all of those glasses are dirty, then I may have a few more or a few less. Bake at 375 degrees until browned then rub margarine over the tops while still hot.

If you have a "special," recipe that "Momma" used to make please share it with us. We may get Derinda to do another recipe book someday. The one she did was great and we still look through and use recipes occasionally.

I have been collecting early photographs of our "Family." I am scanning them into the computer and have quite an array of them collected. I would like to have current photos also. A hundred years from now they will also be treasured and no one will care if it is your best photo or not. If you trust me to make copies and return your pictures, send them by priority mail and I will scan and return them the same way. If they are too "precious" to send, and I will understand, would you have a laser copy made? It will be fine for scanning. If ever I get rich enough to have a CD write drive I can make copies to a CD and share with others. As mentioned earlier in the newsletter there are some photographs posted on Jerry’s web page. I need some help identifying some of the people.

We will experiment with "Where Are You?" and see if it works out okay. This is for the purpose of finding living relatives that have moved or you have simply lost their address or phone number. Send me the name you want to find and I will post it in this column and if we find someone I will post the address in the next issue. I suppose we could call the column "Lost and Found".

Hill, Carter Lee, was born in Pulaski, Tennessee. Pulaski is in Giles County and is about 36 miles from the part of Lauderdale County where the other Hills lived at the time. He was born to Henry Augustus Hill and Martha Jane Thigpen Hill both of Lauderdale County.

It is probable that they moved to Sulphur Springs, Texas around 1899. Grady Parmer Hill, Carter’s brother, was born in Sulphur Springs. They were living in Tillman County, Oklahoma by 1910 according to the 1910 census of Tillman County.

Carter Lee married Ada Margaret Eason, daughter of William John Eason and Martha Jane Scoggins Eason, in Davidson, Oklahoma in October 1908. As mentioned, the 1910 census listed Carter Lee Hill and Ada M. Hill with one child, Frank V. Hill living in Tillman County, Oklahoma.

The 1920 census listed Carter L. Hill and Ada with their children; Frank 10, Lee 9, Velma 8, Guy 6, Irene 5, and Mary B. 2, as living in the Odell district of Wilbarger County, Texas.

Later they farmed at Farmer’s Valley, a little south of Odell, and then in the Lockett area west of Vernon. Cecil Louis Hill was born in 1920, probably after the census was taken for that year because he was not listed on the 1920 census. Hershell Albert was born in 1922. The last child born to this family was Wesley Wayne Hill on February 18, 1927.

While they lived in the Lockett area of Wilbarger County, they farmed a few miles southeast of Lockett on land owned by Rube Bitner. The family went to church in Lockett and probably ginned their cotton at the Lockett gin.

Tragedy struck the family in the spring of 1928. While on an outing with the entire family at Lake Pauline, just east of Quanah, Texas and about 30 miles from their home, Carter accidentally drowned while trying to retrieve a boat that had come untied from the dock. He was reported to be a very good swimmer. He failed to surface after he went into the water. This accident claimed the father of nine children and left a 38-year-old widow to raise the children on a dry land cotton farm in Wilbarger County, Texas.

Carter was, according to all that I have heard, an excellent farmer and a very devoted father and husband.

The format of the newsletter is subject to change from time to time depending on your participation and interest. Your interest will be determined by your input.

The next newsletter will be published in the middle of January 2001. Remember, let me know if others would be interested in the newsletter. If you had rather be notified that a newsletter is on the web site and not receive the regular mail let me know at my email address and I will make the necessary changes.

I will be busy for the next couple of months and may be a bit slow at answering emails. I manage a cotton gin and we are in the middle of harvest so I have little time. However I do check my mail daily so don’t hesitate to send or ask for information.

Jerry Webb