Hill

were sharp, but were given only when they were
deserved. Seemingly austere and impatient, he
was in reality most kindly, and was helpful to
all who came under his influence. He became
successively assistant professor, 1874, full pro-
fessor, 1884, and director of the department of
chemistry, 1894, holding this last position until
his death. His vacations for the most part were
spent at his summer home in Dublin, N. H.,
bicycling and working in his carpenter-shop.
Naturally shy and devoted to his work, he be-
came almost a recluse, yet he was a charming
companion to the few friends whom he took into
his circle. He read much and with a fine sense
of discrimination, was interested in genealogy,
and was a great student and lover of music. His
only son became associated with the department
of music at Harvard University.

Hill despised sham and had no patience with
any one who showed lack of sincerity. He was a
man of deep religious feeling and set a high
standard for things ethical, but he was not a
regular church attendant. His health was deli-
cate ; the days when he was free from headache
and dizziness were exceptional, but he did not
permit this weakness to interfere with the per-
formance of his regular duties. Frequently he
would hold his lectures under physical discom-
fort which would have sent the ordinary person
to bed. His last illness was short and from the
first serious; he died on Apr. 6, 1903, after an
operation.

[T. B. Peck, The Bellows Geneal. (1898); Am.
Chem. Jour., July 1903; "Proc. Am. Chem. Soc.,
1903," in four. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. XXV (1903) ;
Ber. Deut. Chem. Gesell. . . . rpoj (1904), pp. 4573-
81; Nat. Acad. Sci. Blog. Memoirs, vol. V (1905),
with bibliog.; Eleventh Report of the Class of 1869,
Harvard College (1919) ; Services in Memory of Henry
Barker Hill in Applet on Chapel (1903) ; Boston Tran-
script, Apr. 6, 1903; Harvard Univ. archives.]

W.LJ—s.

HILL, ISAAC (Apr. 6, i;89-Mar. 22, 1851),
editor, politician, was the eldest son of Isaac and
Hannah (Russell) Hill, his family on both sides
being of old colonial stock. He was born in
Cambridge, Mass., but as the family was im-
poverished in the depression following the Revo-
lution and was handicapped- still further by the
insanity of his father, his mother, a woman of
great courage and force of character, about 1798
purchased a small farm in Ashburnham where
he spent the next four years. Lameness and a
slight physique reduced his usefulness on the
farm an4 he was apprenticed in 1802 to Joseph
Gushing, printer, at Amherst, N. H. The change
was advantageous, and he proved industrious.
He was an omnivorous reader and more than
thirty years later James Buchanan once re-

Hill

marked in the Senate that he had never known a
man with a wider range of information on Amer-
ican affairs. Before reaching his majority he
moved to Concord, bought the press of the
American Patriot, and on Apr. 18, 1809, pro-
duced the first number of the New Hampshire
Patriot, a publication destined to exert a pro-
found influence on the politics of the state and
the public careers of several of its leaders.
Whether because of inherent democratic in-
clinations or as a reaction from seven years'
work in the Federalist establishment at Amherst,
where he assisted in the publication of the Farm-
er's Cabinet, Hill was a stalwart Jeffersonian.
His new venture seemed inauspiciously timed,
for the Republicans were discredited by the Em-
bargo policy and by the accompanying business
depression, but within a few weeks it was ap-
parent that a new power had appeared in New
Hampshire politics. Before long the Patriot was
one of the most important journals in New Eng-
land. The editor, who is said to have composed
many of his articles while standing at the case,
attracted the attention of party leaders through-
out the country, the paper's circulation grew
rapidly, and in addition Hill received tangible
evidences of appreciation in the form of govern-
ment printing and mail contracts. On Feb. 2,
1814, he married Susanna Ayer, of Concord.

Hill gave loyal support to the Madison admin-
istration, especially during the War of 1812, and
denounced the Federalists with the scurrility
which characterized the political journalism of
the day. Following the war he became an active
participant in the Dartmouth College case, sup-
porting the action of the state and fanning the
flames of controversy until it assumed propor-
tions which affected local politics for almost half
a century. In the presidential contest of 1824 he
was a supporter of Crawford and a vigorous
opponent of the John Quincy Adams administra-
tion* In the meantime he had become an active
participant in state politics, serving a term as
representative, two as clerk of the Senate, and
four (1820-23, 1827-28) as a member of the
latter body. He was an unsuccessful candidate
for the United States Senate in 1828, but as an
ardent supporter of Jackson he received in 1829
a recess appointment as second comptroller of
the treasury. Closing out his interests in the
Patriot, he served until April 1830, when the
Senate refused confirmation of his appointment,
greatly to the indignation of President Jackson
and the satisfaction of former President Adams,
who classed him as a profligate libeler (Memoirs
of John Quincy Adams, vol. VIII, 1876, p. 218).

Later in 1830 Hill was elected to the United

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