Hill

of militia, but wishing more active service, he
volunteered in a company raised by John Lang-
don (in which Hill was ensign, or second
lieutenant) to join Gates against Burgoyne at
Saratoga, where he was probably present at Bur-
goyne's surrender. After the close of the war,
in 1784, he was made colonel, and in 1788 briga-
dier-general of New Hampshire militia, a po-
sition held until he declined reappointment in

1793-

Hill represented Newmarket in the New
Hampshire Provincial Congress in April 1775-
The next year he was appointed on a committee
of the town to draw up a protest against the new
form of state government proposed. He was a
member of the state legislature at its first ses-
sion under the new constitution in 1784, and
again a member when the constitution of 1792
was adopted. He was three times married: first
to Sarah Coffin, who died in 1774; then to Sarah
(Hoyt) Burleigh, widow of John Burleigh, Jr.,
and after her death, to Martha (Wiggin) Fol-
som. All of his seven sons and all but two of his
ten daughters survived him.

[The most interesting and valuable source for Hill's
life is his own autograph diary and notebook, given by
his great-great-grand-daughter to the library of Welles-
ley College, Mass. Some early Newmarket town rec-
ords in manuscript are in the library of the N. H.
Hist. Soc., Concord, N. H. The most important printed
material is in the series of N. H. Provincial and State
Papers, vols. VII-IX, XIV-XV, XX-XXII (1873-
93). Other sources include W. B. Lapham, John Hill
of Dover in 1649, and Some of his Descendants
(1889); E. S. Stackpole, Old Kittery and Her Families
(1903); J. H. Fitts, Hist, of Newfields, N. H. (1912),
ed. and arranged by N. F. Carter; and N.-H. Gazette
( Portsmouth), Aug. 27, 1811.3 E. V. M.

HILL, JAMES JEROME (Sept. 16, 1838-
May 29,1916), railroad executive and financier,
was born near Rockwood, Ontario, the third of
four children of James and Anne (Dunbar) Hill.
Both the Hills and the Dunbars had come to
Canada from the north of Ireland and were
among the original settlers of that part of On-
tario. James J. Hill's education began in the
district school but at the age of eleven he became
a pupil in the newly established Rockwood Acad-
emy. His formal education was interrupted by
the death of his father in 1852, and at the age of
fourteen the boy began work as clerk in the vil-
lage store. The father had intended that the son
should be trained to become a doctor but that
plan was abandoned when young Hill lost the
sight of one eye by the accidental discharge of
an arrow. During his four years in the store he
found time, under the encouragement and as-
sistance of William Wetherald, the principal of
the academy, to continue his studies, and he was
a diligent reader of good books.

Hill
At the age of eighteen he started out for him-
self. His imagination had been quickened by
what he had read about India, China, and Japan,
and his early ambition was to make his fortune
in the Orient. On leaving home he headed for
the Atlantic ports of the United States, reached
Philadelphia, and later proceeded to Richmond.
A favorable opportunity to go to the Orient did
not present itself so he decided to approach his
objective from a Pacific port. Accordingly he
moved westward, intending to join one of the
brigades of trappers and traders who yearly
started from St. Paul to make the perilous trip
across the wilds of western country. The acci-
dent of arriving in St. Paul (1856) a few days
too late to join the last brigade of that year
changed the course of his life. It was necessary
to wait another year, and in that time he had so
firmly taken root in the community that it be-
came his permanent home and the base of his
great adventures.
Hill's first few years in St. Paul, then a little
trading station with a population of not more
than 5,000, were not marked by striking achieve-
ment, but he built steadily, established a reputa-
tion for integrity and ability to accomplish ef-
fectually and profitably whatever he set out to
do, and acquired the beginnings of that vast store
of knowledge which later served him so well.
He first worked as a clerk for a line of packet
steamboats on the Mississippi. Partly through
his initiative, his employers enlarged the scope of
their commercial activities to include general
trading in groceries, farm implements, and fuel,
thus linking more closely the relations between
steamboat transportation and commerce, indus-
try, and agriculture. To him was left a large part
of the initiative in fixing freight rates and he
became an expert not only in that field but in the
technique of construction and operation of steam-
boats as well. In the meantime, the Civil War
had begun. His attempt to enlist was blocked
because of his sightless eye, but he was active
and helpful in organizing the 1st Minnesota Vol-
unteers.
Hill's first venture in an independent capacity,
in 1865, was in the business of forwarding and
transportation. He acted also as agent for the
Northwestern Packet Company, bought and sold
commodities in order to create or control traffic,
pressed hay, and acted as warehouseman. A year
later he became a partner in a larger business of
the same general character and made his first
contact with railroads as agent of the St. Paul &
Pacific. In 1867 he contracted to furnish the
railroad with fuel. He was one of the first to
recognize the fact that coal would eventually dis-