Hill

[Mining American, July 8, 1916; National Maga-
zine, Feb. 1892; Hist. Cat. Brown Univ. (1905); Who's
Who in America, 1899-1900; P. C. Headley, Public
Men of Today (1882) ; Thos. Egleston, The Boston and
Colo. Smelting Works (1877) ; Denver Republican and
Colorado Springs Gazette, May 23, 1900; Alumni File,
Brown Univ.; correspondence with Hill's brother-in-
law, Jesse D. Hale of Denver, Colo., who worked with
Hill at the Boston & Colorado plant.] R. Q C—y.

HILL, RICHARD (c. i673-September 1729),
Philadelphia merchant, legislator and judge, the
son of Richard Hill, a sea captain who in 1673
received a grant of land in Maryland from Lord
Baltimore, was born in Maryland and, after hav-
ing been "brought up to the sea," settled in
Philadelphia about 1700. He was a member of
the Society of Friends and an intimate of Wil-
liam Penn. In 1700 he married Hannah, widow
of John Delaval and daughter of Thomas Lloyd
[#.£>.], deputy governor of Pennsylvania. Soon
becoming active in the political life of that col-
ony, he was appointed a member of the Pro-
vincial Council in 1703; in 1705 he was elected
to the Assembly, and was reelected the following
year. He was chosen mayor of Philadelphia in
1710, and in 1711 an associate justice of the
provincial supreme court, in which office he con-
tinued until his death. He was again elected
mayor of Philadelphia in 1715, 1716, and 1717,
and between the years 1715 and 1724 he was a
justice of the court of common pleas in Penn-
sylvania.

Always a dependable and energetic man, he
was selected by the Provincial Council to serve
on several commissions of great importance, es-
pecially those concerned with treaties with the
chiefs of the Five Nations. In 1721 he was a
member of the commission which placated the
Indians at a conference held at Conestoga, Pa.,
and in 1722 he was sent to Albany, N. Y., on the
commission to treat with the Five Nations, whose
chiefs were assembled there* He was perma-
nently a member of the Supreme Council's com-
mission on Proprietary Lands, and in 1713 was
one of those who went to confer with Lord Bal-
timore's representatives regarding the boundary
between Maryland and Pennsylvania, a dispute
that was not ended for half a century.

A story exhibiting Hill's courage and spirit is
given by Robert Proud in his History cf Penn-
sylvania (I, 472). It had been decided by John
Evans [#.#.], the new lieutenant-governor of the
Province, that for the protection of the colony
some regiments of militia should be raised—&
proposition not kindly received by the Quakers.
Evans carried his point, erected a fort at New
Castle, and ordered all ships to stop and pay toll.
This regulation met with great opposition, and
Hill, who had a sloop ready laden to proceed to

Hill

Barbados (June 1706), decided to defy it. He
boarded his vessel and ordered the captain not
to stop at the fort. Even when the guns of the
fort fired upon the little sloop, Hill had it keep
on its course; and when the commander of the
fort overtook the vessel, Hill made him prisoner
and carried him to Salem, N. J., for the case to
be decided by the Admiral of the Delaware, Lord
Cornbury [q.v.~], who ordered the vessel to con-
tinue her voyage and reprimanded the comman-
der of the fort Hill died in Philadelphia and
was buried there on Sept. 5,1729.

[J. H. Martin, Martin's Bench and Bar of Phila.
(1883) ; Robt. Proud, Hist, of Pa., vol. I (1797) ; C.
P. Keith, Chronicles of Pa. 1688-1748 (2 vols., 1917) ;
Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pa., vol. Ill
(1852); John Jay Smith, Letters of Dr. Richard Hill
to his Children (1854) ; Am. Weekly Mercury (Phila.),
Sept. n, 1729.] J.J.

HILL, ROBERT ANDREWS (Mar.25,i8n-
July 2,1900), jurist, was born in Iredell County,
N. C., the son of David and Rhoda (Andrews)
Hill and the grandson of Scotch-Irish forebears
who had emigrated to Pennsylvania in the eigh-
teenth century and had later settled in North
Carolina. In 1816 his father moved to Giles
County, Tenn., thence to Williamson County,
where the son was brought up. Called upon at
the age of ten to contribute to the support of the
family, Robert worked on the farm and gained
his education by devoting his spare time to
study. By 1833 he was able to combine school-
teaching with his farm work, and in that year he
was married to Mary Andrews. In 1834 he was
elected constable, serving until his election in
1836 as justice of the peace. While in this office
he read law and in December 1844 he resigned to
launch upon a legal career. Settling in Waynes-
boro, Tenn., he practised in partnership with
Elijah Walker until 1847, when he was elected
by the legislature attorney-general for the cir-
cuit. He was reflected in 1854, but in 1855 the
office was made elective by popular vote, and
Hill, who was a Whig, was defeated. He then
moved to Jacinto, Tishomingo County, Miss.,
where he entered into a law partnership with
John F. Arnold. In 1858 he became probate
judge and held the office during the Civil War.

Hill took no part in secession but he gained the
respect of both Confederate and Federal leaders.
After the war he was appointed chancellor of his
district by Provisional-Governor Sharkey and
held office until he was appointed United States
district judge by President Johnson in 1866. He
had served, meanwhile, as a delegate to the con-
stitutional convention of 1865, and in the same
year he had visited Washington in the interest of
the South. There he was instrumental in secur-

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