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_William HILL _|__
_Roger HILL _|
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| |_Eleanor ______|__
_William HILL _|
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| |_Margery ____|
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_John HILL _|
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| | _John RYVES _|
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| | | |_______________|__
| |_Lucy RYVES ___|
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|--John HILL
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|_Jane GAUD _|
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Yarmouth, Maine, regarding the ancestry of my great grandfather, Joseph
G. Mansfield, I received a response from Katherine P. Tinker. She cited no
sources. In the hand-drawn chart that she attached to the letter, she
identified John and Frances as the parents of Ebenezer Hill. She had
annotated the date 1638 by their names.
From "The Pioneers of Massachusetts" pp. 229 & 230 (on microfilm at the
LDS Family History Center) :
Hill, John : Dorchester, Propr. 1633. Wife Frances adm. chh. before
1639; ch. Samuel bapt. in 1638, Samuel b. in 1640, Jonathan bapt. in
1638, Samuel b. in 1640, Jonathan bapt. 12 (5) 1640, Hannah b. in 1641,
Mercy b. 8 (11) 1642, [EBENEZER] bapt. 15 (12) 1645, Martha bapt. 20 (6)
1648, Mehitabel bapt. 18 (12) 1650, Mary m. 12 (2) 1656, Thomas Brecke,
Ruth m. 19 (5) 1654 Roger Willis, Rebecca adm. chh. 11 (7) 1664. He d.
31 (3) 1664. Will prob. 30 (4) 1664, beq. to wife Frances, sons John and
Samuel, and dau. Mary; at his wife's death the est. to be divided to the
"nine youngest children," or so many as may survive. A son-in-law of the
widow came from Boggerstow to soujourn at her house 12 (4) 1665. She
m. 2, Jonas Austin, and rem. to Taunton, being dism. from the cch. 28 (4)
1674. She d. at Dorch. Nov. 18, 1676.
(note : Bartlett's book, mentioned below, states that it was almost
certainly John and Frances' daughter, also named Frances, who married
Jonas Austin.)
The LDS Ancestral File has John as the son of John Hill of Poundersford
in England. J. Garder Bartlett's "John Hill of Dorchester, Mass., 1633, and
Five Generations of His Descendants" (c.1904), cites very strong
evidence to substantiate this, but positive proof, at that time, was
lacking.
Bartlett's book, "John Hill of Dorchester, Mass., 1633, and Five
Generations of His Descendants" also states that John's occupation was
farmer. Also that "There is no evidence that he was a member of the
church and the style of his will is totally different from that in vouge
among the religious Puritain colonists. Not having been a church member
he could not have been a freeman; and there is no record of his having
held any public offices." As early as 1633, however, he was a landowner.
"He appears to have been an inconspicuous, but respected and orderly,
member of the community, there being no record against him of even the
slightest offence to either church or state."
On page 59 of "History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts", by
Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., published in 1859, it is stated that he was a
blacksmith by trade and that he was a member of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery Company. On pages 38-39 of this book appears a list
of all the Grantees of Dorchester lands prior to 1636. "Mr. Jno Hill" is on
it and is the only Hill that is. on page 148, "Mr. Hill" is listed as one of
the twelve selectmen chosen in 1636.