| Minnie
was born in Albany, Linn County, Oregon in
1863 and was the daughter of Isaac and Nellie
(Jackson). In 1883, she married Charles Hill
in Portland, Oregon. After her marriage, she
received a master's license to operate
steamboats on the first of December 1886 and
became the first woman captain on the
Columbia River. She retired in 1900, the same
year that the census lists her husband as the
steamboat captain. Charles was born in New York
City in 1863 and was the son of Ralph and
Nancy Maria (Tinker). According to the 1850
and 1870 census records, both
were born in Connecticut. Notes of Minnie
stated that Ralph was a hatter and had owned
a large hat factory and store on Nassau
Street called "New Hat Shop." In
the 1850 Brooklyn, Kings Co.,
NY census he was listed as a hatter.
At the age of
twelve, Charles was "farmed out" to
his dad's Uncle Platt in Orange, New Jersey.
He later moved to Newark, Ohio and worked on
a farm and after living in Illinois, Kansas,
Colorado, and eventually in Washington, he
embarked on a steamer bound for the Cassian
mining country in Alaska and spent the next
two years there. After owning and operating a
steamboat he piloted on the Columbia and
Willamette rivers for ten years between 1880
and 1900. Charles O. Hill then became
interested in lumbering and became the
founder of Hill Logging Co in Lewis Co.,
Washington.
According to
the 1900 census, Minnie had had
two children, but only one survived. Herbert
Wells Hill, their only known child, was born
19 Sep 1894. He married Edna Frances Wilcox,
daughter of Nathan and Josephine Alice
(Caul). Herbert died in 1969 in Walnut Creek,
Contra Costa Co., California. His parents
celebrated their golden wedding anniversary
in 1942 and Charles died later that year in
Portland, Oregona and Minnie died in San
Francisco in 1946 and his father in Portland,
Oregon in 1942.
Note: Photo
Contributed by Barbara Troen - 2nd Great
Granddaughter of Isaac V. Mossman &
Martha Nellie (Jackson).
|
