The Hill Family History Book

THE HILL FAMILY OF HENDERSON, KENTUCKY

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2 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………..…. 4 The Great Migration Detroit, Michigan 5 Danville, Illinois……………………………………………………….…. 6 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania……………………….………………………… 7

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The matriarch of the Hill family was Sarah Hill. Sarah appears in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census living next door to her daughter America Williams (nee Jordan). Sarah was born circa 1834 and had a total of six children. Her eldest child, America Jordan was born in 1847.

1. America Jordan (1847-1947)

2. Jane Hill (1853-Unknown)

3. Gabriella Hill (1855-Unknown)

4. Frank Hill (1857-Unknown)

5. Georgia Hill (1862-1911)

6. Robert Hill Jr. (1863- Unknown)

America Jordan married Henry Williams in 1865 in Henderson County, Kentucky. America and Henry relocated to Newburgh Indiana before the turn of the century. The couple had a total of ten children which included Henry Jr., Cora, Thomas, Estella, Mamie, Butch, Nelson, James, Horace, and Annie.

Georgia Hill had her first child with Edmund Robertson in July 1879. The child’s name was Ida Hill. Ida appears living with her parents in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census. Six more children were born between 1880 to 1895. Their names were Willie Anna, Sarah, Bruce, Mary, DeWitt and Sophia.

Frank Hill married Eliza Saunders in 1884 in Henderson County, Kentucky. Frank and Eliza raised their children in Reed, Kentucky. There were eight children in total which included Carrie, Pearl, Cora, Hugo, Ethel, Naomi, Admiral, and Edith (China Mae).

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There were limited economic opportunities for African Americans after slavery especially in Henderson County, Kentucky. By the 1910s, some members the Hill family sought out better opportunities by moving to larger cities including Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Lexington, Evansville, Newburgh, and Indianapolis.

Detroit, Michigan

Frank Hill’s son Admiral Hill appears in the 1920 U.S. Federal Census living in Detroit, Michigan. Admiral was only 23 years old according to the census record. His occupation was listed as a “bus man” for a hotel.

Members of Hill Family Who Lived in Detroit Between 1900-1965

1. Admiral Hill

2. Mamie Hill (née Williams)

3. Butch Williams

4. Sophia Banks (née Robinson)

5. Catherine Banks

6. Clara Mae Banks

7. Robert Edward Banks, Sr.

8. Robert Edward Banks, Jr.

9. Camille Smith

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Danville, Illinois

Georgia Hill’s daughter Sophia Robinson appears in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census living in Danville, Illinois. Sophia and her four children: Ruth Elizabeth, Clara Mae, Catherine Louise, and Robert Edward were listed as living at 502 E. Williams in Danville, Illinois.

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Catherine Louise Banks Danville High School (Danville, Illinois) Listed as K. Banks in the 1937 class yearbook

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Two of Frank Hill’s children appear in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Admiral Hill was living with his sister Edith (China Mae) and her husband Louis Hawkins at 3550 Butler Street in Pittsburgh. Edith filed for divorce a few years later then moved two hours west of Pittsburgh to Cleveland, Ohio. Eventually she remarried Frederick Truman in Buffalo, New York.

Admiral Hill remained in Pittsburgh where he worked as a laborer at a local steel mill. On March 8, 1938, Admiral Hill married Alberta Weaver. Admiral and Alberta appeared in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census appeared living at 407 Kirkpatrick St in Pittsburgh. The census also shows Admiral’s stepson Albert Griffin and daughter-in-law, Eleanor, living in the same household.

Members of Hill Family Who Lived in Pittsburgh Between 1900-1965

1. Admiral Hill

2. Marceal Scott (née Smith)

3. Joyce Darby (née Smith)

4. Alexis Scott

5. Annette Scott

6. Althea Scott

7. Alexander Scott II

8. Leonard Darby Jr.

9. Joanne Ptomey (née Darby)

10. William Franklin Shelton Jr.

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8 Pittsburgh

- 26 Sep 1985

Post Gazette

Home of Admiral Hill in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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Buffalo, New York

Frank Hill’s daughter Cora Hill appears in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census living in Buffalo, New York. Cora was listed as living with her husband, John T. Cohen and their children. Previously, Cora and her family had lived in Bel Air, Maryland and Buffalo, New York.

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Cora Cohen (née Hill) with her in-laws in Bel Air, Maryland

Members of Hill Family Who Lived in Buffalo Between 1900-1965

1. Cora Core (née Hill/Cohen)

2. Elre Evans

3. Elizabeth Evans Green

4. Julia Pearl Cohen

5. George Sayres Jr.

6. Elre Thomas Sayres

7. Cora Sayres

8. John Scott Sayres, Sr.

Source: The Buffalo News – 21 Aug 1968

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Home of Cora Cohen (nee Hill) in Buffalo, New York

Buffalo’s first African American architect, John E. Brent designed three summer cottages in Wales, New York. These cottages that were built in 1937 belong to Cora C. Cohen, Clara L. Payne, and John E. Brent.

Cora C. Cohen owned the 15 acres of land where these cottages were constructed. Clara L. Payne was the first African American social worker at the Erie County Department of Social Services.

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Descendants of Frank and Eliza Hill

In June 1958, Frank and Eliza Hill’s children all gathered in Reed for a family gathering. The photo

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above shows Eliza seated around her family. (Left to right) Mary Louise Posey, Willie Hill, Ernestine Peay, Carolyn, Oretha Smith, Naomi Hill, Elizabeth Green, Eliza Hill Simpson, and Viola Posey

Transcription:

Final Rites Tomorrow For Woman, 103

HENDERSON – (Special) Funeral will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Norris Chapel Baptist Church for Mrs. Eliza Simpson, 103, who died Sunday when fire destroyed the house where she lived two miles northwest of Reed.

Mrs. Simpson would have been 104 on Dec. 19.

She was born on the same plot of ground on which she died. Her own home had burned to death in that fire.

Sunday’s fire in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. George E. Smith, started about 4 p.m. in the room where Mrs. Simpson was confined to her bed. Mrs. Smith was alone in the house with her mother when the fire started.

It spread rapidly through the four-room frame home, destroying the house and its contents.

Surviving besides the dau ghter and son-in-law, are other daughters, Mrs. Pearl Posey, of Newburgh, Ind., Mrs. Cora Cohen, and Mrs. Edith Truman, of Buffalo, N.Y., and Miss Naomi Hill, of Evansville; sons, Hugo Hill, of Dayton, Ohio, and Admiral Hill, of Pittsburgh, Pa; 23 grandchildren; 49 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

The body is at Gaines Funeral Home.

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Creator: Charles “Teenie” Harris

American, 1908–1998

Date September 1961

Classification Photographs

Medium black-and-white: Kodak safety film

Dimensions Overall 2 ¼ × 5 in5.71 × 12.70 cm

Accession N 2001.35.56802

Location Not on View

Credit Heinz Family Fund

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Portrait of Marceal Scott wearing eyeglasses and dark short sleeve shirt with cross bands and buttons, standing on sidewalk in front of buildings.

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Evansville Press - November 13, 1990

Descendants of Georgia Hill

Source: Henderson Daily Gleaner - August 1, 1911

Transcription:

Georgia Hill, a negro 40 years old, died suddenly at her home on Eighth street Sunday. An inquest was held by Coroner Bigs Sunday evening and the verdict was that death resulted from heart failure.

The jury was composed of negroes. This is the first time in the history of the city as far as any one knows, when a coroner’s jury was composed of negroes.

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