George Hill
Contributed and transcribed by Woodson County Commissioner Bill Linde.
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			WOODSON COUNTY KANSAS
     			  Founding Pioneers
                              HISTORY OF
                     Allen  and  Woodson Counties
           		     ILLUSTRATED
				1901
			    GEORGE HILL


	Wealth does not always command respect for its possessor, for the 
American people are very  apt  to take into consideration the manner in which
the fortune has been won and to pass judgment upon the business methods which
have been followed in the acquirement of success.  The record of  George Hill,  
however,  is one  which will hear the closest investigation, and in Southeastern  
Kansas  no  man  is more worthy of confidence and esteem  than  the  gentleman 
whose  name  introduces  this review as  his career  has ever been in harmony 
with the strictest ethics of  industrial  and  commercial life.   He  came  to  
this portion of the state in 1869, from Dane County, Wisconsin, where he had 
resided for ten years.   He went to the Badger state with his father, John Hill, 
from Norfolk, England, where he was born May 19, 1843. The father, died in 
Dane  County, in 1899, at the age of eight-three years. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Sarah Cooper, passed away many years previous, leaving three 
children, of whom two are yet living—G, and Annie, the latter the wife of John
Barber, of Denver, Col.

	George Hill was a little lad at the time the ocean voyage was made that 
brought the family to the new world..   This was in 1854, and from that time 
until the inauguration of the Civil War he  remained  in  Dane  County.    
Aroused  by  the attempt of  the South to overthrow the Union, he offered  
his  services  to  the  government and enlisted  as  a  member of Company G,  
Second Wisconsin  Volunteer  Infantry  as  a  private. His  regiment  
formed  part  of  the famous "Iron Brigade,"  composed  of  a  Michigan  and  
an  Indiana  Regiment, in addition to the Second and Third Wisconsin regimen’s.   
Mr.  Hill participated in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and 
was there wounded, his injuries necessitating his retirement from active 
serv ice for a short time.  He was not again with his regiment until the 
spring of 1862, when McClellan began his advance against Richmond. Mr.  Hill 
was also wounded in the second battle of Bull Run and later was wounded in 
the first day of the engagement at Gettysburg.   He was in some of the 
preliminary fighting leading up to the Battle of  Chancellorsville, and 
then after three years of faithful service,  was mustered out with his 
regiment in 1864.

	Upon returning to the North,  Mr. Hill began work at the carpenter’s 
trade. In 1867, he went  to  Topeka,  Kansas,  and  in 1869  came  South to 
Woodson County.     He soon afterward secured  a claim in Woodson County, 
upon which he resided  some years, when he located upon section  twenty-nine,
Belmont   Township,  where  he  has  since made his home. His landed possessions
now aggregate twelve hundred acres of land. When he came to this portion
of the state his cash capital was only seven dollars and a  half, but with 
characteristic energy,  he began the work of farming and also extended the 
field of his labors by raising and dealing in stock. In both branches  of  
his business he has prospered,  and  his business methods have ever been most
straight-forward  and  honorable.     His  stock dealings have been very 
extensive, and  he is  now numbered among  the leading  stockmen and 
agriculturists  in  this  part of  the  Sunflower  state.

	On the 9th of June, 1872, in Wilson County, Mr. Hill was joined in 
wedlock to Miss Lieu Rhodes, a daughter of Samuel Rhodes, who came to Kansas 
from Illinois.  Their marriage has been blessed with the following children:   
Sadie, now the wife of  Stanford  Eagle;  John, who married Effie  Rowten: 
Bessie, wife of Silas Lance; Ina and George, who are yet at home.  
In his political views Mr. Hill is a Republican and has served as trustee of 
Belmont Township, but official honors have had little attraction to him, his 
time being largely occupied with his business interests, in which capable 
management and persistency of purpose have played an important part, enabling 
him to advance steadily upward until he stands on a commanding position on 
the heights of affluence.