Jonathan Hill
Jonathan Hill
| Born | 1646-04-20 |
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1698 - 1701 1708 - 1709 |
| Father | Ralph Hill |
| Mother | Margaret |
| Spouses |
Mary Hartwell |
| Children |
Jonathan (b. 1669-08-21)
Samuel (b. 1672-02-22) |
Jonathan Hill was a selectman of Billerica in 1698, 1700 and 1708. He is most likely the Jonathan Hill born on April 20, 1646, the youngest son of Ralph Hill, one of the first settlers, who had come from Plymouth by way of Woburn and lived on "the farm" a mile southwest of the village, and of his wife Margaret, formerly Margaret Toothaker. His father died in April 1663, the first, Hazen believed, to be buried in the old South Burying Ground, on land he had given the town. Jonathan's brothers were Ralph Hill Jr. and Nathaniel Hill. His son, also named Jonathan, was still styled "Jr." at his marriage in 1704, and the town records do not separate the two men, so the later references may belong to either.
On December 11, 1666, he married Mary Hartwell, daughter of William Hartwell of Concord. Their children were Mary (born 1667), who married John Fassett; Jonathan (1669), who married Mary Brackett and died in 1743; Samuel (1671/2), who married Sarah Page; Sarah (1674); and Joseph (1683). Mary died on February 13, 1694/5.
As a young man he signed Billerica's address to the General Court after the Restoration of Charles II, in which the townsmen declared that they "Rest Satisfied in the present Government" and promised to be "faithful, obedient, and servicable" to the authority "so long and orderly established by patent amongst vs." In October 1675, during King Philip's War, the town ordered his brother Sergeant Hill's house "to be a garrison for that end of ye towne, taking to it Nathaniel & Jonathan Hill" and their neighbors. In 1677, when the town was divided among tithing-men as the General Court required, his family was placed under the care of George Farley, and the list of polls and estates taken on August 24, 1688, rated "Jonath Hill" for three persons and his estate.
When the new meeting-house was finished in the 1690s, "Corpl Jonathan Hill" was named to the large committee, with Captain John Lane, Simon Crosby and others, that settled the seating of the congregation, a delicate task in a town where "rank, wealth, and social standing were the factors in determining the place where persons should sit." He served on the Select Board in 1698 and 1700, and a Jonathan Hill was chosen again in 1708. As a selectman he signed, on November 17, 1698, with Jonathan Danforth, John Lane, Joseph Tompson and James Frost, the town's petition asking the General Court to confirm Billerica's western lands against the claims of Concord and Chelmsford, "to prevent our plantation from breaking up or breaking in peicess." In the division of the town's common land made about 1707, a Jonathan Hill received the fourth lot of the "Squadron on the South of Oaks' farme," ninety-one acres next to the Oakes Farm, in what later became Bedford. His death is not recorded in the Billerica vital records.
Under his father's will of November 1662 Jonathan, the youngest son, received "all the rest of my lands and houses with the appurtenances to them belonging," the home farm on the Concord River, and he and his brother Nathaniel were named executors. He lived on that farm for more than half a century. On March 27, 1717, styled Jonathan Hill Sr., yeoman, he divided it between his two surviving sons by deeds of gift "for & in Consideration of ye Good will & affection" he bore them. His eldest son Jonathan Hill Jr., husbandman, received seventy acres on the west side of the river, fifty acres of upland and meadow between the farms of Capt. Samuel Hill and Samuel Hill Jr. running to the river, twenty acres on the east side of the country road and more meadow; his son Samuel Hill received the homestead lot of twenty acres north of his brother's, "Northeast to ye Country Road," where the Samuel Hill House stands, with other upland, meadow and swamp. He signed both deeds with his mark. No later record of him has been found.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 69, HILL 4: Jonathan, son of Ralph, b. April 20, 1646; m. Mary Hartwell 1666; children
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 68, HILL 1: Ralph Hill and his children, including Jonathan, b. 1646, April 20
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 185: Billerica address to the General Court after the Restoration, signed by Jonathan Hill among others
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 110: August 1675, Sergeant Hill's house a garrison, taking in Nathaniel and Jonathan Hill
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 194: list of males and rateable estate, August 24, 1688 (Jonath Hill, 3 persons and estate)
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 170: committee for seating the new meeting-house, including Corp. Jonathan Hill
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 305, list of selectmen: Jonathan Hill, 1698, 1700, 1708
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908): marriage of Jonathan Hill and Mary, Dec. 11, 1666; death of Mary, wife of Jonathan, Feb. 13, 1694/5
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), pp. 78-79: petition of Billerica to the General Court, Nov. 17, 1698, signed by Danforth, Lane, Tompson, James Frost and Jonathan Hill
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1663 | Will | Ralph Hill Sr. of Billerica, yeoman | Nathaniel Hill, his son (and Jonathan Hill, son, and Margaret Hill, widow) | Son; left "all the rest of my lands and houses" and named co-executor by his father Ralph Hill, 1662/3 | Jonathan Hill House Jonathan Hill Barn Hill's Mills Benjamin L. Judkins House Concord Road Corporate Center |
Probate #11502 |
Will dated November 18, 1662, "being weak in body but of perfect memory." To his wife Margaret a third part of all his housing, lands and meadows in Billerica for life, a bed, a cow of her choosing and swine. His son Ralph to have 23 pounds from the land bought at Woburn, the rest of his portion; daughter Martha 20 pounds; daughter Rebecca 30 pounds; granddaughters Mary Littlefield 15 pounds and Elizabeth Hill 20 shillings; to his son-in-law Roger Toothaker thirty-three and a half acres in the common field. "My son Nathaniell shall have that parcell of land lying towards Concord which is two half lotts (so called) and bounded as the land ... was exchanged with Benjamin Parker, which is in lieu of land laid to me by the town for highways," with all his meadow in Long Meadow and Little Round Meadow and the slips of meadow adjoining, half the meadow bought of Edward Oakes at Shawshin River, an acre in Concord River meadow and half of all later divisions of land. "My son Jonathan Hill shall have all the rest of my lands and houses with the appurtenances to them belonging," reserving to Nathaniel one third of the improvable land until he has broken up and fenced land of his own. Sons Nathaniel and Jonathan executors; William Tay and John Parker overseers. Signed by mark, witnessed by George Farley and John Parker, who swore to it at Billerica in 1663 before Capt. Gookin; entered and recorded at Cambridge, lib. 2, p. 153, by Thomas Danforth. Ralph Hill died April 29, 1663. The will gives Nathaniel bare land with no buildings, so the house on the site was built by Nathaniel after 1663 (he married in 1667) and was standing by 1706. Middlesex probate case 11502.
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| February 13, 1718 | Deed of Gift | Jonathan Hill Sr. of Billerica, yeoman | Samuel Hill, his son | As Jonathan Hill Sr., gives his son Samuel the homestead lot and other land, 1717 | Samuel Hill House Joseph Jaquith House |
18/592 (South) |
Dated Mar. 27, 1717, signed with his mark, witness Oliver Whiting; acknowledged Mar. 28, 1717 before Oliver Whiting; recorded Feb. 13, 1717/18 (Billerica town book 2, pages 110-112). "For & in Consideration of ye Good will & affection which I have & bear to my Son Saml Hill ... & Shewing a fatherly Care," several parcels of upland and meadow: twenty acres on the west side of the Concord River; "Twenty acres of upland & medow more or Less bounded Southwardly with Land of Jonathn Hill Junr ye Line to Run Southwest to ye River & then Southwest by ye River & Northwardly with Land of Ebenezer ffarley & Northeast to ye Country Road" (the homestead between the Concord road and the river); fifty acres bounded by John Whitmore, Josiah and Jonathan Bacon and Nathaniel Hudson; twenty acres on the east side of the country road; two acres of meadow by Ebenezer Farley; twenty acres by John Saunders and Nathaniel Patten; fourteen acres in the Great Swamp; a twelve-acre lot to be divided with Capt. John Stearns; and five acres in Pond Meadow by Henry Jefts, "with all that is Standing Growing or Lying upon ye same." The first recorded conveyance of the Samuel Hill homestead; the other half of Jonathan Hill's farm went to Jonathan Hill Jr.
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| January 7, 1718 | Gift | Jonathan Hill Sr. of Billerica, yeoman | His eldest son Jonathan Hill Jr. of Billerica, husbandman | As Jonathan Hill Sr., gives his eldest son Jonathan Jr. his share of the farm, 1717 | Benjamin L. Judkins House | 19/102 (South) |
Deed of gift "for & in Consideration of the good will & affection which I have and bear to my Son Jonathan Hill Junr": 70 acres of upland on the west side of Concord River (Josiah Crosby, Edmond Chamberlin, John Durrant, Nathaniel Hill); "fifty acres of upland and medow ... bounded South & South west by Land of Capt Samll Hill & South Eastwardly with the Country Road and North Eastwardly by Land of Samuell Hill Junr and North & North west by sd Samll Hill Junr, the lines to Run to the River"; "Twenty acres of upland ... upon the East side of ye Country Road," bounded south by Capt. Samuel Hill and east and north by Samuel Hill Jr. and the road; 50 acres of meadow and upland by Whittemore, the Bacons and Nathan Hudson; and meadows by Joseph Hill, Nathaniel Hudson, Job Lane and Capt. John Stearns. Recorded at Cambridge Jan. 7, 1717/18; Billerica town book 2, pages 128-129. The eldest son's portion out of the Hill farm on the Bedford road (the 1742 will calls it lands given "by deeds to the value of about Six Hundred Pounds").
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.