Ralph Hill
Ralph Hill
| Town Founder | |
| In Office | 1654 - 1655 |
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1660 - 1662 |
| Succeeded by | William Tay |
Ralph Hill was, by family tradition, from Billericay, Essex, England, the town for which Billerica is named. He was a freeman in Woburn by 1647 and served as a Woburn selectman in 1649, before joining the settlement of Shawshin as one of its earliest inhabitants. In April 1663 he gave the town half an acre of land for a burying ground; he died just days later, on April 29, and is believed to have been the first person buried there. He married, as his second wife, Margaret Toothaker.
References
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1789 | Will | Capt. Ralph Hill of Billerica, gentleman | His sons William Hill and Solomon Hill; his widow Abigail; daughters Hannah Miller, Bathsheba French, Naomi Hill and Sarah Hill | Details | Solomon Hill House Deacon Samuel Hill House |
Probate #11505 |
Will dated Nov. 12, 1784, witnessed by Isaac Stearns, Samuel Kidder and Peter Hill: to his wife Abigail for life "the improvement of the Easterly end of my now dwelling House to the middle of the Chimney," with the cellar, well and door yard; to "my son William Hill ... the Southerly part of my homestead containing about sixty acres," beginning "at a Bunch of Maples near the River a little above the Island in the river," east by a ditch across the plow land to a white oak and "to a stonewall at the south end of a Hopyard and running by the wall to the Highway leading to Concord," being "the Land that I had of my Hond Father by a Deed dated January 3d 1732/3," with his lands on the southeast side of the highway; to "my son Solomon Hill ... all the rest of my Lands in Billerica including the small Island in the River with all the Buildings thereon standing"; money legacies to his daughters, with Naomi and Sarah to have "liberty of convenient room in either of my Dwelling Houses" while unmarried, and William to have a right of way across Solomon's land. William and Solomon executors. The heirs certified their assent to the will in February 1789. Middlesex probate case 11505.
Title passed to:
|
||||||
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.