Thomas Byron Hill (1829 - 1908)

Thomas Byron Hill was born September 11, 1829 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom.^[1] He was a son of Thomas Hill and Maria Elizabeth Hunt.^[1]

At the age of 15, he emigrated to the United States with his family; they settled in Taunton, Massachusetts.

Marriage

He married Charlotte Matilda Hawks on November 16, 1849 in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States.^[1][2] Together they have nine children.^[3][4][5]

Children

1. Thomas Hill (died in infancy)
2. Edward Rufus Hill
3. Charlotte M Hill
4. Robert R Hill
5. Adeline Matilda Hill
6. Ellen Elizabeth Hill
7. Estella Louise Hill
8. Laura Bell Hill
9. Thomas Virgil Troyon Hill
10. Flora Camille Hill

At the age of 24, Hill attended evening classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). During his years as a student, Hill traveled to the White Mountains in New Hampshire as early as 1854 and sketched alongside members of the Hudson River School.

In 1856, Hill and his family moved to San Francisco, California.

Hill maked his first trip to the Yosemite Valley in 1865. The next year, Hill traveled to the East Coast and Europe. He established his family on the East Coast but continued to take sketching trips to the West Coast and to attend meetings of the San Francisco Art Association. He moved his family back to San Francisco in 1873.

Hill made yearly sketching trips to Yosemite, Mount Shasta, and, back east, to the White Mountains. Hill ran an art gallery and art supply store. He briefly acted as the interim director for the SFAA School of Design and went to Alaska on a commission for environmentalist John Muir. He lived on his stock market investments as well as his art proceeds. His marriage ended in the 1880s.

Toward the end of his life, he maintained a studio at Yosemite’s Wawona Hotel. After suffering a stroke, Hill left Yosemite and traveled up and down the California coast.

Death

Thomas Byron Hill died June 30, 1908 in Raymond, Madera, California, United States.^[1][6] He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California.^[6][7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} California, Pioneer Migration Index, Compiled 1906-1935, Thomas Hill, 1861; citing Emigration, California, United States, California State Library, Sacramento.
2. ↑ Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954, Thomas Hill and Charlotte M Hawks, 1849.
3. ↑ United States Census, 1860 [online database] FamilySearch, Thomas Hill, 1860; Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.
4. ↑ United States Census, 1870 [online database] FamilySearch, Thomas Hill, 1870; Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
5. ↑ United States Census, 1880 [online database] FamilySearch, Thomas Hill, Brooklyn Judicial Township, Alameda, California, United States; citing enumeration district.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} California, Oakland, Mountain View Cemetery Records, 1857-19, Thomas Hill, 3 Jul 1908; citing Burial, California, United States, Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland.
7. ↑ Find A Grave, memorial page for Thomas Hill (11 Sep 1829–30 Jun 1908), Find a Grave Memorial ID 5993, citing Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Alameda County, California, USA.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hill_(painter)