William Hills Sr (abt. 1608 - 1683)

Born about 27 Dec 1608 in Upminster, Essex, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Phillis (Lyman) Hills — married 1632 (to before 1648) in Roxbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 15 Aug 1683 at about age 74 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut

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William Hills Sr migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 2, p. 941) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Donald L Jacobus in Hale, House and Related Families, suggests that William Hills who died at Hartford, was perhaps the Wlliam Hills baptized at Upminster 27 Dec 1608.^[1][2][3]

Evidence is certainly not conclusive:

The Lymans lived in a neighboring parish

Both families lived in Roxbury when William Hills (later of Hartford) m. Phillis Lyman.

The Upminster Hills had sons William and Thomas. William and Thomas Hills (immigrants) lived together in Roxbury.

William Hills and his brother Thomas were likely born in Upminister, Essex Co., England that county having a great concentration of the name Hills and historical references. The Lyman family were from a neighboring parish in Essex, although William Hills and Phillis Lyman married in Roxbury, MA.

According to the "Hills Family in America," William and and his brother Thomas immigrated to New England on the ship "Lyon," arriving in Boston September, 1632. The ship's master was William Pearce. It sailed from Bristol 24 June 1632 and entered Boston harbor September, 1632. This date is confirmed in the "History of the First Church in Roxbury, MA, 1630-1908," by Walter Eliot Thwing. However, "The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. II," by Robert Charles Anderson, 1995, indicates that William migrated in 1632 on the ship "William & Francis" and that it's not proven that he & Thomas were brothers. ^[4] (According to another text,^{[citation needed]} the Rev. John Eliot, Sr arrived on the ship "Lyon" in 1631; perhaps this is where the confusion arose from.) It is likely that both men became manservants indentured to clergyman Rev. John Eliot at Roxbury, having come on the same ship as Ann Mumford, intended wife of the same minister. Both John Eliot and Ann Mumford/Mountfort were originally from Essex Co. as well. Eliot was referred to as the "Apostle to the Indians."

The church history cited above states that William Hills was a member between 1631 and 1650. He was a manservant who came to Roxbury in 1632. He married Phyllis Lyman; became a Freeman in Roxbury 14 May 1634. Rev. Eliot wrote the following about William: "Williams Hills, a man servant, he came over in the yeare 1632.

He married Phillice Lyman, the daughter of Richard Liman, he removed to Hartford on Conecticott, where he lived seuerall years, whout giving such good satisfaction to the conscienes of the saints."

[HISTORIC NOTE: The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed in 1629. The period between that date and 1641, just prior to the English Civil War, is described as the "Great Migration" during which more than 13,000 left Old England for New.]

Rev. Eliot owned a farm of 48 1/2 acres, 9 acres of salt marsh, 55 1/2 acres in another part of Roxbury, 39 acres in Dedham, Massachusetts and 2 other lots of more than 20 acres. It is likely that the Hills brothers worked on this property while in Eliot's employ.

Thomas Hills, possibly William's brother, died in November or December, 1634 while still indentured. William is shown as a resident of Roxbury, a freeman, 14 May 1634. (Roxbury became part of the city of Boston in 1868.) His period of indenture was less than 2 years.

He left Roxbury 15 Oct. 1635 with Richard Lyman, his father-in-law and moved to Hartford, Connecticut. They appear to have migrated with a group from the church of Cambridge which migrated as a body to Hartford with Rev. Hooker and originated the First Church of Hartford. William's name is listed on the Founders Monument in Hartford.

[HISTORIC NOTE: Three areas of Connecticut were settled in 1634 as offshoots of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Wethersfield, Hartford and Windsor. CT became self-governing in 1639 and their Royal Charter was granted in 1662. The movement to CT was accelerated in 1636 when eminent minister Thomas Hooker brought a portion of his Cambridge congregation with him to Hartford. Hooker, formerly an English Anglican minister, had been exiled to Holland for a number of years before coming to the colonies. There he was "rival" to minister Joseph Cotton, the two differing on several doctrinal issues. While some followed Hooker for religious reasons, most were merely economic opportunists. From its beginning, then, CT was unlike the Bay Colony - CT was comprised mainly of young, unmarried men seeking to establish themselves on the land. It wasn't until later that the colony began to take on the demographics of the "parent."]

In the Hartford land inventory of 1639/40, William held nine parcels of land, six of which were granted to him: one acre and one rood with dwelling house, outhouses, yards and gardens; sevens acres of upland; nice acres of upland; one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; another one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; one acre and one rood in the South Meadow; five hundred seventeen acres of upland in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore;" ten acres of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Hosmore;" and three acres, two roods and 29 rods of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Francis Andrews."

In the records of the First Church of Hartford, Williams Hills is shown as one of the original members, later noted as "dismissed July 1683, moved to Hadley." Hadley, Massachusetts was the home of William's wife, Mary (Warner) Steele and William died in that month and that year: however, Williams' will was proved 6 Dec. 1683 in Hartford and it's believed that he never made the removal to Hadley; the will is dated 21 Feb. 1681. Jacobus states he died in July, 1683, the inventory being taken in August, totaling 274 pounds, 0s, 2d. He named his wife Mary and son Jonathan as executors. Prior to his death, he agreed to bring up the children of Richard Risley, children of his wife Mary, Risley's widow, and to give them their several portions. Barbour calls Mary Risley his 3rd wife, but she was more likely his 2nd, as Mary (Warner) Steele, who I believe was his 3rd wife, from from Hadley, MA where they removed in about 1683. This order of marriage is confirmed by "The Descendants of Andrew Warner," 1919, by "The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley and his wife Emma Arabella Bosworth," N.G. Parke & D.L. Jacobus, 1960, pages. 144-45 and "Hale, House & Related Families," pages. 579-581.

Children

William and Phyllis had^[4]

1. Sarah Hills, b. abt. 1638 Hartford, Conn.

2. William Hills, b. abt. 1640 Hartford, Conn.

3. John Hills, b. abt. 1644 Hartford, Conn.

William and Mary _____ had the following children:^[4]

4. Joseph Hills bp 17 Mar 1649

5. Susannah Hills b about 1651

6. Benjamin Hills b. about 1653

7. Benoni Hills b. about 1655

William and Mary Warner had:^[4]

8. Abraham b. late in 1656

9. Hannah b. Hartford about 6 Dec 1658

10. Mary b. say 1660; living unmarried 1680/1. no further record

11. Jonathan b. about 1664

12. Hester b. about 1667

Research Notes

The Great Migration Begins, p 943, incorrect quotes Jacobus referencing a baptism for William Hills 27 December 1598. The correct year is 1608 as confirmed in NEHGR 175.^[2]

Additional sources:

Torrey: William (-1683) & 1/wf Phillis [LYMAN] (1611-); ca 1632, bef 22 Apr 1640?; Roxbury/Hartford {Ackley-Bosworth 145, 149; Stevens-Miller 385; McIntire Anc. 344; Hale (1952) 579; Dunham-Boyd 156; Hartford Prob. 1:22; Reg. 87:374; Lyman 37; Flagg Anc. 208; Cross Anc. 132; Hills; Deerfield 233; Boddie 206; Windsor CT 2:392; Wethersfield 2:426; Upton (1893) 171, 172}

 ?William1 (-1683) & 2/wf [?Mary]/ _____ RESLEY/RISELY, w ?Richard; aft 17 Oct 1648, bef 7 Dec 1648?; Hartford {TAG 25:233; Ackley-Bosworth 145; Hills 3, 4; Warner (1919) 31; Dunham-Boyd 156; Hartford Prob. 1:31; McIntire Anc. 344; Hale (1952) 579, 657}

 ?William1 (-1683) & 3/wf Mary (WARNER) [STEELE], w John; bef 1658, aft 1653, bef 25 Jan 1669; Hartford/Hadley {Warner-Harrington 705; McIntire Anc. 544; Hale (1952) 579, 658; Ackley-Bosworth 145; Bassett-Preston 309; Dunham-Boyd 156; Hartford Prob. 1:321; Hale (1952) 8; Reg. 12:197; Hadley 146; Flagg Anc. 208; French Anc. 82; Fulton Anc. 310; Warner (1919) 30; Hills 3, 4; Steele 7; Upton (1893) 171}

Sources

1. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines, and Edgar Francis Waterman. Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley. (Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1952), p. 579.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Streeter, Perry. "William¹ Hills of the Great Migration: Probable Origins in Upminster, Essex," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, (Spring 2021), Vol 175 page 174.
3. ↑ Baptism: "Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812"
   Essex Record Office; Chelmsford, Essex, England; Essex Church of England Parish Registers
   Ancestry Record 61698 #203416 (accessed 20 September 2023)
   Willm Hilles baptism on 27 Dec 1608, son of Thomas Hilles & Jane Hilles, in Upminster, St Laurence, Essex, England.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995), pages 941-46, American Ancestors.org (by subscription) citing: & "Hills Family in America," 1906 & "The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley...," N.G. Parke & D.L. Jacobus, 1960, pg. 145. William HILLS MARRIAGE: BEF. DEC 1648, Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut?

See also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #35660448
• Talcott, Mary Kingsbury, 1847-1917 The Original Proprietors' Publication: Robert A. Buckman, 2001 (electronic edition), 3rd printing. Society of The Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, Inc. available here.

• Hills, William Sanford. Genealogical Data Relating to the Ancestry and Descendants of William Hills (A. Mudge & son, 1902) Page 18
• Barbour, Lucius Barnes, 1982, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut pp.301
• Hills Family Genealogical and Historical Association, "Annual Report of the Directors, Volumes 1-14."
• Prominent Families of New York, pg 286: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=PyRKAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA286
• Jacobus, Donald Lines. The Risley Family of Connecticut, The American Genealogist (1949) Vol. 25, Page 233