Traces to a Nathan Hills
who first shows in the 1800 Federal Census in Washington, County, NY.
Subsequently, Eldon's Nathan moved to western New York prior to
1820. His family then migrated into the Midwest.
Early records of Washington County, NY show various possible lines
from the Hills families. A Nathan Hills, not the same Nathan, who
settled about 1792 in Hartford, Washington County, NY along with a
number of his brothers. There is much that is unknown about this
group. These folks did have an article written about them in The
American Genealogist "Two Hills Brothers Married Two Risley
Sisters" in 1959.
A Benjamin Hills shows who is believed to be a grandson of Capt John
Hills, the gunsmith and revolutionary war soldier from Torrington,
Conn Other members of this same Hills line also settled in nearby
areas of Vermont and New York.. Benjamin's presumed father was
Hiram Hills of Bennington, Vt. A large group of this family settled
in Charlotte, Chittenden Co Vt and more of them settled in the
Paris, Oneida Co, NY area. Hiram is presumed to have had other
children of whom nothing is known.
In addition, there were numerous Hills in the immediate area
connected with the Samuel Hills line that left the Chatham area of
Connecticut in the 1780s with many of them settling in Bennington,
Vt, Madison, Rensselaer and Oneida counties in New York. This line
of Hills are believed to have suffered major losses when Benedict
Arnold destroyed New London, Conn. They received bounty lands in
New York. There are many holes in the information about this group.
We have also found Revolutionary War records of a widow to an
unknown John Hills in the area.
For some 30 years, Eldon has researched the possible ancestors to
his Nathan without a resolution. Hills researchers generally use a
rule of thumb that anyone able to trace their Hills ancestry to
before 1830 must descend from one of three early settlers. No
family record has been found for Eldon to trace back to one of the
three early settlers. Of course, this raises the issue of possible
unknown Hills or an error in the surname. Hopefully DNA testing can
resolve the issue.