Israel Hill
Israel Hill
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ISRAEL HILLThe late Israel Hill, for years one of Davison township’s best-known and most influential farmers, an honored veteran of the Civil War and the proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in the east side of section 19, in the western part of Davison township, whose last days were spent in quiet and comfortable retirement in the village of Davison, was a native of the state of New York, born on July 9, 1839. He was but a child when he came to this part of Michigan with his parents back in the forties, the family being the first settlers in Davison Township. In a biographical sketch relating to Phillip P. Hill, brother of Israel Hill, presented elsewhere in this work, there is set out in further detail something of the history of the Hill Family in Genesee County. Israel Hill was reared on the pioneer farm of his father in Davison Township and there grew to manhood, a valuable assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improving the same, finally before his marriage in 1861, becoming the owner of forty acres of his own. When the Civil War broke out, in 1862, he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-third Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and was in the service three years. During this service, Mr. Hill was captured by the enemy while serving on picket duty, and for more than fourteen months was confined in Confederate prisons, during which time he was incarcerated in no fewer than five prisons, including those at Belle Isle and Andersonville. When he finally was exchanged it was found that his health had been so badly shattered by the privations of his prison life that he was incapable of further service and he was discharged on a physician’s certificate of disability. All the following summer he was unable to work on account of his reduced physical state, but presently recuperated and bought a farm in section 19 in Davison Township, where he established his home and there he lived until his retirement from the farm and removal, on March 15, 1910 to the village of Davison, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on May 6, 1914. Israel Hill was an excellent farmer and, as he prospered in his farming operations, added to his holdings until he became the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, which he improved in good shape and brought up to a high state of cultivation, long having been regarded as one of the best farmers in his neighborhood. He took an active part in the general affairs of the community and was an enterprising, energetic and influential citizen, ever helpful in all movements designed to advance the best interests of the community. He was a member of Flint Post, Grand Army of the Republic; a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife were members of the Baptist church, in the affairs of all of which organizations he ever took a warm interest. On September 1 1861, Israel Hill was united in marriage to Alice L. Seelye, who was born in Davison Township, this county, daughter of Alson and Lorinza (Wicker) Seelye, early residents of Genesee county, who took a prominent part in the development of a social order in the Davison neighborhood. In a biographical reference to Mrs. Ernest L. Post, sister of Mrs. Hill, presented elsewhere in this volume, there are set out further details of the Seelye family in this county. Alson Seelye came here in 1836 and entered a tract of “Congress land” in Davison Township. He and his brother cleared the first land ready for cultivation in Davison Township and became prominent pioneers of that section of the county. Alson Seelye built a one-room log house on the section line and when the roads later came to be surveyed through that part of the county it was found that his house stood right in the middle of what ought to be the road. The surveyors laid their lines to one side of the cabin and that original “jog” in the road persists there to this day. It was in that log cabin that Mrs. Hill was born and she has distinct recollections of the howling of the wolves about the cabin home during the long and dreary winter nights. To Israel and Alice L. (Seelye) Hill eight children were born, of whom two died in early childhood and six are living, namely: Emerson, a prosperous farmer of Saginaw county, this state, who married Esther Hall, who died, leaving five children, Roy Laverne, Emerson Israel, Iva, Robert and Lila, after which he married Mrs. Lottie (Savage) Comfort; Rose, living about a mile from Montrose, widow of Freemont Gillette, who died in October 1913, leaving one child, a daughter, Mrs. Alice Byrn; Joseph, a well-known farmer living a half mile west of Richfield Center, who married Anna Patterson, who died, leaving one daughter, now Mrs. Mabel Coggins, after which he married Sevilla Switzer; Arthur, a farmer living a half-mile west of the center of Davison Township, who married Mary Bush and has three children, Harry, Hazel and Donald; Daisy, who married William Cartwright and lives in Flint, and Walter H., who lives with his mother in Davison. Mrs. Hill has a very pleasant home in Davison and retains her active interest in church and benevolent works in the neighborhood. Her memory of pioneer days is as clear and vivid as though the events of that early day had occurred but yesterday and she is a veritable storehouse of information regarding the early settlers and the early days of the Davison settlement. This article was transcribed by Mrs. Mary E.
Byam from a work by Edwin O. Wood, LL.D., President Michigan Historical
Commission, History of Genesee County Michigan Volume II, Her People,
Industries and Institutions (Federal Publishing Company: Indianapolis, Indiana,
1916), Pages 480ff |
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