Thomas W. Hill

Thomas Warden Hill (January 9, 1817 - May 26, 1879) was an American farmer from Springfield, Wisconsin who held a number of offices in local government, and who served two one-year terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Walworth County, one as a Freesoiler and one ten years later as a Republican.[1]

Background

Hill was born in Swanton, Vermont on January 9, 1817, and moved with his parents when five years of age to Lewis, New York in Essex County, New York. His parents died when he was still a child, and he was raised by an uncle, with whom he lived until he was 21 years of age, receiving only a limited education. In the fall of 1838, he struck out for the frontier, traveling mostly on foot. He eventually arrived in the Town of Geneva in the Wisconsin Territory on October 15 of that year, and immediately found work on local farms, in a store and in a gristmill. By March 1839h e was able to buy land in the nearby Town of Hudson, which plot he would retain for the rest of his life. He was soon elected to his first local offices, with the 1840 elections of the Town of Geneva, when he was elected as tax collector and constable.

In the spring of 1842, having been moved by a series of revival meetings during the previous winter, he joined the Presbyterian Church in Geneva. On February 12, 1843, he married Lydia Ferris. On their first anniversary, they moved to his land in Hudson, where they would live for most of the next three decades. They continued to improve the original land and expanded their holdings over the years, and Hill pursued private studies to supplement his limited formal education.

Public office

Hill held numerous offices in the Town of Hudson during his time their, including chairing the township's board of supervisors. He would be elected repeatedly to the county board of supervisors at times from 1849 to 1867, including one year (1865) as the board's chairman; and as one of the county's Superintendents of the Poor.

His first term in the Assembly was for the sixth (1853) session of the state legislature, succeeding in representing the 2nd Walworth County district (the Towns of Elkhorn, Geneva and Hudson). He was assigned to the standing committee on claims.[2] He was succeeded in the next term by Simeon Spafard, a Democrat.

He was elected once more to the Assembly for the sixteenth (1863) session, succeeding fellow Republican Sylvester Hanson in a redistricted 2nd district, now consisting of the Towns of La Grange, Richmond, Sugar Creek and Whitewater. He was assigned once again to the committee on claims, and also to that on town and county organization.[3] He was succeeded in the next session by fellow Republican Daniel Smith.

After the Assembly

He continued to farm and to participate in local politics. In the spring of 1868, he moved back to Geneva and stayed there until the spring of 1870, when he was put in charge of the county poor farm and asylum, an office he would hold until his death. He held numerous offices in his church, including superintendent of the Sabbath school, deacon and ruling elder.

On May 26, 1879, he died suddenly of a heart attack while superintending work being done at his old homestead.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p. 62
  2. ↑ Manual for the use of the assembly, of the state of Wisconsin, for the year 1853 Madison: Brown and Carpenter, Printers, 1853; pp. 71, 84, 99*, 109
  3. ↑ Dean, John S.; Stewart, Frank M., eds. The legislative manual of the state of Wisconsin; comprising Jefferson's manual, the rules, forms and laws for the regulation of business; also, lists and tables for reference Second Annual Edition. Madison: Atwood and Rublee, State Printers, 1863; pp. 93, 93, 130
  4. ↑ History of Walworth County, Wisconsin: Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources; an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Towns and Villages, Their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools and Societies; Its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin, Statistics of the State, and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution and the Constitution of the United States Chicago: Western Historical Society, 1882; pp. 403, 404, 414, 417, 430, 449, 453-55, 458-59, 864-65, 868
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