USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 68
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Iowa numbers Dr. Hill among her native sons, his birth having occurred at Garnavillo. Clayton county, May 8, 1846. His parents were Rev. James Jere- miah and Sarah Elizabeth (Hyde) Hill. The ancestral history of the family is traced back to the year in which America was discovered. The lord mayor of London in 1492 was Sir Roland Hill, who was the first Protestant to attain that position. Three hundred years later another Sir Roland was the originator of the penny postal system in England. In early colonial history the name of Hill is often found. William, called one of the founders of New England, came over in the ship William and Francis. The founder of the Maine branch of the Hill family was Peter, who came from the west of England to Biddeford in 1653. Four generations later Mark Langdon Hill figured in the activities of Phippsburg. "He was a successful shipbuilder, owner and merchant, at one time judge of the court of sessions, postmaster, chairman of the board of selectmen for many years, held other town offices, was a prominent member of the Con- gregational church. He was always a conspicuous man, was a trustee of Bow- doin College, served in the general court of Massachusetts and in the United States house of representatives. He was notably condescending, affable and courteous, which were natural traits in his character."
On his father's side Dr. Hill descended from James McCobb, who was cap- tain of a company of the militia of Massachusetts during the Revolutionary war and also a chairman of the committee of safety, inspection and correspondence
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for the town of Georgetown, Massachusetts (now Maine), and a recognized patriot, taking an active part in providing means of defense and forwarding de- tails of soldiers to the armies in the field.
On his mother's side he is descended from Elijah Hyde, who was in Novem- ber, 1776, appointed major of the Second Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse. Major Elijalı Hyde's regiment of light horse reported at Stillwater, New Jersey, October 2, 1777. The following paper is recorded, signed by him: "A return of men detached from the Second Regiment Light Horse, in the state of Connecticut, to serve in the Continental army until the 15th of January next agreeable to order from Colonel Seymour, commandant. Dated, Lebanon, Con- necticut, October 5, 1779. Elijah Hyde, major."
Our subject's father, James Jeremialı Hill, the youngest son of Judge Mark Langdon Hill, was born in Phippsburg, Maine, in 1815, and after mastering the branches of learning taught in the village schools pursued a preparatory course at Bridgton Academy and then entered Bowdoin College, from which he was graduated with honors in the class of 1838. He prepared for his ministry as a student in the Andover Theological Seminary and is numbered among its alumni of 1843. In the following spring he married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Hyde, who was a daughter of one of the deacons of the Old South church, a merchant and an eminent citizen. The wedding journey of the young couple was the long and arduous trip to the far west. They floated down the Ohio river to St. Louis, then proceeded up the Mississippi river to Dubuque, from which point they rode across the prairies to Garnavillo in Clayton county, a village which had been founded by pioneers from New England. Their home was among the Indians, who up to that time had remained in exclusive possession of this hunt- ing ground. Wolves frequently made the night hideous with their howling and other wild animals were seen. Game of all kinds, including venison, wild turkeys, partridges, prairie chickens, quails, pigeons, rabbits and squirrels, was to be had in abundance. A feature of interest in the new home was the advent of a little son, Gershom Hyde, so called in honor of his maternal grandfather. This was in 1846. Two years later a second son, named James Langdon Hill for his paternal grandfather, arrived. In 1849 the Rev. Hill left Iowa and with his family went to Albany, Illinois. There the birth of a third son occurred May 29, 1852, and he was named for an uncle, Edmond Alden. The mother died the same day. In September, 1853, the Rev. Hill was married to Sarah Wells Harriman at Great Falls, New Hampshire. She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary and by her marriage she became the mother of two sons and four daughters. She proved an acceptable and efficient pastor's wife, was a kind and faithful stepmother and following her husband's death most care- fully cared for her fatherless children. She passed away in Des Moines in 1896.
Continuing his ministerial labors, the Rev. James J. Hill was pastor of the Congregational church in Savanna, Illinois, in Wapello, Louisa county, Iowa, at Glencoe, Minnesota, and in 1860 removed with his family to Grinnell, Iowa, for the purpose of giving his children a college education, preaching in the meantime in the near-by churches at Montour, Green Mountain, Marietta. Albion and Genoa Bluffs. In 1865 he became the founder of the Congregational church
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at Fayette, Iowa, to which place the family removed. After acting as pastor of the Fayette church for three years Mr. Hill accepted an agency for the Amer- ican Missionary Association, in which work he continued to the time of his death, which occurred at Fayette, October 29. 1870, his remains being interred in Hazelwood cemetery at Grinnell, where were made the graves of his two wives and an infant son. He was a zealous and thoroughly consecrated Chris- tian minister and an evangelistic disposition prompted him to plant churches and nurture them to the end of his days. The mother of Dr. Hill was born in Bath, Maine, in 1823. She had no brothers but two sisters, one of whom be- came the wife of the Rev. Edmond K. Alden, D. D., of Boston, and the other the first wife of Rev. Dr. George F. Magoun, the first president of Grinnell College. In disposition Mrs. Sarah Hill was exceedingly active, enthusiastic, philanthropic and self-sacrificing. She was devoted to her husband, her chil- dren and the work of the church.
Dr. Gershom H. Hill, educated in Iowa College ( now Grinnell College). re- ceived the degree of A. B. in 1871 and that of A. M. in 1881. In 1910 he was elected a member of Chapter Beta of Iowa of the Phi Beta Kappa at Grinnell College. He completed his preparation for the practice of medicine in Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he received his professional degree on graduation in the class of 1874. In 1878 he pursued post-graduate work in Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York and in 1890 at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.
The Hill family came to Grinnell in the spring of 1860. Carriages brought the parents and children from the end of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad at Iowa City. For a night or two they were entertained in the new and hos- pitable home of Levi, Mary and Martha Grinnell, cousins of J. B. Grinnell. It is opposite the president's house and now owned by the Hill brothers. For two years the family lived on West street, afterward on lligh street.
The first two summers Gershom Hill lived in Grinnell he raised corn and did other farm work on ground north of town and owned by Levi Grinnell. The next two seasons lie worked by the month for Rodney Clark on a farm and in a sawmill southwest of town. During the summer of 1864 he was down in Tennessee with Professor Parker, with students and other boys in Company B, Forty-sixth Iowa Volunteers. The following summers, until he graduated. he was found in the harvest fields of the Shermans, the Fishers, Thomas Fuller and Mr. Rutherford, in Chester township. In the winters of 1860, 1861 and 1862 he attended the high school, where Parker, Beaton and Kenworthy were among the teachers. In the winter of 1863. before Gershom was eighteen years of age. he taught a district school near Green Mountain. In the winter of 1864 he drove a team for and boarded with Dr. Sears in the house lately bought by the Hill brothers as a site for a new college building. When the Hill family moved to Fayette in 1865 Gershom and James remained in Grinnell to go through college and on this condition were "given their time." Previously their earn- ings had gone toward the support of the family while living in Grinnell.
In the meantime there had come into his life many interesting experiences which left their impress upon his character. He was but fifteen years of age when, in 1861. he one night drove a wagonload of slaves forty miles to Marengo,
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where he secretly put them in a box car billed to Canada. They were traveling on the "underground railroad," on which there were no stations between the state of Missouri and the home of J. B. Grinnell. While making preparations for, and in college, he taught three winter terms in Marshall county and two winters in Poweshiek county. On the completion of his literary and profes- sional education he took up the practice of medicine in Moline, Ilinois, where he remained for nine months, and on the ist of December, 1874, became assistant superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane at Independence, in which position he remained until the Ist of November, 1881.
The following is an extract from a Grinnell newspaper. "Dr. Gershom H. Hill, for seven years assistant superintendent, has been promoted to the super- intendency of the insane asylum at Independence. He graduated from Jowa College in the class of 1871. In the best sense he is a self-made man, having secured his education and paid for it by his industry, 'working his way through college' and through all obstacles to his present enviable but worthily earned position. He was 'an excellent hand' and very seldom out of a job when en- ployers had tested his quality. Many of his college friends and the people of the town will remember him in those days and have a thrill of generous, grate- ful pride as they learn of his recent promotion. It was not natural brilliancy or dash but a good sound mind and trustworthy judgment, with a determined purpose and industry equal to his needs, that carried him steadily forward. Few men can give a better account of their talents, time and opportunities or fur- nish an example more worthy. We congratulate the trustees, and ourselves as a part of the general public, that so excellent a Christian gentleman and so com- petent a physician has been found and charged with the care of the unfortunate insane at Independence." In 1902 the hospital contained eleven hundred patients, had two hundred names on its pay roll and possessed twelve hundred acres of good farm land, and as superintendent Dr. Hill was in charge of the various interests connected with its management, control and treatment there given to patients. The following is an extract taken from the American Jour- nal of Insanity : "Dr. Gershom H. Hill, Medical Superintendent Iowa State Hos- pital for the Insane at Independence, lowa, after twenty-eight years' service at this hospital, has sent to the board of control of the state institutions his resig- nation to take effect July 1, 1902. Dr. Hill proposes to enter into private prac- tice at Des Moines, lowa, confining himself to neurology and psychiatry. Dr. Hill has been one of the most earnest and active workers in the American Med- ico-Psychological Association and has, in his work among the insane in Iowa, done much to elevate the standard of care and the excellence of the work done in the institutions of that state. He has been at all times an ardent advocate of scientific work in the wards of the hospitals and in the laboratories and, al- though one of the older superintendents, has been as energetic and enthusiastic in this direction as have been many of the younger men in the Association. It is gratifying to learn that Dr. Hill, in severing his relations with institutional work, will still continue his relations with the Associaton."
Below are the resolutions of the Ministerial Association of Independence, Iowa.
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"Whereas, Dr. Gershom H. Hill, superintendent, and family have concluded that their physical well-being demands that they should have a change in service, hence the resignation of the Doctor from the superintendency of the hospital for the insane of the northeastern section of the state of Iowa, a post- iton that he has filled with distinguished credit and uninterrupted success for twenty-one years, having been the first assistant the seven years preceding :
And whereas, in the midst of the many pressing duties of this important position, he has in an unstinted way freely invested of his means, time and influence for the promotion of the interests of the kingdom of our Lord, as represented by the Young Men's Christian Association and the several churches of this city :
And whereas, in the everyday living of the Doctor and his excellent family there is a continued expression of truth and tact, courage and patience, love and helpfulness, and believing that they have always been actuated by the priceless gifts of kindness and gentleness, since they have always been observed as serving faithfully in the foremost rank of every good movement; therefore be it
Resolved, first, That we, the Young Men's Christian Association and the Ministerial Association of Independence, Iowa, tender to Dr. Hill and family at least a feeble expression of our appreciation of their inestimable services as Chris- tian citizens. Believing that our Young Men's Christian Association might have disbanded but for the faith and courage of Dr. Hill and because of his gener- osity and that which his deeds have inspired in others, therefore today we have abundant reasons to thank God that our association is located in their own build- ing free of debt. We are therefore placed under profound obligations to our heavenly Father for the exalted privilege of knowing and cooperating with this Godly family.
Resolved, second, That we will cherish in our lives a sacred memory of their earnest devotion to and faithful service for the right and will seek a holy inspiration therefrom.
Resolved, third, That we most sincerely commend them to the fellowship of the Christian forces of the city of Des Moines, forecasting for them a brilliant and an illustrious career. We believe them to be worthy of the fraternal con- sideration of all, and pray that grace, mercy and peace may continue with them as they go from us.
H. C. Rosenberger, president. C. J. Shutt, secretary. .
Endorsed by F. M. Devendorf, secretary of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation.
Independence, June 30, 1902."
On resigning his position Dr. Hill removed to Des Moines, where he has since continued the practice of medicine as an alienist. In conjunction with Dr. J. C. Doolittle, on the Ist of July, 1905, he opened a private hospital in the homestead of James Callanan, Sr., comprising forty acres of natural timber used as a park, and for hospital purposes he utilized all the buildings erected by Mr. Callanan for a rural home. The patronage of this retreat for nervous and mental invalids has steadily increased and the institution has become popular and prosperous. While residing in Des Moines. Dr. Hill has also maintained
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an office in the Equitable building, has conducted a consultation practice in the city and state and has also served as an expert witness in cases where mental conditions need to be determined. The Retreat, as its name implies, is a quiet and secluded place for tired and discouraged people to rest. Everything there is made attractive, cheerful and homelike, and physicians, business men and others who have visited the place unanimously declare it to be ideal for its present use. Indoors the life is like that of a large, orderly, agreeable family. Outdoor life is indulged in as much as possible. There is every equipment for the care and treatment of patients according to the most modern scientific meth- ods and many cures have been effected under the influences and through the treatment that is here accorded.
For many years Dr. Hill was president of the Buchanan County Medical Society and later held the same office in the Austin-Flint Medical Society. He is a member of the Polk County, of the Des Moines Pathological and of the Iowa State Medical Societies, also of the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Medi- cine and the American Medico-Psychological Association. He is likewise a mem- ber of the staff of physicians and surgeons of the lowa Methodist Hospital. He has done excellent work as an educator, serving for sixteen years as lecturer on mental diseases in the State University of Iowa. The president of that insti- tution under date of September 28, 1906, wrote him as follows: "It gives me. personally and officially, sincere regret not to have you continue on our staff. I know that many members of the regents and faculty feel in the same way. We understand that we are indebted to you for practically free service for many years. For some time there has been a regulation that one upon our staff in the College of Medicine should not also be upon the staff of another college. We have winked at the enforcement of this regulation since you became a mem- ber of the staff at Drake. Of course we have nothing but kindly feelings toward Drake, but the general principle is one that in the long run it is probably just as we should have. The board of control has been good enough to favor the beginning of co-ordination between their institutions and the educational institu- tions. It was thought, therefore, that it would be helpful to have one of their superintendents serve us, and so the regents have offered a lectureship for the ensuing year to Dr. Witte. Hoping that the relinquishment of your active lec- tureship may not mean that we shall not see you from time to time and have some word of cheer and expert counsel, believe me.
Your sincere friend. George E. Maclean."
Since 1903 Dr. Hill has been professor of mental diseases in the College of Medicine of Drake University. He is also president of the Des Moines Asso- ciation of the Alumni of Grinnell College and a member of the Des Moines Association of Alumni of Chicago University.
On the 9th of January. 1879, Dr. Hill was married, in Lynn, Massachusetts. to Louisa Bliss Ford, a daughter of Richard Ford, a retired merchant. Her only living brother is also a merchant in Malden, Massachusetts. Mrs. Hill completed her education in the Massachusetts Normal School at Salem and for seven years taught in the graded schools of Lynn. Their only child. Julia
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Ford Hill, born in the State Hospital at Independence, in 1886, is a graduate of the West Des Moines high school and of Grinnell College and became a student in the medical college of Drake University in 1909.
Dr. Hill is entitled to wear the Grand Army button, inasmuch as he served as a private in Company B, Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry, in the Civil war. He enlisted in May, 1864, and served as a hundred-day man at Collierville, Ten- nessee, under command of David B. Henderson of Dubuque. In 1902 he be- came a member of Crocker Post, No. 12, G. A. R., and served as its commander in 1910. Few men with such active and important professional interests as claim the attention of Dr. Hill find time for the helpful cooperation in public affairs which he displays. In many ways, however, he has aided in general progress and improvement. He has been a trustee of Grinnell College since 1888, was president of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation at Independence, Iowa, for several years prior to 1903, and since that time has been a member of the executive council of the Associated Charities of the City of Des Moines, of which organization he is the chief executive officer. This indicates his benevolent and humanitarian spirit, which finds ex- pression in many individual ways of helpfulness outside of organized systems of benevolence. Through home training and by preference he is a Congregation- alist, although while living in Independence he was a member of and elder in the Presbyterian church. He is now serving as a deacon in the Plymouth Con- gregational church of Des Moines and is the leader of the Business Men's Class in the Plymouth Sunday school. His club and society relationships are with the University, the Congregational, the Commercial and the Prairie Clubs and with the Ben Franklin Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. He likewise belongs to the Des Moines City Club, which undertakes to secure the nomination of the best men available, also honest voting and correct returns every two years when the city council is elected. He is a progressive republican and a member of the Grant Club. A total abstainer from the use of tobacco and liquor, he at all times advocates temperance, reform and improvement and is in favor of municipal ownership of public utilities. He is well known as the president of the State Anti-Saloon League of Iowa. He is a believer in Des Moines and her future and never fails to speak a good word for the city at a timely hour. His life work in all of its phases has been characterized by ad- vancement and by far-reaching helpfulness and influence. Frankness. faithful- ness, honesty and stability are marked characteristics.
JOHN A. MAXWELL.
The family of which J. A. Maxwell is a representative derived its name from the precinct of Maxwellton, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, whose "bonnie braes" are famed in song as the setting for the beautiful old Scotch ballad: "Annie Laurie." The old Maxwellton House, the birthplace of Annie Laurie. is now owned by the Laurie family. All of the clan residing within the precinct of Maxwellton took the name of Maxwell, and representatives of the family are
JOHN A. MAXWELL AND FAMILY
AST 'R. @+ X AND TLUENFIN 4 -49.
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often recognized by the tall, angular, muscular physique and sandy complexion which are strongly marked and distinguishing features of that clan. The first progenitor of the family in America was John Maxwell, who with his brother, James, came to this country in colonial days, landing at Jamestown, Virginia. They both served in the Revolutionary war, and later John Maxwell took up his abode in Kentucky, locating at Lexington, where the John Maxwell springs were named in his honor. Thomas Maxwell, the son of John Maxwell, was born in the Blue Grass state, served as a private in the latter part of the war of 1812 and in early life made his way to Indiana and subsequently to Illinois. His son, Thomas Maxwell, Jr., the father of our subject, was born in Kentucky on the 8th of March, 1815, and was a little lad when his parents went to Indiana. In 1824 the family home was established in Sangamon county, Illinois, and five years later a removal was made to Knox county, that state. He was married in the latter county, on the 6th of March, 1836, to Miss Rhoda Hodges, who was born in Tennessee on the 5th of September, 1850. In the following year they went to Missouri where they spent one summer, and while there their first child was born, its birth occurring in Polk county. They returned to Knox county, Illinois, in 1838, and in 1841 went to Texas, which at that time had not yet been admitted to the Union. In the winter of 1843 they again went to Knox county, and in 1844 made their way to Henry county, Illinois, where they resided until 1867. Another summer was then spent in Missouri, after which they returned to Knox county to establish a permanent home, there remaining until their decease. The father was a farmer by occupation, engaging very extensively in agricultural pursuits, and wa's the owner of a half section of valuable land. He was a democrat in politics and held several township offices, including that of trustee, assessor and justice of the peace, and he also held a county office. Ile was reared in the Universalist faith, although he was not affiliated with any church organization, and his wife was a Freewill Baptist. Following the example set by his father and grandfather before him he re- sponded readily to the call of his country for assistance when in need of mil- tary aid, taking part in the Black Hawk war, and he also served throughout the Mexican war. He was killed accidentally while crossing some railroad tracks on the 8th of May, 1890, being survived for a number of years by his wife, who passed away on the ist of September, 1908. Their family consisted of eleven children, as follows: Lucinda, who married T. Murphy and passed away in Dc- cember, 1910. in Henry county, Illinois ; Reuben, of Adams county, Illinois : Susan T., who married P. J. Mintell, of Grinnell; Ellen, the widow of Charles Smith, of Henry county, Illinois : W. H., of Ree Heights, South Dakota; John A., of this review ; Harriett E., the wife of George Reed, of Hugo, Colorado; Amanda, who married John Maxwell and passed away in 1879: Charles E., of Park, Texas; James, who passed away in 1856; and Robert E., whose death oc- curred in 1861.
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