Background
James Hill was born on December 20, 1734 in Kittery, Maine, United States. He was the fourth child of Benjamin and Mary (Neal) Hill. His father was grandson of John Hill, an early settler in Dover, New Hampshire.
legislator military shipbuilder Soldier
James Hill was born on December 20, 1734 in Kittery, Maine, United States. He was the fourth child of Benjamin and Mary (Neal) Hill. His father was grandson of John Hill, an early settler in Dover, New Hampshire.
Hill learned shipbuilding in the nearby town of Newbury, Massachussets.
At twenty Hill enlisted for the expedition of 1755 against the French at Crown Point. Besides working on boats for the ascent of the Hudson and Lake George, Hill helped to build Fort Edward and Fort William Henry and fought in the battle of September 8, when the French under Dieskau were defeated. The diary which he kept at that time gives brief but graphic notes concerning this first campaign of the French and Indian War. It is remarkably accurate in its account of the operations of the troops under General William Johnson, and of the movements of the ranger Robert Rogers, as well as of the daily life in camp.
In 1758, as shipwright on the warship Achilles, he went to Jamaica and to England, whence he returned to America. In 1761 he settled in Newmarket, New Hampshire. Here he soon became prominent as a landowner and shipbuilder, and held numerous public offices.
His military services in the Revolution began with his captaincy of a company stationed in 1775 on Pierce's Island as part of General Sullivan's defense of Portsmouth Harbor. In 1777 he was made lieutenant-colonel of militia, but wishing more active service, he volunteered in a company raised by John Langdon (in which Hill was ensign, or second lieutenant) to join Gates against Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he was probably present at Burgoyne's surrender.
After the close of the war, in 1784, he was made colonel, and in 1788 brigadier-general of New Hampshire militia, a position held until he declined reappointment in 1793. Hill represented Newmarket in the New Hampshire Provincial Congress in April 1775. The next year he was appointed on a committee of the town to draw up a protest against the new form of state government proposed. He was a member of the state legislature at its first session under the new constitution in 1784, and again a member when the constitution of 1792 was adopted.
He died on August 22, 1811 in Newmarket.
When the colonies broke away from England, Hill remained a warm patriot.
Hill was married three times: first to Sarah Coffin, who died in 1774; then to Sarah (Hoyt) Burleigh, widow of John Burleigh Jr. ; and after her death, to Martha (Wiggin) Folsom. All of his seven sons and all but two of his ten daughters survived him.