Salem Cemetery Lot No. 46: J. C. Hill, Owner

MARGARET E.

Wife of

J. C. HILL

DIED

Sept. 17, 1881

AGED

49y, 11m & 1d

JOSIAH C. HILL

DIED

MAR. 20, 1886

AGED

59Yrs, 5Mos, 12Ds

Josiah C. and Margaret (Pershing) Hill, natives respectively of Westmoreland and Indiana counties, Pennsylvania, arrived in Lucas County during late 1855 or early 1856 and settled immediately in Benton Township. Josiah was 27 at the time and Margaret, 23. They had been married during 1850 in Indiana County, most likely at the home of her father, Daniel Pershing, on the north bank of the Conemaugh River in (East) Wheatfield Township, Indiana County. They were accompanied to Iowa by the three eldest of their eight children, John and Edgar, born in Pennsylvania, and Gasper, born during a brief stop in Illinois.

Josiah was a son of John and Elizabeth Hill, who lived just across the river from the Pershings in what eventually became St. Clair Township, Westmoreland County. He was a first-cousin of Jacob Hill Myers (Salem Lot No. 33) and it was quite probably upon Josiah's recommendation that Jacob brought his large family west to Benton Township10 years later, immediately after the Civil War.

Josiah's parents, John and Elizabeth Hill, and Jacob's parents, Abraham and Sarah (Hill) Myers, as well as Margaret's parents, Daniel and Eliza (Hice) Pershing, and Josiah's and Jacob's joint grandparents, Gasper and Phoebe Hill, all are buried in Hice-Pershing Cemetery, East Wheatfield Township, Indiana County.

The eight children of Josiah C. and Margaret (Pershing) Hill were:

1. John Hill, born 17 February 1852 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; married Nancy Hodgson 15 January 1880 in Tazewell County, Illinois; died 17 March 1939, Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri; buried Mitchell Cemetery, Jasper, Jasper County, Missouri.

2. Edgar C. Hill, born 13 April 1853, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; married Minnie C. Alley 30 June 1887, Lucas County, Iowa; died 26 August 1933, Russell, Lucas County, Iowa. Buried Russell Cemetery.

3. Gasper Hill, born 15 November 1854 in Illinois; married Lucy A Rouse 24 January 1877; died 6 November 1929, Maryville, Nodaway County, Missouri; Buried Miriam Cemetery, Maryville.

4. Emma Hill, born 27 March 1858, Lucas County, Iowa; married 1 October 1890 Lemuel K. Shipley; died 11 May 1932, Monroe, Snohomish County, Washington; buried Odd Fellows Cemetery, Monroe.

5. Ida A. Hill, born 5 December 1860, Lucas County, Iowa; married Samuel A. Gookin 6 July 1882, Lucas County; died 20 September 1914, Wayne County, Iowa; buried Confidence Cemetery, Wayne County, Iowa.

6. Ella Frances Hill, born 19 November 1863 (or 1864), Lucas County, Iowa; married Louis F. Rouse 29 March 1882; died 11 October 1935, Alix, Alberta, Canada; buried Alix Cemetery.

7. Craig S. Hill, born 16 June 1867, Lucas County, Iowa; married Hattie B. White 1 January 1889; died 27 December 1893; buried Ragtown Cemetery, Lucas County.

8. Lloyd A. Hill, born 10 February 1872, Lucas County, Iowa; married Annie F. Everitt 17 February 1892; removed to Black Falls, Alberta, Canada, and then to Oregon.

Margaret Hill died on 17 September 1881 at home in Benton Township, age 49, of an "abscess of the liver," according to Lucas County death records, and was buried the next day in Salem Cemetery. If her death were reported in the Chariton newspapers, that issue has been lost.

Five years later, The Patriot of 24 March 1886 reported Josiah's death as follows: "Died, in Benton Township, March 20, 1886, Mr. Josiah Hill. He has been an invalid for several years and was among the oldest and most respected residents of that township, having moved there from Pennsylvania in 1854. He was buied at Salem Church."

The following from Edgar J. Pershing's "The Pershing Family in America" provides a little more information about the Josiah Hill family:

JOSIAH C. AND MARGARET (PERSHING) HILL

Pershing, Edgar J., "The Pershing Family in America," Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson Co., 1924, Page 145

Margaret (Pershing) Hill, a daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Hice) Pershing, was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1830. She married Josiah C. Hill, a native of Westmoreland County, in 1850. They took up their residence in Westmoreland County, near Fort Ligonier, but migrated to Lucas County, Iowa, in 1856 (sic). After his arrival in Iowa he worked at the carpenter trade for several years and then purchased a farm on which he and his wife lived until her death in 1881. He died in 1886. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their family consisted of eight children, all married.