| Thomas Hills | Jane Scarborrow | ||
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| William Hills | |||
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| m.(1) Mary Warner | ||||||||||||||||||
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| m.(2) Mary Arnold | ||||||||||||||||
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| m.(3) Phyllis Lyman | ||||||||||||||
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Notes: "WILLIAM HILLS, bapt. Upminster, County Essex, 27th December, 1608; d.p robably 1683; he was a passenger in the ship Lyon , William PEASE,Mast er, which sailed from Bristol 24th June, 163, and entered BostonHarbor, 1 6th September, 1632; on 14th May, 1634, was admitted aFreeman of Roxbur y; removed to Hartford, Connecticit, 15th October,1635; m. August, 1632 , Phillice LYMAN, d. before 1648, dau. of Richardand Sarah (OSBORBE) LY MAN from High Onger [sic], County Essex,England, in 1631; m. (2d) the w idow of Richard RISLEY; m. (3d) Mary(WARNER) STEELE, dau. of Andrew WAR NER and widow of John STEELE, Jr.ISSUE BY FIRST MARRIAGE I. John, b. ci rca 1648; buried 15th AUGUST,1693; Captain of Militia, 1653; wounded at H ockanum, 1675; m. Sarah-----.. ISSUE BY SECOND MARRIAGE i. John, b. cir ca 1648; buried 5thApril, 1692; m. Jane BUSHNELL. II. Joseph, bapt. 17t h March, 1650; d.8th November, 1713, at Glastonbury, Connecticut; m. El izabeth -----.III. Benjamin, d. circa 1728; m. 11th January, 1688, Mary B RONSON,dau. of John BRONSON. IV. Susannah, b. 1651; d. October, 1701; m . 4thMarch, 1673, John KILBOURN, b. 15th February, 1651, d. 25th Novemb er,1711, was of Weathersfield [sic], Connecticut. V. Mary, b. circa1654 . ISSUE BY THIRD MARRIAGE I. JONATHAN, b. circa 1665 [see underhis name ]. II. Hannah, d. before October, 1712. III. Sarah, b. 1691,Newark, New J ersey." --- George Mackenzie, Colonial Families of the United States ofAmerica , v 4 p 1 81-182, 1912 (rep 1966, 1995) Note: William Hills and his brother Thomas were likely born in Upminister , Essex Co., England that county having a great concentration of the na me Hills and historical references. The Lyman family were from a neighb oring parish in Essex, although William Hills and Phillis Lyman married i n Roxbury, MA. According to the "Hills Family in America," William and and his bro ther Thomas immigrated to New England on the ship "Lyon," arriving in B oston September, 1632. The ship's master was William Pearce. It sailed f rom Bristol 24 June 1632 and entered Boston harbor September, 1632. Thi s date is confirmed in the "History of the First Church in Roxbury, MA, 1 630-19084," by Walter Eliot Thwing. However, "The Great Migration Begin s, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. II," by Robert Charles And erson, 1995, indicates that William migrated in 1632 on the ship "Willi am & Francis" and that it's not proven that he & Thomas were brothers. ( According to another text, the Rev. John Eliot, Sr arrived on the ship " Lyon" in 1631; perhaps this is where the confusion arose from.) It is l ikely that both men became manservants indentured to clergyman Rev. Joh n Eliot at Roxbury, having come on the same ship as Ann Mumford, intend ed wife of the same minister. Both John Eliot and Ann Mumford/Mountfort w ere originally from Essex Co. as well. Eliot was referred to as the "Ap ostle to the Indians." The church history cited above states that William Hills was a memb er between 1631 and 1650. He was a manservant who came to Roxbury in 16 32. He married Phyllis Lyman; became a Freeman in Roxbury 14 May 1634. R ev. Eliot wrote the following about William: "Williams Hills, a man ser vant, he came over in the yeare 1632. he married Phillice Lyman, the da ughter of Richard Liman, he removed to Hartford on Conecticott, where h e lived seuerall years, whout giving such good satisfaction to the cons cienes of the saints." [HISTORIC NOTE: The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed in 1629. Th e period between that date and 1641, just prior to the English Civil Wa r, is described as the "Great Migration" during which more than 13,000 l eft Old England for New.] Rev. Eliot owned a farm of 48 1/2 acres, 9 acres of salt marsh, 55 1 /2 acres in another part of Roxbury, 39 acres in Dedham, Massachusetts a nd 2 other lots of more than 20 acres. It is likely that the Hills brot hers worked on this property while in Eliot's employ. Thomas Hills, possibly William's brother, died in November or Decem ber, 1634 while still indentured. William is shown as a resident of Rox bury, a freeman, 14 May 1634. (Roxbury became part of the city of Bosto n in 1868.) His period of indenture was less than 2 years. He left Roxb ury 15 Oct. 1635 with Richard Lyman, his father-in-law and moved to Har tford, Connecticut. They appear to have migrated with a group from the c hurch of Cambridge which migrated as a body to Hartford with Rev. Hooke r and originated the First Church of Hartford. William's name is listed o n the Founders Monument in Hartford. [HISTORIC NOTE: Three areas of Connecticut were settled in 1634 as o ffshoots of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Wethersfield, Hartford and Wi ndsor. CT became self-governing in 1639 and their Royal Charter was gra nted in 1662. The movement to CT was accelerated in 1636 when eminent m inister Thomas Hooker brought a portion of his Cambridge congregation w ith him to Hartford. Hooker, formerly an English Anglican minister, had b een exiled to Holland for a number of years before coming to the coloni es. There he was "rival" to minister Joseph Cotton, the two differing o n several doctrinal issues. While some followed Hooker for religious re asons, most were merely economic opportunists. From its beginning, then , CT was unlike the Bay Colony - CT was comprised mainly of young, unma rried men seeking to establish themselves on the land. It wasn't until l ater that the colony began to take on the demographics of the "parent." ] In the Hartford land inventory of 1639/40, William held nine parcel s of land, six of which were granted to him: one acre and one rood with d welling house, outhouses, yards and gardens; sevens acres of upland; ni ce acres of upland; one acre and two roods in the South Meadow; another o ne acre and two roods in the South Meadow; one acre and one rood in the S outh Meadow; five hundred seventeen acres of upland in Hockanum "bought o f Thomas Hosmore;" ten acres of meadow in Hockanum "bought of Thomas Ho smore;" and three acres, two roods and 29 rods of meadow in Hockanum "b ought of Francis Andrews." In the records of the First Church of Hartford, Williams Hills is s hown as one of the original members, later noted as "dismissed July 168 3, moved to Hadley." Hadley, Massachusetts was the home of William's wi fe, Mary (Warner) Steele and William died in that month and that year: h owever, Williams' will was proved 6 Dec. 1683 in Hartford and it's beli eved that he never made the removal to Hadley; the will is dated 21 Feb . 1681. Jacobus states he died in July, 1683, the inventory being taken i n August, totaling 274 pounds, 0s, 2d. He named his wife Mary and son J onathan as executors. Prior to his death, he agreed to bring up the chi ldren of Richard Risley, children of his wife Mary, Risley's widow, and t o give them their several portions. Barbour calls Mary Risley his 3rd w ife, but she was more likely his 2nd, as Mary (Warner) Steele, who I be lieve was his 3rd wife, from from Hadley, MA where they removed in abou t 1683. This order of marriage is confirmed by "The Descendants of Andr ew Warner," 1919, by "The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley and his wife Emma A rabella Bosworth," N.G. Parke & D.L. Jacobus, 1960, pages. 144-45 and " Hale, House & Related Families," pages. 579-581.
