Biography of Isaac Hill, of New-Hampshire

Cyrus P. (Cyrus Parker) Bradley

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• Hill

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• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

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aass_h_5S
Book_iBIOGRAPHY
OF
ISAAC HILL,
OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
WITH AW
iiipipi3sr2>a^9
COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM HIS SPEECHES,
AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS.
CONCORD, N.H.
PUBLISHED BY JOHN F. BROWN.
1835.I I
bjEntered according to an Act of Congress,
John F. Brown,
of N. H.In the Clerk's Office of the District
Wlleon & Carter,
Printers;
CONCORD, N. H.
1-
iPREFACE.
Mad-It was a remark of that celebrated female writer
ame de-Stael-Holstein, thai the adventures of almost ev-
supply theery individual would, in competent hands,
materials for an interesting novel. The truth of this
however paradoxical itmay at first seem, canproposjtion,
hardly be doubted. It is from the common events of a
Ufe, the excited hopes, pleasing anticipations,common the
the multiplied disappointments, the numerous vexations,
unavoidable accidents, the unexpected reversions ofthe
humanfortune, which make up the every-day round of
existence, connected with the degree of forbenranee, for-
moderation,titude, patience, resignation, prudence and
with which all these various and varied occurrences have
endured, w'ith their after life and thebeen effects upon
developement ofcharacter, that useful lessons for tlie reg-
of our own conduct deduced and muchulation may be
matter of interest and subject of serious contemplation.
On the other hand, the biography some startling indi-of
vidual, some man of a million, who, like the flashing
meteor or wandering comet, dashes his eccentric course
resultsacross the path of the multitude, overthrowing the
of human calculation, and heedlessly striking down the
barriers which mankind have common consent, erect-by
ed, as the eternal bounds of human enterprize and man's
daring, may serve as a record of this miracle of the age,
rising ambitionbut would be far more likely to check the
of youth by the immeasurable distance at which its
nourish their aspi-events must be contemplated, than to
rations after fame and the possession of an honorable
memory.
The object of Biographical writing, it has been aptly
remarked, is two-fold,—both to impart historical informa-
tion by a sketch of the life and acts of some eminent in-PREFACE.
those acts in a true and prop-tittt'er light, Tet^I ^'^pl^p^gdevoid of false coloring or mis-statemenf tn
'°"^^' excitinTfSible^ymiS^fVT"^ T' ^" unconquerable disgust andWrir f t? i^'^?^ ^horror of the wicked. To effect this latter and by far the
'"'^' "°^^'"g ^«"^d be more appr^oprLterrt;;?^^''"'particularly m a country where there is no aristocracy
of- genius and where poHtical advancement is the chi7faim of our young men's ambition, than to note for theconsideration of youth and theinstruction of ah the pro!gressive steps by which an individual has risen thiXh
his own enterpnze, and by the most unconquerab e peV
f--thel?umblest^a:
tTon^riifrtoVT""-tionm life, to an S'"^^^-^'honorable rank and comparative emi-
Such is the design of this litUe book-a sketch of thehfe of a man who has borne no inconsiderable parik thepolitical events of the last twenty years, who ^s d^nt fied with the interests and success^of one pa ?y and ^ro^"nentm his opposition to another, has of cou^-se recdvTdhis share of partizan abuse and the maliSy oftW
^^^ -ecessf:;;i?otptdTu'Tho^afwi11!,^^ '""f^''/
'^"d to whose industry,Tt:.lyandS/°""f If."'
'^"'*' '" ^"^ P""^°"^^ acquaintance's' wilf bclrLstiSi'o^;'
lei^srb^j:.-^^:^^^^
for which the materials were first collcS '^ThT? ^
.tated arc of unquestionable antlou"; of the correct'BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL,
Of ]Vew-Hampsliire.
X——-
Hill was born of poor but respectableIsaac
father, also named Isaac, is aparentage. His
native of the present town of West Cambridge,
part of Cambridge, Mass., and known asthen a
descendantthe parish of Menotomy. He was a
Abraham Hill of Cliarlestown, who was admit-of
leaving two sons, Isaacted freeman 1640, and,
and Abraham, died at Maiden, 13 Feb. 1670.
Hill, the grandfather of the subject ofAbraham
this memoir, was the fourth in descent from the
of that name, (the intermediate generationsfirst
Zachariah,) was abeing Abraham, Abraham and
patriot of the French and Revolutionary wars,
and twenty years ago.and died about five
His wife survived him but a few years. Isaac,
youngest son, and the father of the^subjecttheir
of this memoir, was born about the year 1767,
is still living.and
Russell, is a descen-Mr. llilPs mother, Hannah
dant of William Russell, who came from England,
as early as 1645 and left sev-lived in Cambridge
thesons. She was, likewise, a native ofjf^ral ,
of but that part which be-"'^fTparish Menotomy, of
were"longed toCharlestown. The Menotomy boys
1*6 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL.
far-famed among " sons liberty" for theirthe of
invincible spirit and undaunted courage, and her
father, Walter Russell, commanded a company of
alarmlist at the battle of Lexington, Avhich did
great service in harrassing the enemy, arresting
the baggage-wagons, &c. He died 5 March
1783, aged 45.
At the house where this patriot and his imme-
diate ancestors lived and died, Mr. Hill was born
on the 6th of April 1788, being but sixteen years
younger than his mother and the eldest of a fami-
ly of nine children, having three brothers and five
sisters, all of whom are living, and, with one ex-
ception, heads of families. The unfortunate
situation of Mr. Hill's family, which might at first
view, appear an irreparable injury, in fact proved
to him a blessing in disguise. His grandfather
returned, at the close of the war, to take charge
of a family rendered destitute by the circumstan-
ces of the times, and was, in a short time, entir-
Jy ruined in his earthly prospects by the depreci-
ation of his wages. The shock proved too great
for his mind to bear, and he became subject to
that awful calamity, which appears to have been
constitutional in the family, partial insanity, which
continued in all the gradations from perfect clear-
ness of mind to raging madness, till his death.
His father, by nature an industrious, capable man,
undertook the charge familyof a rising and the
care of his ruined parent, when, shocking to re-
late, scarce yix years had elapsed from his mar-
riage, ere he was overtaken by similara visitation
of Providence, and his intellectual faculties al-
most entirely destroyed.