HILL, Clifton G. - Putnam

Clifton G. HILL, farmer and stock raiser, Ladoga, son of Collin B. and Julia McCROSKY) Hill, was b. in Franklin County, Va Aug 27, 1839. Here he grew to manhood and in May 1866 he left his native state for the "Great West," and settled in Putnam County, Indiana and began his successful career by working out by the month. Dec 12, 1867 he was marr. to Hattie P., daughter of Jesse P & Eliza HYMER, who was b. in Putnam Co. Feb 28, 1845. After his marr. Mr. Hill busied himself farming in Putnam Co until 1878, when he purchased his present home in Clark, and actively engaged in farming and stock raising. In his pastures may always be seen a high grade of cattle and sheep. In April 1879, Mr. Hill suffered a great loss by a fire, which destroyed his dwelling and a considerable amount of property. He has, however, since built a very beautiful house on an excellent rise of ground, and his home at no distant day is destined to be one of the most attractive in the township. He is the father of 4 children: Eva L, Clemia W, Otro S. and Cecil A. Mr. Hill is a gentleman of excellent tastes and ability, having a strong sympathy with and belief in a thorough and systematic education.

The name of Clifton G. Hill, a venerable and highly esteemed citizen of Clark Township, Montgomery County, of which township is is trustee, needs no introduction to our readers, for here much of his interesting and industrious life has been spent and here he has labored to the general good of the community, his work not by any means being without fruits, as all will tell you who are in any way familiar with his career. Such men are valuable to any community and their lives might be held up as examples for the young men to pattern after. Mr. Hill was born in Franklin County, Virginia, August 29, 1839, being the scion of a fine old family of the Old Dominion, and a son of Collin and Julia L. (McCrosky) Hill, the father having been of Scotch descent and the mother Scotch-Irish extraction. The father died when our subject was four years old, and he was only eighteen when his mother was called away by death. Ten children were born to these parents. When the brother had to care for the family. The children were reared on a farm. After he grew up, Clifton G. Hill worked out one year for the sum of one hundred and eight dollars, and he saved nearly all of it. He then went into business with his brother and another man as photographer. They had a car on wheels and traveled about through the country just before the war. When hostilities began all three joined the Confederate Army, our subject choosing Company K, Forty-second Virginia Volunteer Infantry, in which he saw much had service and made a very faithful and gallant soldier for the stars and bars, participating in about thirty-two engagements, many of them the fiercest of the war. He was captured at Manassas Junction, or Second Bull Run. He was in command of an advanced squad in a railroad cut, helping a wounded comrade, when the enemy rushed them and captured him. During another charge they rushed over him, he pretending he had been killed, and although he was badly trampled he escaped. The following day he was wounded by a piece of bomb-shell which struck his canteen and cut it in two: however, it did not so much as break the skin on him, merely shocking him and making his leg turn black its full length, the bruise and concussion being severe. He was again captured at Monocacy in Maryland, while in command of his company, he having gone to an exposed place for the purpose of reconnoitering and was returning when he was shot through the hand. Sharp shooters kept peppering away at him and he had to lay low to avoid them and soon became weakened from loss of blood. But he finally got his wound dressed and had one finger cut off. He refused to take ether sitting quietly on a piece of timber while the surgeon operated. After his regiment was driven out and, not having enough ambulances to move all the wounded, he was left behind and captured. He was taken to the stockade in which his own regiment had camped for some time and finally escaped from it by a way previously used by the boys when they "slipped out" during the night for the purpose in going to the town nearby "for fun." Mr. Hill was also wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg or Antietam, in Maryland, where he was shot through the hip. He was carried off the filed on a stretcher and narrowly escaped capture again. He was also shot in the chest by a spent ball at Cedar Mountain, where he also had sixteen holes shot through his clothes. Of fifty-two in the company who were in advance, all but twelve were killed or wounded in a terrific fight. He remained in the service until the close of the war, and was always at the front except when he was wounded. He was with the great fighter, "Stonewall" Jackson, and necessarily saw the hardest of fighting, but he never faltered. After the war Mr. Hill took up farming, spending one season on the home farm, and in the spring of 1866 he came to Ladoga, Montgomery County, Indiana. He worked out for seventeen months, never loosing a day. He had only twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents when he came here. He saved his money and later bought a farm, and then for ten years he rented a farm southwest of Roachdale. In 1878 he bought eight acres in the southern part of Clark township, on which he moved and a year later he met with the misfortune of having his house burned, with no insurance and when he was in debt seven hundred dollars. Nothing daunted, he borrowed funds and rebuilt his dwelling, and, managing well and working hard, he prospered with advancing years, and from time to time has added to his original holdings until he is now the owner of five hundred and twenty two acres of valuable and well improved land and carries on general farming and stock raising on a large scale, having long ranked among the leading and most substantial farmers of the county. For a period of twenty years he has also bought and shipped livestock. He was also for sometime a manufacturer of carriages and buggies in Ladoga, building up a large business in this line, building the factory that is now run by William Rapp. Owing to the high grade of his output his vehicles were in great demand. Politically, Mr. Hill is a Democrat, and has been active and influential in local affairs. For the past five years he has been trustee of Clark Township and he has two years more to serve of his present term. He has given eminent satisfaction in this position to all concerned. So well did he discharge the duties of his office that in 1910 the field examiners for the state board of accountant wrote of him as follows: "He is one of the most careful, exact and conscientious business men that we have found in the office of trustee. He gives personal supervision to all of the details of both his civil and school township work. His report was exact in details and conclusive in all its findings. We have only works of commendation for the trustee of Clark Township." Mr. Hill was married on December 12 1867 to Hattie P. Hymer, who was born in Putnam County and is a daughter of Jesse P and Eliza (Gill) Hymer. She grew to womanhood and was educated in her native county and there resided until her marriage. Her parents came from Bath County, Kentucky, in the early days and settled in Franklin Township, Putnam County, west of Roachdale. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hill, one of whom died in infancy; the living are: Otro, married Ella Ashby, daughter of John Ashby and they have one son, Earl Hill; Cecil, married Mary Christy, and they have had three children, Carl, Gladys and Glen, the latter dying when three years old; Eva Lee is at home; Clemmie is the wife of H. O. Betman and lives in Bainbridge. Fraternally, Mr. Hill belongs to the Scottish Rite Masons, the Commandery at Crawfordsville and the Murat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Indianapolis; he is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Hill is one of he best known cattle men in the county, and is now making a specialty of breeding short-horns. In fact he has been in this business ever since he began farming, even when a renter, and he attributes much of his success to raising such stock. He has won a great reputation in western Indiana with his short-horns and they are in great demand and bring fancy prices owing to their superior quality. He is a scientific farmer, employing such modern methods as are applicable to the land and climate here, and his farm now produces nearly double what it formerly did. He is certainly entitled to a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished, having worked his way up from the bottom of the ladder in the face of all kinds of adversity.   --- kbz