In a message dated 7/6/01 7:31:48 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > > > > My William Hill , born 27 Oct 1783 in Rutland VT, migrated to Whiteside Co > IL from Rutland VT. His father was William Hill, Sr. who was in the War > of 1812 and died in a military hospital. He and his sons bought several > tracts of federal land in Whiteside Co. > > The sons were James (1810-1884); John (1812-1844); William III (1818-1904); > Ezra (1822-1909) my gg grandfather; Fordyce (1825-1907); Joseph > (1827-1911); and Joshua (1828-?). > > They bought land in the area of Prophetstown and were very early settlers. > Ezra's obit lists him as one of the three originsl settlers still > > > I have no information about William's brothers. Can you connect the dots > at all? > > > > > From the pages of the Tampico Tornado newspaper: November 12, 1887 Attorney O.F. WOODRUFF, of Morrison, was in Chicago last week and began fifty-two suits in the United States Court against as many defendants---principally residents of Prophetstown, Portland, and Fulton townships, this county, who refused to pay the "drive-well" royalty demanded by the agent a few weeks ago; in all the cases but one $2,000 damages are claimed, the one being $4,000. Each suit is brought in the name of William D. ANDERSON & Bros. representing the patentee. The following is the list of defendants: Andrew FERRIS George CARPENTER Geo. HITCHCOCK Orrin T. ALLEN Richard THOMPSON George DERBY Jabez WARNER Frank HADWAY George FALTER Daniel LEASHE Ed S. GAGE Edwin LANCASTER Charles LANCASTER Theodore BEARDSLEE John ELLSWORTH Samuel THOMPSON Samuel FIELD John ROSE Henry C. FELLOWS Charles Y. WHEELER Ruben M. THOMPSON John R. THOMPSON William BOOTH William KEEFER John RICHARDS Simon RICHARDS Fane THOMPSON Wm. R. McKENZIE Julius BAKER William BURTMAN Simeon WALTERS A.E. LOOMIS William HILL Ezra HILL Samuel SIMPSON Luther McKENZIE William TABOR Milton WOODARD Andrew J. WARNER Mike CARNEY Mike THEO Levi HOPKINS Geo. P. RICHMOND Charles ADAMS Orrin PADDOCK Silas W. LANGDON Nathan THOMPSON William FARRELL Emmet UNDERHILL Sherman G. BALDWIN John DYER Les ps - A.D. HILL, son of Benjamin HILL, both of Prophetstown in the 1880's, was the editor of the Prophetstown Spike newspaper -not sure if this might be a relative.