Bio: James F. Hill, Webster Par., Louisiana
Source:Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890
Submitted by: Gwen Moran-Hernandez
Date: April 2000



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===James F. Hill is classed among the younger merchants of Minden, La., 
but he is none the less successful for that, and is rapidly advancing 
to the front as one of the leading business men of the place.  He was 
left a poor boy, and has always had to battle his own way in the world, 
and by means accumulated by his own exertions he obtained a fair 
practical education.  He was born in Jefferson County, Ark., September 
13, 1862, his father, Ezekiel Hill, being a native Georgian.  He went 
to Tennessee when a young man, and was married there to Miss T. A. 
Leech, a native Tennesseean, soon after which event he moved to 
Arkansas and settled in Jefferson County, where he engaged in farming 
for a few years.  He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861, and 
served until his death, being killed in an engagement in 1863.  After 
the death of her husband Mrs. Hill moved to Benton, of which place her 
son, James F., attended the high school.  At the age of fourteen years 
he went to Texas, and was a cowboy in the northwestern part of the 
State for about three years.  At the end of this time he entered a 
good school, and during a one year's attendance of this institution, 
he acquired a large fund of useful information.  In 1880 he came to 
Louisiana and located at Minden, where he followed clerking up to 1888, 
at that time forming a partnership with Mr. Crichton and opening a 
like establishment of their own.  Their stock of goods is well selected 
and large, and although they are already doing a thriving business, 
their trade is constantly on the increase.  They have established a 
reputation for good goods, fair dealing and low prices, and this, 
together with their agreeable and accommodating manners, have built 
them up a reputation second to none in the parish.  Mr. Hill was 
married in Minden, November 29, 1888, to Miss Lucy Claire Geren, a 
daughter of T. R. Geren, whose sketch appears in this work.  Mrs. Hill 
was born and reared in Minden, and in her youth secured superior 
educational advantages, being a graduate of the Minden Female College, 
and valedictorian of her class at commencement.  She has since taken a 
musical course at Staunton, Va., and is a thoroughly accomplished and 
intelligent lady.  She is a member of the Baptist Church.  Mr. Hill is 
a member of the K. of P., and is chancellor commander of his lodge.  
He possesses superior business attainments, is strictly honorable in 
every respect, is public spirited and enterprising and works for, and 
is deserving of success.