Greenbrier County, West Virginia         Biography of EDWIN FRANKLIN HILL

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History of Greenbrier County 
J. R. Cole 
Lewisburg, WV 1917 
p. 325-327

EDWIN FRANKLIN HILL.

Edwin Franklin Hill, formerly president of the First National Bank of 
Alderson, W. Va., and for many years a prominent business man in Greenbrier 
and Monroe counties, was born in Monroe county, December 19, 1849, and died 
at his home in Alderson on December 19, 1904. He was reared in his native 
county and received his education at Roanoke College, Salem, Va., being a 
member of the Phi Delta Theta Secret Fraternity.  After his school days were 
over he became identified with the mercantile business, which he engaged in 
until 1872, in which year, in association with his father-in-law, Joseph 
Jarrett, he became interested in stock and cattle raising. In 1891he 
organized one of the first financial institutions in Alderson, the Bank of 
Alderson, which later became the First National Bank, of which he was cashier 
and later president until his death.  Having constantly made a study of law 
he was considered fine in the drafting of legal documents and was the legal 
adviser of many.

On October 4, 1871, in Greenbrier county, he was married to Mary Frances 
Jarrett, who was born in said county and was educated at Lewisburg College. 
She was a daughter of Joseph Jarrett and Malinda (McClung) Jarrett.
Edwin Franklin Hill was the son of Spencer Rutherford Hill (1821-1889) and 
Margaret (Patton) Hill (1821-1889).  His great great grandfather, on his 
paternal side, sailed from England with eight brothers at the same time of 
the sailing of the Washingtons, settling in Northumberland county, Virginia. 

 Six of these brothers were in the old Continental army, one the commander 
of a Virginia regiment, was with Washington at Valley Forge and at the taking 
of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Mary (Rutherford) Hill, material grandmother 
of Edwin Franklin Hill, was a scion of Scotch lineage, a name eminent in 
early and modern Scotch history.  Both the Hills and Rutherfords, for long 
lines of generations, were noted and prominent in English and Scotch history, 
both as statesmen and warriors, and that proud distinction seems not to have 
failed them in their American home. Generals A. P. Hill and D. H. Hill, of 
Confederate fame, and Senator Ben H. Hill, of Georgia, third and fourth 
cousins, respectively, of Spencer R. Hill.

Through his mother Mr. Hill was a direct descendant of Tristram Patton 
(1758-1843), who was married to Jean Nelson (I786-I860) in the year i808. 
Tristram Patton was a native of County Tyrone, Ulster Plantation, Ireland, 
crossed the Atlantic in 1777, and is said to have served on Washington's 
bodyguard in the Revolution. After the war he taught school in Philadelphia, 
Pa., moving to Monroe county, West Virginia, in 1795.

William, eldest brother of Tristram, inherited the family estate in Ireland 
according to the British rule of primogeniture, but in default of heirs of 
his own the property would have gone to those of Tristram.  They took no 
action in the matter and the estate reverted to the British Crown.  All of 
the fourteen children of Tristram Patton attained their majority and twelve 
passed the age of seventy.

Columbus M. Patton, the only survivor, bears the remarkable distinction of 
being the son of a Revolutionary veteran. He was 90 years old, March 9, 1918.
Both the Hills and Pattons are Democrats in their political
sentiments and Mr. Hill's parents and their ancestors were Presbyterians in 
their religious belief.

Edwin Franklin Hill and Frances (Jarrett) Hill had six children, all living. 
They are, sons: Joseph Spencer Hill, Frank Jarrett Hill and Roy Lee Hill; 
daughters: Maude Hill Hodges, Blanche Hill Lobban and Mabel Hill.
Mr. Hill had two brothers, Rutherford Hunter Hill, who died in 1874, and 
Robert Lee Hill; also three sisters, Virginia Frances (Mrs. J. Clark Gwinn), 
Sidney Elizabeth (Mrs. John Riley Argabrite), and Zorah Custis (Mrs. George 
E. Boone).