EDWIN FRANCIS HILL The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 544 Kanawha EDWIN FRANCIS HILL recently received a change of title and a new line of duties with the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia, his present title being division information manager at Charleston. He is a veteran of the telephone industry and business in America, and while his duties now involve chiefly the public relation- ship of the telephone industry and its personnel, his ex- perience ranges over nearly every phase of work from the construction and equipment of lines to the management of large and important divisions of the Bell Telephone System of America. Mr. Hill, who was born in Orange County, Virginia, Janu- ary 15, 1882, represents a family of many honorable dis- tinctions in Virginia Colonial and State history. His first English ancestor settled in Virginia early in the seventeenth century. The family produced a number of notable states- men and military leaders, including Col. Henry Hill of the Revolutionary war and Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill of the Civil war. Mr. Hill bears the name of his grandfather, Edwin Francis Hill, who married June 4, 1840, Lucy Scott Booton. Their son Rowland Flint Hill was born at the Hill ancestral home, Indian Trace, near Locust Dale, Madison County, Virginia, January 5, 1852. On January 5, 1881, at Mt. Zion Church in Oak Park, Madison County, Virginia, he married Etha Garnett, daughter of Jeremiah Cave and Sarah Elizabeth (Willis) Garnett, who were married at Burling- ton, Boone County, Kentucky, May 5, 1853. Jeremiah C. Garnett was a member of the Fifth Virginia Cavalry, Lo- max' Brigade, and was wounded at the battle of New- market in 1862. Albert G. Willis, an uncle of Etha Gar- nett, was a member of Moseby's raiders and was cap- tured and executed by the Union Army at Gaines' Cross Roads, Virginia, October 13, 1864, in retaliation for the death of a Union soldier supposed to have been killed by Moseby's men. Edwin Francis Hill began work with the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company at Portsmouth, Virginia, February 10, 1900. His first service was digging holes for the company's lines in that city. That was the beginning of a service which subsequently took him all over the South and involved the erection of telephone plants is Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and the performance of nearly every kind of plant service. By virtue of more than twenty-one years of continuous service in the telephone industry Mr. Hill is a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. In December, 1900, following his early experience at Portsmouth, he was sent to Danville, Virginia, where he worked on the changing of the old system to the common battery system. In April, 1901, he went to Jacksonville, Florida, and was in service with the Bell system there dur- ing the fire of May 3, 1901. June 1st of that year he returned to Danville for a short time, and then worked at Winston-Salem and other points in North Carolina. January 1, 1902, he was transferred to Atlanta, Georgia, and remained in the plant construction service of the Southern Bell Telephone Company in that city and terri- tory until September 1, 1905. Then, after a little more than five years' experience in the telephone business, he was made district foreman of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, with headquarters at Atlanta. The district then comprised the states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and portions of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana. He first came to Charleston, West Virginia, in November, 1906, again in the employ of the Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company, superintending the placing of the underground system, changing the old magneto system of the city to the common battery system. The cut-over on this undertaking was made in December, 1906. At that time, it is interesting to note, Charleston had 1,168 telephones; it now has over 11,000. Leaving Charleston June 22, 1906, Mr. Hill went to Nor- folk, Virginia, remaining there until December, 1907, and after another month or two at Lynchburg, Virginia, returned to Atlanta, where he continued on duty until the latter part of August, 1908. September 1, 1908, he was transferred to Norfolk as district plant chief in charge of the Norfolk District, comprising Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton and Suffolk, reporting to the Richmond superin- tendent of plant. June 30, 1912, Mr. Hill was transferred to Charleston as division plant superintendent of the Chesapeake & Poto- mac Telephone Company, a part of the Bell system. His jurisdiction embraced the entire State of West Virginia. Recently a new position was created, primarily involving the relations of the telephone business with the public, and the title of the official supervising this branch of the service is division information manager. Mr. Hill assumed this title and its duties on November 1, 1921, his jurisdiction comprising also the State of West Vrginia. Among other mementoes of his long and interesting service Mr.. Hill has two letters directed to him in Septem- ber, 1921, one from Brigadier General H. H. Bandholtz, and the other from Maj. General Charles T. Menoher, chief of the air service, both expressing the heartiest apprecia- tion and commending Mr. Hill for personally conducting a constant day and night telephone search for information that might lead to the location and discovery of the wrecked aeroplane and its crew in Nicholas County. Mr. Hill has received the Theodore N. Vail Medal for "Noteworthy Public Service" in connection with locating the airplane in September, 1921. Mr. Hill is a charter member of Charleston Lodge No. 153 A. F. and A. M., a member of Charleston Chapter, Knights of Rose Croix No. 3, and Odel Squier Long Lodge of Perfection No. 3. Mr. Hill married Miss Marie Virginia Nicholson, of Fort Worth, Texas, at Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Virginia, December 7, 1910. Submitted by: vfcrook@trellis.net (Valerie F. Crook) USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. 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