Mother, Daughter, Sister, Lover

Mother, daughter, sister, lover,
Her needles and pins hold the pieces together,
She'll thread your pearls with her words of wisdom,
In the palm of her hand, your future is there running
Through

Mother, daughter, sister, lover,
There's no perfect choice, as you walk in your future
Be still a child on your bed of eggshell,
Behind your first steps, it's her shadows that cushion
Your fall

All questions will simply beg,
The most innocent replies.
She'll make you a daisy chain
And cry as you walk away.

Billie Myers

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Medad Hills guns






Hills guns

This is the link to BlackHart Long Arms Company which still produces the Hills Fowler the Revolutionary War rifle made by Benoni, Col Medad and John Hills in Goshen, Conn.

http://pages.cthome.net/black_hart/mhills.htm

These reproductions are still handmade and come up for sale on ebay from time to time. I also have a copy of the American Gunsmith? article on the weapons made by John Hills, gunsmith of Charlotte, Chittenden Co Vermont who was one of Medad's brothers.

In addition to the Hills guns, the family is also connected to the Spencers of the Spencer Rifle factory.

(The above information and link was provided by John Hills)
Hills, Medad (1729-1808)  A son of Benoni Hills.  Medad Hills was born at Durham, Connecticut, 22 April 1729.  Medad was probaly apprenticed to his father after the latter had moved to Goshen in 1741.  By 1776 Hills was involved in contractual arms production with the state.  On 24 February 1776 Col. Charles Burd acknowledged receipt of ten muskets with bayonets and belts made by Hills.  Hills had been involved with the local militia since 1769, and after the outbreak of the war, was elected captain in the Goshen militia.  He was soon promoted to major.  He served actively until the fall of 1779 when his rheumatic condition forced him to resign his commission.  He probably resumed his career as gun manufacturer.  Several of his guns are extant, a few marked "made by Medad Hills at Goshen".

Ref:  

Arms makers of colonial America

 By James B. Whisker



8 comments:

  1. I'm a Hills from the northeast. I found your blog while searching for my family coat of arms--the one you have is nearly identical to one I have from my grandparents.
    Do you know the origin of the coat of arms?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Day,
    Sorry, I have no idea. I just searched for pictures of coat of arms for my genealogy blogs.
    Do you know what line your Hills are from?

    ReplyDelete
  3. by David Perrin,
    May 19, 2011, page 11.....
    An important piece of Charlotte history is on display at the Shelburne Museum this summer in the Lock, Stock and Barrel Exhibit. This will be a good year for Charlotte residents to visit the museum and see the new acquisition as well as three buildings that were moved from Charlotte to the museum many years ago.
    The new acquisition is a flintlock musket made by John Hills in 1810. The musket is part of a collection of Vermont guns the museum purchased from Terry Tyler of Dorset, Vermont. In addition to being a collector of Vermont guns, Tyler is the co-author of a book titled Vermont’s Gunsmiths & Gunmakers to 1900, self-published in 2000.
    Tyler considers John Hills to be very important because he was the first Vermonter to put his name and, frequently, both Charlotte and the date of manufacture on his muskets.
    Prior to visiting the museum, a good starting point would be to pull out your copy of Around The Mountains published by the Charlotte Historical Society. Look at information on John Hills as well as his son, Zimri, and the trip they took from Charlotte to Chautauqua County, New York, in 1815 (pages 121-122). Then look at information on General Hezekiah Barnes, whose tavern, shown on page 39, is now in the museum, and the Methodist Church, which became the Breezy Point Library before it was moved to the Shelburne Museum (see pages 290-295).
    Hills came to Charlotte around 1785. This is one year after Charlotte was permanently settled and when Thomas Chittenden’s daughter claimed to have been the handsomest woman in Charlotte (and the only one).
    Trained as a gunsmith by his father in Glastonbury, Connecticut, Hills was a Captain in during the Revolutionary War. He came to Charlotte with his wife and four children when he was about 52. He was typical of several early settlers of Charlotte – he was older and obviously came with adequate money. He first lived on the lake just north of Thompson’s Point. After about ten years he moved to One Mile Road where he lived close to his son, Zimri. Hills was one of the first Charlotte selectmen, was a lister, and was put in the box (juryman). In 1792, less than a year after Vermont became the first state to join the original 13 United States, he was one of the four founders of the Charlotte Congregational Church. Hills and his wife are buried in the front row of the Barber Cemetery on South Greenbush Road.
    In addition to John Hills’ musket, be sure to visit the Meeting House. This building began life in 1840 a short distance south of the Old Brick Store as the Methodist Church. After the church closed, it became the Breezy Point Library, and just over 100 years ago it became the first home of the Charlotte Grange #398.
    Next, visit the Settlers Cabin, which was moved from Tom Schermerhorn’s property on Mt Philo Road in Charlotte to the museum. Also visit the Stage Coach Inn, which was moved from the north side of Church Hill Road. The steps to this building can still be seen across the road between the Charlotte Museum and Mrs. Pinney’s beautiful stone house. The Pinney house was built about 1789 by or for Hezekiah Barnes, and the tavern was built about 1790 when his original log tavern became too small (see Looking Around Hinesburg and Charlotte, Vermont by the Chittenden County Historical Society, 1973). Hezekiah Barnes died in the flu epidemic of 1813 that “raged fearfully in this town, carrying off about seventy of the inhabitants.” This epidemic resulted in the death of a far higher percentage of the population than the flu of 1918 and often resulted in the death of innkeepers who hosted travelers who became sick during a journey.

    - Submitted: Wednesday, May 18th by Charlotte News

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you David for this wealth of information. I'm very sorry this is so late.
      Makes me wonder how many of the Hills guns are in existence. Does anyone know?
      Sara

      Delete
  4. My name is Bonnie Kazmar. My maiden name was Hills. Medad Hills was my 7th great grandfather and Benoni Hills was my 8th great grandfather. Thanks for this information some of which I already knew.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My 7th great grandfather was Benoni Hills and my line is through son Beriah. Beriah, Medad, Seth, Zimri, Bela and John were brothers so that makes you and I cousins, Bonnie. Nice to meet you.

    Antoia Klein

    ReplyDelete
  6. Antonia, what area of our Great Nation do you live?

    ReplyDelete