Hill, Leroy L.

Born: 1802-XX-XX Virginia

Leroy L. Hill was a farmer, mill owner, and businessman. In July 1822, Hill married Nancy L. Hailey in Fayette County, Kentucky. Leroy and Nancy L. Hill lived in Fayette County until the 1830s, when they moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, where Leroy purchased eighty-three acres of public land in Sugar Creek south of Springfield. Leroy farmed and owned a mill on Sugar Creek. In addition, Leroy entered into a partnership with his brother, Silas Hill, and purchased land and a sawmill on Bear Creek in Christian County, Illinois. In April 1835, he received appointment as a member of a committee tasked with raising subscriptions to defray the expenses associated with surveying a possible route and estimating the cost of a railroad between Springfield and Alton, Illinois. In July 1837, Hill received the contract to quarry the rock for a new statehouse building in Springfield. In 1849, Hill received warrants for an additional 160 acres of public land on Bear Creek. In 1850, Hill was farming in Sangamon County and owned real property valued at $8,500. In 1854, he received a warrant for an additional forty acres on Bear Creek. By 1855, he had settled in Lafayette County, Missouri, where he helped establish the Lafayette County Agricultural and Mechanical Society. In 1860, he was living and farming in Davis Township and owned $16,000 in real property and had a personal estate of $2,500. Hill also owned two enslaved persons.

Kentucky, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1850, 20 July 1822, Fayette County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 1997); Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Sangamon County, 68:254; 69:33, Christian County, 351:28, 142, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Depositions, Notice, Document ID: 50666; Affidavit for Continuance, Document ID: 1932, Hill v. Bennett & Maupin, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=136752; History of Christian County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1880), 225; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 4 April 1835, 3:1; 23 May 1835, 3:3; 27 May 1837, 3:3; 1 July 1837, 2:5; U.S. Census Office, Fifth Census of the United States (1830), Fayette County, KY, 332; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 137; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Lafayette County, MO, 8; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Slave, Schedule, Lafayette County, MO, 2; History of Lafayette County, Mo. (St. Louis: Missouri Historical, 1881), 265.