Robert Hill was born about 1821 in Virginia and was my great great-grandfather. His wife Charlotte Alexander was born about 1834 in North Carolina.
I first found both on the 1870 US census living in St Charles Parish, Ward 2, Boutte Station. St Charles Parish is about twenty-five miles from New Orleans and 99 miles from Jeanerette. Robert was a forty-eight year old Black man who could neither read or write. Living with Robert was Charlotte, a thirty-six-year-old Black woman who was born in North Carolina. Also included were children: Robert, 9; Stephen, 6; Celestine, 7; Jane R, 2 and Addison, 1o months.
Robert is next recorded on the 1880 St Charles Parish census with wife Charlotte and children: Robert Jr, twenty-three and his wife Clara; Stephen, twenty-two and his wife Sarah; Alfred, 8; and Henry, 7. Living in the previous household were Robert’s seventeen-year-old daughter Celestine, her husband James Douglas and her daughter Louisa, 8. No one in either household was able to read or write. The birthplace for Robert and Charlotte were reversed for the 1880 census–Robert’s birthplace was recorded as NC and Charlotte ‘s as VA. Missing from the 1880 census were Jane R and Addison Hill.
Robert Hill Sr. registered as a veteran on the 1890 Veteran’s Schedule although he had not provided any discharge or registration paperwork. He lived in St Charles Parish, Ward 4, Des Allemonds.
I learned the last name of Robert Hill Jr.’s mother from his New Orleans marriage certificate. Robert Jr. married Mary Morris on Jan. 6, 1893. The names of his parents were recorded as Robert Hill and Charlotte Alexander. Her parents were Louis and Cecile Morris. The witnesses to the marriage were Philip Warfield and Rudolph Huff. I looked in the census records and found that Rudolph Huff worked as a clerk in the New Orleans courthouse. I hope to find out more about Philip Warfield and see if he was a relative of the Hill family.
Robert Hill Sr. in next documented living with his daughter Celestine, 36 and her 2nd husband Silas Crowther (Crowder). Robert was recorded on the 1900 St Charles Parish, Ward 4, enumeration district 51, page 300A, as a seventy-eight-year-old widowed male who was born in Virginia as were both of his parents. Living with them are her children: Robert Douglass, 19; Isaih Douglas, 16; Victoria Crowder, 5; and Celestine Crowder, 1. Silas, Robert and Isiah all worked as ‘swamper’ for railroad ties. This means that they helped install railroad ties.
I found a death certificate for a Robert Hill who died at the age of 102 on Sept. 24, 1939. Robert’s birthplace was Luling, St Charles Parish, LA. His father was listed as Robert Hill, born in Richmond, Virginia and his mother’s birthplace was recorded as North Carolina. The age suggests that the deceased was Robert Hill Sr. But the birthplace of Luling, suggests that the deceased was Robert Hill, Jr. I have not been able to find documentation for either father or son after the 1900 St Charles census. The informant was Alfred Hill of Paradis, Louisiana.
Robert Hill’s son Henry Hills was recorded in 1900 St Charles Parish, on page 300B with his wife Easter (Esther) Ewing and their daughters: Ida, 7; and Beatrice 1. Next door to Henry was his brother Alfred Hills, twenty-seven and his wife Josephine Dorsey and their children: Mary, 8; Spencer, 4; and Alfred, 5 months. Both Henry and Alfred worked as ‘swampers’ for railtoad ties. Neither man could read or write.
Robert Hill, Jr. was listed on the 1900 St Charles Parish, Ward 1, ED 48, page 222B as a forty-nine-year-old single man. His former wife Clara was appeared on the 1900 census living in the same ward and enumeration district. She and husband Eddie Wiltz were recorded on page 219A with her children: Joseph Hill, 19; Rogers, 16; Annie, 12; and Walter, 8. In the next household was Clara’s mother Clara Robertson, eighty and Clara’s brother Harry Robertson and his wife Mary.
I was not able to find Robert Hill Sr. or Charlotte Hill on the 1910 census. I did find a death certificate for Robert Hill
By 1910, Henry Hill was living in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. The location was either Murphy Road or the township of Murphy. Henry worked as a wood chopper for a logging camp. In his home were wife Martha (nee Morgan), twenty-nine and children Viola, 11; Isabella, 2; and Mann (Henry Jr alias Junius), 1 month. Census data recorded that Henry and Martha had been married 8 years.
Henry, fifty and wife Martha, forty-eight were counted on the 1920 Iberia Parish census Ward 2, living near John B Lewis Road and Peebles Plantation Road. In their home were children: Steven, 14; Isabella; 12, Man, 9; twins Isadore and Isiah, 4; Elsie, 6; Charlotte, 7; and Amos, 1. Also included was their grandson, Roger Williams, 2. Next door was Caffery Provost and wife Viola.
Henry and Martha were still living in Ward 2, Isle Piquant, for the 1930 census. Their ages seemed to also have been frozen in time–his age was fifty and hers was forty-seven. Henry worked as a swamper, tie maker. He could not read or write, but Martha and everyone else in the household could both read and write. Living with them were twins: Embrose (Ambrose) and Alfred, eighteen; Israel and Isaac, fourteen; and Charlotte, 11.
Charlotte Hill was counted twice on the 1930 census, once with her parents and again in the household with her sister Isabella and husband Willie Dennis who lived at 565 Providence Street in New Iberia and their children: Martha, James and Lillian.
Henry Hill died December 9, 1939 in Iberia Parish. His death certificate provided no additional information about his parents. The informant was Ambrose Hill. Martha Hill was last found on the 1950 census living with daughter Viola and her husband Alphonse Anderson. Martha Morgan Hills died March 1971 at the age of ninety-three.
I have been scouring Freedmen Bureau records as well as probate records with hopes of finding out more about Robert and Charlotte. Perhaps I will find a close DNA match whose family lived in NC or VA and stumble upon the story of Robert and Charlotte.
Read About How I Discovered the Roots For My Morgan/Gibson Tree
Read About Aimy Gibson and Sally Riggs and Beyond
Read About the Men on My Family Tree
Best,
My Maryland-Louisiana Roots 