ATTORNEY RATING

Thomas T. Hillman was born near Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, at the old Marable Homestead, February 2, 1844.

His ancestral history is an interesting one, and almost coeval on this continent with the settlement of America, but its chief interest comes from the intimate connection of the name of Hillman with the subject of iron-making, particularly in the South.

Glancing back to the earliest time of which there is any authentic record of the Hillman family, we find that the father and mother, from whom came all the members of this family, were Hollanders, and first came to America about five generations ago, or more than a century from the present date. This couple landed in Philadelphia, and, among the most interesting things connected with their life in the then primitive Philadelphia, was the purchase by Mr. Hillman of a tract of land consisting of twenty acres now in the very heart of the city. It is bounded by Chestnut, Walnut, and Seventh Streets, and by the Delaware River. Among other notable buildings standing at present on this property are the Continental Hotel and the United States Bank. In consequence of the return of Mr. Hillman to his native land, and death there, this land was sold for taxes, but subject to redemption any time within the following ninty-nine years. A son of Daniel Hillman went to Philadelphia in 1840 or '41, and with two of his brothers, George and Charles, employed counsel to investigate the matter, but it was found that one hundred and two years had expired since the tax sale had taken place, or just three years more than the limit allowed for the redemption of the land.

Mr. Hillman was engaged in the dairy business during all of his lifetime in America. He was recalled to Holland by the death of a son and daughter, and some months after his return died. His wife continued in the dairy business up to the time of her death.

Three sons, James, Daniel H., and George, survived this union, and each of them reared families.

James and Daniel H. for some years carried on the wagon and blacksmith business at Trenton, New Jersey. Daniel H., in copartnership with a party by the name of J. L. James, built a forge for the manufacture of iron near Valley Forge, New Jersey, in 1814, but it was soon afterward washed away by a big freshet on the stream where it was situated, when Mr. James took a precipitate departure, leaving all the debts to be paid by his partner. In New Jersey, in those days, the law inflicted imprisonment for debt. Daniel H. owned, near Barnegat Bay, a farm, store, schooner, and ship. These he surrendered to satisfy the indebtedness of the firm, and went to New York. This was in the year 1816. He left his wife and children in New York and went to Chillicothe, Ohio, then the capital of the State. He built a forge on Paint Creek for the manufacture of hammered iron. In the following year, 1817, his family, consisting of wife, four sons and one daughter, joined him in his new home. The names of his children were Daniel, the oldest, who was born in Trenton, New Jersey, February, 1807; Jane, James, George W., and Charles E. The mother of these children was Grace Huston.

There being no railroads then in the United States, his family traversed this great distance in wagons.

Daniel H. Hillman ran this forge for two years, and then moved to Bath County, Kentucky, in 1822, and built and operated a number of forges up to the year 1827, when Mrs. Hillman died. The last place at which he worked was near Greenupsburg, Kentucky, for Leven S. andT. T. Shreeves.

During the stay of Daniel H. at this place we have the first mention of his son Daniel (the father of the subject of this sketch), in connection with the important industry which the former had so faithfully fostered. Young Hillman assisted his father in securing coal and in the shipment of iron to Cincinnati, Ohio, by flatboats. He was then in his nineteenth year and went to the steam furnace of L. S. andT. T. Shreeves, in Greenup County, Kentucky, and managed the coaling ground. He stayed with them two or three years, and was promoted to be bookkeeper and manager.

His father, on the death of Mrs. Hillman, broke up housekeeping and went to Hanging Rock, Ohio, where he managed the Pine Grove Steam Furnace. He remained there some little time and then returned to Greenup County, Kentucky. In 1830 he went to New Orleans, and thence to Mobile, Alabama, in company with Dr. J. Goodrich and Casting Goodrich, and subsequently to Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.

The following letter from Mr. Hillman to his son George affords an interesting insight into the condition of things as they stood at that early date in the mineral region of Alabama :

Valley Forge, Bibb County, Alabama,

August 21, 1830.

Dear Son : These lines will inform you that I am well, and I express the sincere wish that you and your brother, sister and son, are similarly fortunate.

I shall start one forge for Colonel McGehee in about fo