Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

was sheriff. His father, Bertram de
Hells, was lieutenant of Dover Castle,
under Reginald de Cohham. Henry de
Helles was summoned to Parliament as
one of the Knights of Kent, early in the
reign of King Edward III. No less than
seven coats-of-arms were granted to that
many branches of the Hills family. The
ancestors of the American branches of
the family almost all resided within a
radius of about twenty miles from the
manor of St. Margaret Hills, where the
name originated, and scrupulous search,
at the instance of the family genealogist,
William Sanford Hills, to whose collected
information must be attributed many of
the records herein contained, established
it beyond doubt that the family to which
the line now represented by Charles Sidney
Hills, of Hartford, belongs, is by
hereditary right entitled to the coat-ofarms
described below
Arms—Argent, a cross between four crescents,
azure, a chief of the last.
Crest—A horse courant, gules. In the mouth,
a broken spear-head, sable.
William Hills, the progenitor of the
family to which the Hills, of Hartford,
belongs, was born about 1609, at Up-
minster, Essex, England, the son of
Thomas and Jane Hilles. He died in
Hartford, or Hadley, in 1683. His first
wife was Phillis, daughter of Richard
Lyman, who was born in 161 1 at High
Ongar, and came with her father to Bos-
ton in 1631. William Hills came on the
ship "Lyon," which arrived in Boston
Harbor, September 16, 1632. In that year
he was bound to service, probably to pay
for his passage as was often the case in
those days. He was admitted freeman of
Roxbury, May 14, 1634. About the
middle of October of the succeeding year,
he joined the church at Cambridge, and
with that bod}', in which was his father-
:
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
104
in-law, removed to Hartford. His first
wife died probably before 1648, and William
Hills was twice subsequently married
; purchased a large tract of land
where now is East Hartford, and removed
there in October, 1669. In the records
of the First Church of Hartford is the
following entry regarding him: "dis-
missed, July, 1683; moved to Hadley."
His son, William Hills, was born in
Hartford about 1646, and, according to
Savage, was buried there, August 15,
1693. He married Sarah .
Their son, Ebenezer Hills, was born
at East Hartford in 1676, and died February
12, 1750. He married Abigail, who
presumably was the daughter of Caleb
Benjamin, of Wethersfield.
Their son, Ebenezer Hills, born January
14, 1708, died January 14, 1772. He
married Hannah Arnold.
Their son, Ezenezer Hills, was born in
March, 1733, and died March 28, 1773.
He married Hepzibah Keeney. who was
born in Manchester, Connecticut, May,
1733. and died at East Hartford, February
15, 1826.
Their son, Ebenezer Hills, was born
February 7, 1756, and died April 4, 1826.
He married, at East Hartford, November
! 6, 1775. Ruth Damon, who was born
there July 9, 1754, and died September
22, 1802. He served in the Revolutionary
Army for the period, April 21 to Novem-
ber 1, of the year 1777.
Their son, Joel Hills, was born July
16, 1778, and died May 7, 1851. He married,
at Manchester, Connecticut, March
5, 1802 (for his first wife, through whom
Charles Sidney Hills, of Hartford, is descended),
Milly Kenney, who was born
December 22, 1781, and died October 3,
1824.
Their son, Sidney Hills, father of
Charles Sidney Hills, was born in East
Hartford, October 1, 1812. His education