Newton F. Hill

NEWTON F. HILL. For various brief intervals Newton F. Hill since early youth has been identified with Rooks County in a public capacity either as county official or in business affairs. He is editor and proprietor of the Stockton Review, and in that capacity has a large responsibility in molding the opinion and affairs of the county.

Mr. Hill was born in Gentry County, Missouri, April 27, 1877. His recorded ancestry in the paternal line goes back to his great-great-grandfather, Isaac Hill, who when a boy was captured by the Indians. He was held in captivity until grown and when Daniel Boone crossed the Cumberland Mountains into Kentucky he went with him or followed after him soon and located near Taylorville in that western commonwealth. Mr. Hill's grandfather was Robert C. Hill, who was born in Kentucky in 1820. He grew up in Clark County, Illinois, was married there, and for many years was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and a farmer. He died at Charleston, Illinois, in 1892. His wife was Ollie A. Woods, also a native of Kentucky, who died at Charleston, Illinois.

The father of Newton F. Hill is F. P. Hill, also a resident of Stockton. He was born in Illinois in 1840, was reared and married there, and his early business career was that of a merchant and farmer. In 1876 he moved to a farm in Gentry County, Missouri, and two years later, in 1878, joined the early settlers in Rooks County, Kansas. He took up a homestead of 160 acres and also a timber claim, and still owns the latter. Altogether he has 320 acres. Since 1886 his home has been in Stockton, and he was in the abstract business for many years, but is now living retired. He was elected and served as member of the board of commissioners for the county from 1884 to 1887, was also county clerk one term, was probate judge three terms or six years, and one term was deputy register of deeds and was deputy county clerk under his son Newton. He is a stanch republican and for forty years has been active in civic and political affairs in his county. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has served as secretary of the Newahcuba Lodge No. 189, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Stockton. F. P. Hill has a record as a soldier of the Civil war. He enlisted in 1862 in the One Hundred and Twenty-Third Illinois Infantry and was on duly until the close of the war. Among the more important battles in which he was engaged were these of Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga. F. P. Hill married Orpha Timmons. She was born in Ohio in 1840. To them were born seven children: Nora, living at Covina, California, widow of Irwin Fisher, formerly a rancher in Kansas and later in California; Stella, wife of J. A. Wood, cashier of the Bank at Pleasanton, Kansas; Lina, wife of W. I. Smith, a jeweler and optician at Stockton, Kansas; Joseph, who died at the age of five years; Libbie, wife of F. A. Carpenter, formerly assistant cashier of a bank and now city clerk of Azusa, California; Newton F., sixth in age; and Blanche, wife of A. E. Hawk, a farmer at Stockton, Kansas.

Newton F. Hill was about two years old when his parents came to Kansas. As a boy he attended the rural schools of Rooks County, spent two years in the Stockton High School, and since the age of seventeen has been making his own way in the world and has used his abilities and opportunities to the best advantage of himself and all concerned. For seven years he clerked in a store at Stockton. For one year he was in a jewelry store at Kirwin and at Osborne, and in 1900 engaged in the mercantile business at Ames in this state. Returning to Stockton in 1902, he was for six months in the grain business, and then for four years was deputy postmaster. Mr. Hill was elected county clerk in 1906, and by re-election served four years. During the greater part of the year 1911 he assisted his father in the abstract business and in December, 1911, bought a half interest in the Stockton Review. Since 1913 he has been sole proprietor and editor of this paper. The Stockton Review was established in 1909 at Stockton, and under Mr. Hill's management and ownership it has acquired a large circulation throughout Rooks and surrounding counties, and has a well equipped plant and office in the postoffice building on Main Street. It is a republican paper, reflecting Mr. Hill's individual faith and politics.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and has served as trustee eight years. He is past master of Newahcuba Lodge No. 189, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also a member of Stockton Chapter No. 81, Royal Arch Masons, and Stockton Camp No. 289, Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Hill built his comfortable home in Stockton in 1910. He married in that town in 1900 Miss Fannie I. Hamilton, daughter of D. N. and Ellen Hamilton. Her mother still lives at Stockton, where her father, who was a tinner by trade, died. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have five children: Lola, born May 20, 1903; Harry, born January 18, 1905; Dorothy, born April 18, 1906; Arline, born August 4, 1909; and Frank, born August 27, 1914.

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