Michael Hill's Genealogy Forums

Y-DNA test results recently became available for a descendant of John Hill (b. 1782 in Guilford Co.--later Rockingham County, North Carolina, m. 1800 to Margaret Covington). Bill Corn has been researching this family for many years and has strongly suspected that this John Hill was the son of John Hill Sr., who had the following children: Micajah, Dutton, Margaret "Peggy", Unity, and John.

The Y-DNA results match 37 of 37 with those of my father, a descendant of Micajah Hill Jr. (b. abt 1813, m. 1834 to Rachel Martin). Results can be seen on the Hill Surname DNA Project results page <http://www.hilldna.com/results.html> (see group 13b).

Bill Corn's research shows that his John Hill was in the same county as John Hill Sr., whereas the most specific birthplace that I've seen evidence of for Micajah Hill Sr., husband of Dorcas, (hereafter referred to as "Micajah Sr.") is the state of North Carolina. There were several Micajah Hills in the late 18th century, but Micajah, son of John Hill Sr., has long seemed the most likely candidate for Micajah Sr.

Here's a rootsweb posting from 2000 about the possibility of Micajah Sr. being the son of John Hill Sr.:
<http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/HILL/2000-02/0949471799>

These Y-DNA results also match closely (36/37 and 35/37) with descendants of Joab Hill, b. 1775 in Surry Co., North Carolina. Charles Massey's research <http://members.aol.com/chuicy/hillbio.html> has included trying to solve the mystery of how Joab Hill related to the William Hill who lived adjacent to John Hill Sr. in Guilford/Rockingham County.

Some questions:

1. It seems to me that this 37/37 match indicates that John Hill (b. 1782, husband of Margaret Covington) and Micajah Hill Sr. (b. 1760s, husband of Dorcas) were probably brothers, both sons of John Hill Sr. Am I jumping to conclusions?
2. What do the new Y-DNA results indicate about John Hill Sr.'s relationships to William Hill (his neighbor in Rockingham County) and Joab Hill?
3. There is also a 34/37 (but a genetic distance of 4) match with descendants of Moses Hill (b. abt 1757, m. abt 1778 to Savilla N. Roden). This connection appears to be from farther back than the one with Joab. Any ideas about possible connections?

A good analysis, Michael. This is a good example of how "strong suspicions" derived from conventional research can be confirmed by DNA evidence. The results of DNA tests are completely objective and can only be overridden by Johnny Cochran's poetry ("If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.")


I think it can now be established that the Most Recent Common Ancestor of participants #25413 and #36583, descendants of Micajah Hill, Jr. (b/c.1813) and John Hill, Jr. (b1782), respectively, is John Hill, Sr. This is great but we are never satisfied and always strive to go back one more generation. To my knowledge, there is no evidence whatsoever as to the ancestry of John Hill, Sr.

As you point out, DNA testing indicates that John Hill, Sr. was somehow related to Joab Hill (participants #11239 and #13767). Conventional research gives us some more "strong suspicions" as to what that relationship might be.

There is evidence that Joab Hill (b.1775) was a member of the William Hill family. William Hill owned property adjacent to John Hill, Sr. on Buffalo Island Creek in what is now Rockingham Co., NC. Conventional research seems to prove that William and his wife, Hannah Bridges, had at least one daughter (Polly) and at least four sons: Thomas (b.1759), Jacob, James (b.1761), and John. In 1788, William sold his 382 acres on Buffalo Island Creek and moved with his family to Surry Co., NC. There, in 1789, he bought 380 acres on the Little Fisher River from James and Catherine Bryson. William died c.1791 and his 380 acres were parceled and deeded to three of his sons, Jacob, James, and John by Thomas Hill who by that time had moved to GA. By 1796, each of these three sons had sold their parcels to Colby Creed. Inexplicably, the deed for the parcel that had been Jacob?s was signed by Joab Hill. This suggests that Joab was the son or perhaps the brother of Jacob.

Was this the same Joab Hill who, in 1802, married Elizabeth Lane in Claiborne Co., TN and was a member of Big Spring Baptist Church?

Evidence suggests that he was. We know that other surviving members of the William Hill family moved to Grainger Co., TN after the sale of their Surry Co. property. (Claiborne Co. was formed out of Grainger in 1801.) James Hill with wife, Nancy Royalty, became members of the Big Spring Church. Hannah Hill was a charter member, and Polly Hill settled there and married Thomas Gibbons, Jr. About 10 years later, Thomas Hill and his family left GA, moved to TN, and also became members of Big Spring.
Thus, if Joab Hill was indeed the son or grandson of William Hill, then William Hill must have been closely related to John Hill, Sr., most likely his brother.

The devastating difficulty with this analysis is that the DNA of Thomas Hill (participants #4345 and #11367) does not match Joab. Thus both of them could not have been sons or even relatives of William Hill. There are still intriguing issues regarding the family of John Hill, Sr. and William Hill that need to be resolved. It would help to have a DNA test from a descendant of James Hill and Nancy Royalty. The results of this test would hopefully eliminate either Thomas or Joab as a descendant of William and either confirm or disprove a relationship between John Hill, Sr. and William Hill.