California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


ARTHUR HILL. The work which Arthur Hill is accomplishing as a grower of grain in 
Merced county is such as to properly place him among the representative agriculturists of this 
community. His ranch is very extensive, consisting of twelve hundred and thirty- four acres 
of fine farming land, and this is given over entirely to the cultivation of barley and wheat. 
His crops are among the best produced in the county and are an evidence of the value of the 
property, as well as the care and thought given to the cultivation of the land. A native son of 
the state, Mr. Hill was born in San Joaquin county August 27, 1857. 

Thomas B. Hill, the father, was a native of Pennsylvania, where he grew to manhood's es- 
tate. Dissatisfied with the limitations by which he was surrounded he early sought a change of 
location, going first to the southern states, after which he came to California, in 1850, making 
the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. On his arrival in the state he located at Stockton, 
where he remained about five years, removing then to Woodbridge, San Joaquin county, a dis- 
tance of ten miles from the former city, and becoming the owner of two ranches of three hun- 
dred and twenty and one hundred and sixty acres, respectively. This property he devoted to 
the cultivation of grain and stock-raising. In 1861 he removed to Calaveras county and con- 
ducted a saw-mill there until 1869, when he brought his family to Merced county and located 
on Bear Creek, where he engaged in ranching until his death, January 1, 1869. 

Arthur Hill remained on the paternal farm until 1878, assisting in the home duties and the 
cultivation of the ranch. He then located upon his present ranch of twelve hundred and thirty- 
four acres and has since been engaged in grain raising. He is located seven miles northeast of 
Merced and in a good farming section of the county. In his political preferment Mr. Hill is 
independent in his views, reserving his right to vote for the man whom he considers best quali- 
fied to serve the people officially. Fraternally he is identified with the Native Sons of the 
Golden West and Knights of Pythias.