California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

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


SAMUEL HILL.  A redoubtable pioneer of California and of Ventura County was the late Samuel Hill. He 
had all the qualities which make the true pioneer.  He was resourceful, determined, aggressive, ready 
to adventure but no discouraged by ill success, and consistently followed the leading of a worthy 
ambition until he ranked among the foremost men of Southern California in material means and in 
influence as a citizen.
 
He was of old England's contributions to early California society.
 
Born in Lancashire, England, March 21, 1815, a son of Samuel and Sarah Hill, who spent all their lives in 
England and died there at the ages of sixty and forty years respectively, grew up in their English home, 
attended the local schools and served an apprenticeship which made him proficient in the trade of 
miller. That apprenticeship continued for four years before he was pronounced a master workman.
 
Then in 1835 at the age of nineteen he came to the United States. Landing at Quebec, Canada, he lived 
there a year and a half, and then moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he followed his trade as miller for 
seven years. After this long American residence he went back to England for a brief sojourn.
 
On his return to this country the news of California gold discoveries was fresh in everyone's mouth and 
was the incentive that pulled almost every young man away from the stores and workshops of the 
East to the Pacific slope. Gathering sixteen men as a party Samuel Hill agreed to pilot them to the gold 
fields and pay the expenses of transportation and also support them for the first year in California 
provided these men would give him the benefit of their labor during that year. On the whole Samuel 
Hill was well versed in human nature and seldom made mistakes on that score, but he did not properly 
estimate the spell cast over men by the atmosphere of early California. The party crossed the plains 
with wagons and teams of horses and the journey was made without particular incident. Hardly had 
they arrived on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas when Mr. Hill saw his companions disappear 
singly and in groups with no accounting for their previous contract and without rendering any service 
of value to Mr. Hill in the new country.
 
His first year in California Mr. Hill spent in taking an inventory of prospects for the future and in mining 
and prospecting. At Spring Hill, a noted quartz mine, named for him and the spring gushing out of the 
premises, he and Mr. P. Y. Coal operated a mine and also had a small store for the sale of miner's 
supplies. This was chronicled as another item in Mr. Hill's early misfortunes. After the loss of all his 
investment he determined to foreswear mining altogether. Locating in Amador County, for sixteen 
years he was engaged in ranching, and that he followed with' considerable success.
 
Then coming into Ventura County in 1876 he bought 6,500 acres in the Conejo Valley in partnership 
with Mr. Edwards. The partners embarked in the sheep business. That was a hazardous venture. In 
the dry years that followed barely 800 were left out of the original flock of 9,000 sheep. On account of 
these heavy losses Mr. Hill surrendered 1,600 acres of his land, leaving him with 5,600 acres, which at 
that time represented only a fraction of the value at which this estate is now held. The water supply 
on this land is one of the finest in Ventura County. It was with the operation and management of this 
handsome estate that Mr. Hill employed his later years.
 
On February 28, 1870, he married Mrs. Sarah Middleton, widow of Thomas Middleton, who died in 
1864. Mrs. Hill was born in County Durham, England, a daughter of George and Margaret (Grant) 
Cooper, her parents being also natives of England. By her former marriage Mrs. Hill had five children: 
Thomas, who lives on land inherited from the Samuel Hill estate; Anthony, living on another part of the 
Hill property; Margaret, wife of George Worts; Sarah L., wife of William Rals- ler of Ventura County; 
Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Howard of Ventura County.
 
The late Samuel Hill was a democrat in politics and he and his wife were members of the Episcopal 
Church. The career of this worthy old California pioneer came to a close in November. 1904. His widow 
followed him in 1912.