Short Biography of Sylvester Hills

Sylvester Hills was a native of Connecticut, born March 7, 1790. When a young man he went to Onondaga Co., N. Y., where he was engaged in farming until 1838. He then started with two teams for Wisconsin, taking his family and household goods. He drove to Buffalo, where they embarked upon the lake and went to Toledo, completing the journey from that point to Green county with the teams. He bought government land in what is now the town of Sylvester, erected a log house and commenced improvements. He was a natural mechanic, and manufactured many of the articles of furniture used by his own and his neighbors' families; also built a loom and spinning wheel, which were used by the women of the family for weaving cloth from flax, which was raised upon the farm. There were maple trees upon the place, from which they obtained sugar, which, with the wild honey that they gathered, furnished the sweets used by the family. Game and fish were abundant at this time, and nearly all the articles they were obliged to buy were tea and tobacco. He lived upon this place two years, then bought a prairie farm in the same town, on which he built a log house and frame barn. The latter was built in 1841, and the boards with which it was covered were hauled with teams from Chicago; the shingles were made of oak and rived by hand. In 1856 he sold this farm and removed to section 29, in the town of Albany, where he purchased land and remained several years, then sold his farm and removed to the village, and there remained until his death, which occurred Feb. 25, 1881. He was twice married. His first wife was formerly Chloe Webster, and they were married in Onondaga Co., N. Y. Eleven children blessed this union, nine of whom are now living—William, Ashael, Price, Lorinda, Miranda, Nelson, Elizar, Betsey and Electa. Mrs. Hills died March 6, 1832. Mr. Hllls' second wife was Hannah Sutherland, a native of Vermont. She was a woman of much ability, and in her youth was a school teacher, which occupation she followed in her native State, and afterwards in New York, where she became acquainted with Mr. Hills, to whom she was married, Dec. 27, 1832. She was noted for her kindness in cases of sickness and distress, and seemed to feel the misfortunes of others more than her own. She lived to a ripe old age, each succeeding year adding new acts of kindness and generosity to her children and friends. Her memory, always remarkable, was especially so in her old age, and up to almost the day of her death she retained a perfect recollection of past events, and of the names and ages of all the people residing in the neighborhood where she was brought up. She died Oct. 27, 1882. Her children were—Sylvester S., born Dec. 17, 1833; Chloe P., born Jan. 28, 1836; and Isabelle M., born June 6, 1888.

Source: "History of Green County, Wisconsin" ⁴⁸¹³