William James Hill was born in Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina in 1811.  He married Sarah Elizabeth Coleman.  She was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 7 September 1819.  They came to the Republic of Texas in 1837, settled first at the creek called New Years, at the Yeaga.  Land was granted to him on 4 January 1841, in what was then Milam County.  William was an attorney and served as District Clerk of Milam County and later in Burleson County after it was formed.  Caldwell was the county seat of both counties.  He also served as a Land Commissioner.

During Mirabeau B. Lamar’s term as President of the Republic of Texas, Congress granted four leagues of land (17,712 acres) to each county for the support of schools.  The Commissioners Court authorized William J. Hill to employ a surveyor to locate and survey the same.

William James Hill died the 15 October 1874 in Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas. Sarah Elizabeth Coleman Hill lived a long and gracious life. She even raised a grandson after the death of his mother in 1887. Sarah died in Caldwell the 13 December 1901. She and her husband are both buried in the Old City Cemetery in Caldwell, Texas.

Descendant Ann Rodgers, a chapter member until her death, had inherited a sampler that Sarah Elizabeth made at the age of 9 years in 1828, also an oil painting of her, painted in the 1830’s.


Stephanie Sale, descendant