The progenitors of the Hills in Dorchester County was William and Agatha Hill, who arrived the area about 1669. They had five children: Hannah, Richard, Amy, William, and John. Hannah married Theodore Matkins. Richard and Amy died unmarried. William married Sarah (last name unknown) and remained in the area while John married Hannah (last name unknown) and removed to Murderkill Hundred, Kent County, Delaware about 1737.
In 1669, William Hill received 75 acres of land on a peninsula on what was then called Fishing Creek and what is now called McKeil’s Point, which is about 10 miles directly west of the town of Cambridge (see image below). In 1675, William Hill patented 50 more acres called Cherry Point, which was adjacent to his Fishing Creek property. Upon William’s death in 1701, the land went to his son William II, who patented an additional 21 acres called Hills Range located on Peter’s Neck on the Blackwater River. When William II died in 1734, all the land was inherited by his son, William III. Prior to William III’s death in 1760, he sold Hills Range and Cherry Creek to Thomas and John Jones, respectively. After William III’s death, his son John sold Fishing Creek to Robert Goldsborough.
William Hill I’s two sons, John and Richard, patented land on along the Blackwater River with John patenting 41 acres called Johns Delight in 1709 and Richard patenting 40 acres called Hills Platt in 1730. Richard died in 1732 leaving his land to his sister Amy, and when she died, she left half to her sister Hannah (Hill) Matkins and half to her nephew John Matkins. As to John Hill’s land, he had already moved to Kent County, Delaware when he sold his land in 1741 to Thomas McKeel.
Presented below is a five generation family tree for the known descendants of the progenitors, William and Agatha Hill. Its construction is based principally on probate and land records. For many child lines, it is unknown whether they married and had children. Affiliated and known surnames in the tree include Gore, Kennerly, Matkins, Navey, Parnell, Tall, and Webb.
It should be noted that there was another William Hill in Early Dorchester who died about 1693 and who has often been conflated with the progenitor and subject of this writing, William Hill I (died 1701). The William Hill who died in 1693 was a sub-sheriff of Dorchester, a merchant1, and resided near the Transquaking and Nanticoke River areas to the southeast. He had only child named Mary who resided in London.
Project Goals
The first aim is to reconstruct the Hill family, build out their respective family trees, and establish their exact relationship to one another. To do this, we need existing Hill descendants to share their gathered research and to share their autosomal DNA results, e.g., Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA, Gedmatch, MyHeritage, etc. Autosomal DNA are genetic markers passed down from both parents to their child and so lineage can be traced through either parent. Even if you do not know your family tree more than a couple of generations, autosomal DNA can establish which of the Hill progenitors one descends.
The second aim is to determine where the Hill family originated prior to Dorchester County inclusive of where in Europe they originated. To do this, we need male volunteers whose surname is currently Hill to participate in a Y-DNA study. Y-DNA are genetic markers specifically passed down from father to son and so male lineage can be traced, i.e., the Hill surname. Y-DNA can establish whether the Dorchester County Hill families are related and how far back in time particular lines split off from one another.
How Can I Help?
If you would like to learn more about your Hill ancestry and help determine when and where in Europe we originated, please contact me. Specifically, please consider
- Sharing your family tree and other research. Sometimes the most random bit of information can break through genealogy brick walls.
- Sharing your Ancestry DNA results. As my prior research and blog demonstrates, I have extensive experience and success in analyzing DNA and genetic clusters. Ancestry makes sharing your list of DNA matches easy to do as they promote collaboration among its members (see Ancestry.com article here).
- Taking an autosomal DNA test (e.g., Ancestry.com) or Y-DNA test (i.e., FamilyTreeDNA.com). The more descendants of the original Dorchester County progenitors who test, the more genetic coverage we have of their original DNA and the more likely we are to find connections among ourselves and thus accomplish the project’s aims. If you have interest in taking a test but a test is not currently a financial priority, please contact me as limited funds are available for sponsoring a test.
More About Me
Elsewhere on this website you can learn more about me and the quality of my research. I descend from William Hill (1775-1836), who I currently believe descends from John Hill who moved from Dorchester County, Maryland to Kent County, Delaware.
You can read more about my Hill research by reviewing my DNA work on the Hill genetic networks blog series: Part 5 and Part 7.
Sources
- Dorchester County, Maryland, land deed, Thomas Taylor to William Travers (1680), Old Book 5, p. 161 [mentions William Hill, merchant, near Transquakin River]; accessed 3 January 2025 at mdlandrec.net (Maryland Archives). ↩︎