Hill Grave Sites in Georgia
In December of 1997 I made a trip to Atlanta, Georgia and while there visited the historic Oakland Cemetery, one of Atlanta's oldest cemetaries, established 1850. It is preserved by The Historic Oakland Foundation, a non-profit organization, located at 248 Oakland Avenue, S.E., Atlanta Georgia 30312. (404) 688-2107
To visit their web site CLICK HERE
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
I knew my roots were in the South, and that several Hills in my line had illustrious careers as a Senator, a Judge, and other political offices. When I found the Hill family plot in Oakland Cemetery I was thrilled to discover the final resting place for fifteen ancestors starting with Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill, born in 1823 and buried there in 1882.
Below are some of the pictures of these old gravesites with information about each ancestor.
Sen. Benjamin Harvey Hill and his wife Caroline Holt
Benjamin Harvey Hill was born September 14, 1823 in Hillsboro, Jasper County, GA. He married Caroline Holt who was born February 21, 1825. They had four children who made it to adulthood, Emily Leila Hill, Benjamin Harvey Hill, Jr., Hennia Hill, and Charles Doughtery Hill.
Senator Hill served as a member of the Georgia state house of representatives, 1851, was candidate for governor of GA, 1857, delegate to the Georgia secession convention, 1861, Delegate from Georgia to the Confederate Provisional Congress, 1861-62, Senator from Georgia in the Confederate Congress, 1862-65, U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1875-77, again in 1877-82. He died in Atlanta August 16, 1882. His wife Caroline died November 11, 1904. The picture shows their grave markers side by side, the taller of the two being the Senator's.
Inscribed on the side of his marble tomb:
"When too feeble to speak, he wrote the following:
'If a grain of corn will die, and then rise again in so much beauty,
why may not I die, and then rise again in fertile beauty and life.
How is the last a greater mystery than the first, and by as much as I
exceed the grain of corn in this life, why may not I exceed it in the
new life.
How can we limit the power of Him, who made the grain of corn, then
made the same grain arise in such wonderous newness of life!'"
Senator Hill died an agonizing and untimely death from cancer at home in Atlanta. I discovered this picture of his Atlanta home in the book written by his son, B. H. Hill, Jr., on the life and speeches of his father. ("Senator Benjamim H. Hill of Georgia, His Life, Speeches and Writings", pub. 1893, T. H. P. Bloodworth, Atlanta)
Sen. B. H. Hill was my grandfather's great uncle and namesake.
Benjamin Harvey Hill, Jr.
Benjamin Harvey Hill, Jr., was born July 1, 1849 and died July 19, 1922. He was a Judge in Georgia. His first wife was Mary Emily Carter, born September 11, 1853 and died May 25, 1890 at the age of 37.
Inscribed on his gravestone is the following:
"Friend of the oppressed - just - scholarly - chivalric and true.
He struck the discords from life's troubled music leaving only the melody of its golden strings."
Janie May Hill
Janie May Hill, (maiden name also HILL) born May 7, 1874 and died February 5, 1925, second wife of B. H. Hill, Jr. is on the direct right of his grave. Janie May was the daughter of James DuBose Hill and Rebecca Harvey Williams, another prominent Hill line in Georgia history. Much of this Hill family's history is found in the book, "The Hills of Wilkes Co., Georgia & Allied Families" by Lodowick Johnson Hill, last reprinted 1972. B. H. Hill, Jr.'s first wife, Mary Emily Carter, is buried a row behind his grave and to the left.
Janie May's gravestone inscription reads simply; "My faith looks up to thee".
There are fifteen people interred in the Hill family plot in Oakland Cemetery; Sen. Benjamin Harvey Hill, wife Caroline Holt, their son Benjamin Harvey Hill, Jr., and his first wife, Mary Emily Carter, second wife, Janie May Hill, Emily Leila Hill Ridley (daughter of Sen. Hill & Holt), Charles Doughtery Hill (son of Sen. Hill & Holt), Charles' wife Carrie H. Hughes, Harvey Hill (son of Chas. Doughtery Hill) and his wife Mary Ridley Hill, Robert Emmett Mitchell and his wife Kate Carter Mitchell, (she was the sister of B.H. Hill, Jr.'s first wife), and three infant/child graves with stones too badly worn to read.
Here are photographs of the family plot at a distance from two different angles.
Side view of Hill family plot in Atlanta.
Back row, opposite side view of Hill family plot in Atlanta.
And finally, here is a rough sketch I made of the fifteen graves with names and dates and relationships where known.
Hill Family Plot Sketch
Click on the headstone to see The U.S. GenWeb's Tombstone Inscription Project. Look at the data others have collected from old cemeteries, become a volunteer, or submit the work you have already done.
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