Name/Title
1882 letters by John H. HillEntry/Object ID
ARC1004Scope and Content
ARC1004-1: Two photocopy letters written by African American John H. Hill (1855-1936) in 1882.
ARC1004-2: Transcriptions of the letters by Sarah Brown
One letter (16 pages), written by John H. Hill June 2 to Louise Wood Brackett (Mrs. Nathan Brackett), gives an account of his early life. The second letter (one page) written June 3 to Nathan Brackett, a founder of Storer College and its principal for 30 years, mentions publishing (perhaps the letter he had written to Louise Wood Brackett) and his desire to limit the use of real names.
According to his letter, from his birth, Hill was enslaved and owned by Hannah Lee Washington Alexander, wife of William Alexander, in Jefferson County, Va. In the spring of 1865, as the Civil War was ending, he ran away and was taken in by a Captain James H. Whitmore of the 15th Maine Regiment, who returned to Maine and left Hill with his father, who raised him. He earned money to pay for schooling and became an educator and lawyer. In 1880 or 81, he returned to Jefferson County where he practiced law and taught school.
Subsequently, after 1882 when these letters were written, he taught at and became principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute, later known as West Virginia State College, in Institute, W.Va.. Among other experiences he had as an adult, Hill served in U.S. Army's campaign against Indians in the western United States and in the Spanish-American War.
He married Etta Lovett of Harpers Ferry in 1889, died in 1936, and is buried in Institute.
Digital copies of the letters and their transcriptions are in Media.Acquisition
Accession
558Source or Donor
Schiller, EliseAcquisition Method
Gift