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Burch Family Cemetery ~ Martha Ann Hill ~ part of the Polk County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
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Hill, Martha Ann
LAST NAME: Hill FIRST NAME: Martha MIDDLE NAME: Ann NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME: Virgin AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
GENDER: F TITLE: 
BORN: 18 Dec 1834 DIED: 2 Dec 1915 BURIED: 28 Dec 1916 ~ Burch Family Cemetery
OCCUPATION:  
BIRTH PLACE:  Greenup Co., Kentucky
DEATH PLACE: Independence, Polk Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
1870 OR CENSUS - Martha Hill, age 37, b. Kentucky, is enumerated with Henry, age 41, occupation farmer, b. New York, along with Arrelia, age 14, b. Oregon, Reason, age 11, b. Oregon, and Nellie, age 2, b. Oregon. Also enumerated with the family are George Griswold, age 57, occupation carpenter, b. New York, and Robert Parrish, age 23, occupation saddler, b. Ohio.
1900 OR CENSUS - Martha A. Hill, age 65, mother of 9 children 4 of whom are living at the time of the census, b. Dec 1834 in Kentucky, is enumerated with her husband of 49 years, Henry, age 71, occupation farmer, b. Jan 1829 in New York, along with Ladew, age 41, widowed, occupation farmer, b. Nov 1858 in Oregon, Homer V., age 29, single, occupation farmer, b. Sept 1870 in Oregon, Verd, age 23, single, b. Jun 1876 in Oregon, Garlin, age 18, b. Jun 1881 in Oregon, Clyde, age 19, identified as grandson, occupation woodchopper, b. Dec 1880 in Oregon, Wendell H. Denlinger, identified as grandson, age 1, b. Feb 1899 in Oregon, and Henry Denlinger Jr., identified as son-in-law, age 30, widowed, occupation attorney, b. Jan 1877 in Oregon. Also enumerated with the family are Theodore Thrasher, hired hand, age 21, single, occupation laborer, b. Jan 1879 in Missouri, and Fanny B. Martin, hired girl, age 22, single, occupation servant, b. Oct 1877 in New York.
DEATH CERTIFICATE: 
OSBH DC (Polk County 1915) #6190 - Martha Ann Hill, female, widowed, b. 18 Dec 1834 in Greenup Co., Kentucky, d. 26 Dec 1916 in Independence at the age of 81 y's, 8 d's, name of father Reason Virgin (b. Virginia), maiden name of mother Clarinda Womack (b. Prince Edward Co., Virginia), interment: 28 Dec 1916, undertaker: C. W. Henkle.
OBITUARY: 
Mrs. Martha A. Hill, the “most distinguished citizen” of Independence and wife of Henry Hill, its founder, passed peacefully away last Sunday morning at the age of 81 years and eight days, and ended a life great in its achievements and noble in its work. A pioneer, she fought the pioneer’s fight and shared in its hardships and disadvantages, always willing to bear not only her own portion but that of the weaker ones. Her life was full of kind deeds and charitable acts and every pioeer has reason to remember her. Next week, George H. Himes, of the Oregon Historical Society, her lifelong friend, will pay tribute to her memory through the Monitor. 
Martha A. Virgin was born in Kentucky in 1834 and came to Oregon by ox team in 1847. In 1850 she married Henry Hill and they established a home on a donation land claim which is now partly occupied by the city of Independence. They lived here 18 years before there was any town for it was not until 1868 that Independence was established by Mr. Hill. Mrs. Hill lived upon the old homestead for 65 years and survived her husband by eight years, Mr. Hill’s death occurring in 1907. She leaves one daughter, Mrs. Garlin Cohrs, of Spokane, three sons, L.R., Homer and Verd, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. 
The funeral services were held at the home Tuesday afternoon, Dr. H.C. Dunsmore delivering the funeral oration. Hrs Hill was buried in the family lot in the Pioneer cemetery at Rickreall, beside loved ones who had gone before.
Independence Monitor, Friday, 31 Dec 1915, 1:3

TRIBUTE TO 'MOTHER' HILL
George H. Hines Places Her Hightly and Gives Her Life's History
With the passing of Mrs. Martha Ann Virgin Hill in Independence on December 26, 1915, Polk county lost one of its best known and most highly beloved pioneer women. She was neighborly and dependable in all the relations of her long and useful life; a woman who has left to her surviving children and grandchildren, as well as to hosts of old friends of more than two generations, a precious heritage and an example of a beautiful life. 
Mrs. Hill was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reason Virgin and was born in Greenup county, Kentucky, in 1834, and went with her parents to Missouri in early childhood. Soon afterward her parents died, leaving her an orphan. Then she was taken into the family of J.W. Burch, who crossed the plains in 1847 and settled on the Rickreall. Upon the death of his wife, Mrs. Samuel Burch took the two little motherless children of her son’s, together with Martha Ann Virgil [sic: Virgin], and made a home for them until early in 1851. In 1848-1849 she was a pupil in the “Jefferson Institute,” as it was called, a school first opened by John M. Lyle, in a log cabin on the Nathaniel Ford place, near Rickreall, on April 13, 1846, the first school in Polk county. While her opportunity for education was exceedingly meager, she made excellent use of the same and came to be recognized as a woman of much more than usual intelligence and culture. 
Her marriage to Henry Hill, also a pioneer of 1847, and the founder of Independence, took place in July, 1851. To this union nine children were born, four of whom survive their mother, as follows: L.R. Hill, Homer Hill, Verd Hill and Mrs. Garland Hill Cohrs, all of whom were with their mother in her last hours. 
Mrs. Hill was an honored member of the Oregon Historical Society, always being deeply interested in all matters relating to the early history of this State. Mr. Hill died in 1904 and since then Mrs. Hill, aided by her sons, has managed the estate, for the most part lying just outside this city. George H. Himes
Independence Monitor, Friday 7 Jan 1916, 1:2
INSCRIPTION: 
Pioneers of 1847
Martha A.Virgin Hill
Dec. 18, 1834 - Dec. 26, 1915
(shares monument with Henry)
SOURCES: 
Branigar Survey
Saucy Survey & Photographs
OSBH DC (Polk County 1915) #6190
1870 OR CENSUS (Polk Co., Monmouth, FA #359)
1900 OR CENSUS (Polk Co., Independence, ED 175, sheet 15B)
IM 31 Dec 1915, 1:3
IM 7 Jan 1916, 1:2
CONTACTS: 
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