The Hill Family

"Reuben Hill Sr. (1829-1915) and Reuben Hill Jr (1859-1936) were farm laborers and carpenters who lived in the area which is now Lincoln Park.  When Reuben Sr. agreed in 1867 to support a school for black students, he likely honored that pledge in skilled labor.  A slave until his mid-thirties, Reuben Sr. purchased land in 1880 and teamed with former Confederate soldier and fence builder Simeon Berry to build a house northeast of Rockville.  That year, Berry bequeathed to Hill his tools, furniture, and the house.  Reuben Sr. helped to build a brick dwelling on the new subdivision of Lincoln Park in 1897.  When he died in 1915, the Sentinel noted that 'Uncle Reuben' greeted friends with an old-fashioned, courteous bow and had 'gained the respect and confidence of both races in this community.'  Reuben Thomas Hill, or Reuben Jr., inherited his father’s tools and talents.  He enlarged the family home, built household furniture and tiny houses for children, and helped to erect other homes in Lincoln Park.  The Reuben Hill house on Lincoln Avenue is still owned by the family."  -- This paragraph is from Rockville: Portrait of a City, by Eileen S. McGuckian, Hillsboro Press, 2001, p. 72, and is quoted with permission of the City of Rockville Mayor and Council.

Reuben Hill, Jr. and his wife Carrie Blair Hill [?-1922] lived at 305 Lincoln Avenue. They had three children: Edith Hill Manly, Lloyd Carlisle Hill, and Leola Hill Williams.

Their daughter Edith married Henry T. Manly [1879-1948]in June 1908. Manly had been born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1879. The date of his arrival in the Washington, DC, area is uncertain. However, it was probably in 1898 or shortly thereafter. In that year, Henry's older brothers Alex and Frank Manly, who were newspaper publishers, had been forced to flee Wilmington in the midst of a major race riot that was blamed on their “incendiary editorials.

Henry Manly was a watch and clock repairman and the proprietor of the Old Clock Hospital, located at 13 Fayette Street. The shop was opened as early as the 1920’s and operated until his death in January, 1948.

Although Henry and Edith Manly had no children, Mr. Manly was an active member and an official of the Confederation of Citizens Associations of Montgomery County, which advocated improved conditions in Negro schools. They sought a longer school year, higher teacher pay, transportation, and better physical facilities and instructional materials.

Bessie Johnson Hill built a house in 1902 near Lincoln Park at 602 Falls Road. She obtained the land from her parents, William Johnson and Eliza Davis Johnson, who lived next door. The house remained in the Hill family until its sale in 1945.

Her three children were Lillian Hill, Vernon E. "Sumner" Hill, Jr., and Eustace Jerome "Fuzz" Hill. Her sister Lillian Johnson Finley also had a son, Laurence D. Finley.

To view enlarged images, click on the pictures below.