Ebenezer John Hill (Norwalk, CT)
Ebenezer John Hill (Aug. 4, 1845 – Sep. 27, 1917)
Biography
- Name: Ebenezer John Hill
- Birth: August 4, 1845 Redding, Connecticut
- Death: September 27, 1917 Norwalk, Connecticut
- US Congressman (11 Terms), serving on Banking and Currency Committee
Early life and family
Ebenezer John Hill was born in Redding, Connecticut on August 4, 1845. He was the son of Rev. Moses and Charlotte Ilsley (McClellan) Hill. As a boy Mr. Hill was educated in the public schools of Norwalk to which place his parents moved when he was still very young. After his course in school and while engaged in preparation for college, he was in business with his father. In 1863 he entered the army of the union, and according to his own approved biography in the Congressional Directory, "served as a civilian until the end of the war." In 1865 Mr. Hill entered Yale College and remained there for two years, when he gave up his studies to return to his father's business in Norwalk. This he conducted for many years. On June 15, 1868, he married Mary E. Mosman in Amherst, Massachusetts. They had a son and three daughters.
Lieut. Colonel Frederick Asbury Hill died of typhoid fever on August 31, 1907, following injuries received while at the state military encampment at Niantic when he was thrown from his horse and badly bruised. He was a graduate of Yale Law School and practiced for a time in Norwalk. In 1898 he was appointed lieutenant colonel and judge advocate of the United States Volunteers and served during the Spanish American War as collector of customs at Porto Rico. Upon returning to Norwalk in 1899, he served as an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Russell Frost, commander of the Connecticut National Guard brigade and later was a brigade inspector. He was secretary and treasurer of the Norwalk Mills Co., at Winnipauk at the time of his death.
Miss Clara M. Hill was Norwalk's first graduate of Vassar College and a leader in the women's suffrage movement.
Mrs. Helena Hill Weed was a graduate of Vassar College and Montana School of Mines. She was a geologist, and a vice president of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). She was a prominent member of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and the National Woman's Party. She was one of the first pickets arrested on July 4, 1917, and served three days in District Jail. When she died at the age of 83 in 1958, Time Magazine described her as a "kinetic suffragette who crisscrossed the nation crusading for her right to vote.
An indefatigable and long-term organizer and officer of the NWP (National Woman's Party), Elsie Hill, was a graduate of Vassar College. Hill taught French at a Washington, DC high school. Hill was a leader of the DC Branch of the College Equal Suffrage League. She led a delegation from the League to meet with President Woodrow Wilson on the suffrage issue shortly after the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association staged its huge suffrage parade in the nation's capital in March 1913. Elsie was active in international women's rights and according to her close friend, Alice Paul, was instrumental in the development of the UN Status of Women Commission.
Political and Banking career
Mr. Hill was a member of the Connecticut senate during the years 1886 and 1887. He received his first political recognition two years before his election when he was chosen delegate to the Republican National Convention. His next recognition was in 1888 when he was nominated for Congress in the old fourth district. He was elected that year and successively until the 63rd Congress which was chosen in 1912, when he was defeated by State Senator Jeremiah Donovan, a townsman of his. He returned to the 64th Congress in 1915 and to the 65th which was called the war Congress by President Wilson. In Norwalk, Mr. Hill had served as burgess for two terms and as chairman of the board of education for two terms. He was president of the old Norwalk Street Railway Co., the Norwalk Gaslight Co., the Norwalk Woolen Mills Co., and secretary and treasurer of the Norwalk Iron Works Co., of which his cousin, Eben. Hill, was president. In 1915, Congressman Hill succeeded his cousin as president of the National Bank of Norwalk, having served many years as vice president. He was a member of the Odd Fellows being associated with Our Brother's Lodge in Norwalk and had been Grand Master of the lodge in the State of Connecticut. He was a Mason and a member of the Norwalk club, Sons of the Revolution, and Norwalk Methodist Church. While in Congress his study was devoted almost exclusively to tariff and all of his campaigns were made on that issue. He was an extreme protectionist and as a member of the Ways and Means Committee of the majority party, had much to do with the framing of the Payne-Aldrich schedules, which marked the zenith of the protectionist principles. Having traveled through all of the civilized countries of the world and being a student of conditions and customs, it was his delight to draw pictures of United States factories and labor supply decadent under any but the highest tariff cloaks. One of his most notable accomplishments was in getting legislation supplying cheap denatured alcohol used largely in the hatting industry throughout the country. Mr. Hill was ever a partisan representative and the times when he voted with the opposition could be counted on the fingers. During the preceding, term he attracted attention by voting for the McLemore resolution to warn Americans from sailing on ships passing through the submarine zones, but with this exception, generally supported President Wilson's policy of neutrality until the war declarations, and since then, the administration's aggressive war campaign. Mr. Hill's collapse a month ago came when he was in the midst of study of the war revenue bill. He was opposed to the income tax features of the measure and if he had been on the floor of the House when it was under consideration, would doubtless have fought it strongly.
Later life and death
Ebenezer J. Hill, representative in Congress of the Fourth district, died at 2:15 the morning of September 27, 1917, after an illness of many weeks. News of his death was a shock to his friends, because recent reports from his bedside led them to expect a recovery. He had been in a dying condition, but frequently rallied until during the last few days, he appeared to be regaining his strength. The previous evening, however, he had a sinking spell and early in the morning succumbed. His final illness followed prostration by the sun early this year when he went to Washington to vote on an important measure. Congressman Hill's physical decline began five years ago when he was defeated for Congress by Jeremiah Donovan at the time when the Democrats swept the country and elected Woodrow Wilson. Donovan made a lively campaign, and Mr. Hill, then 67 years of age and already showing the effects of the strenuous efforts for his election suffered a collapse. He received the returns of his defeat over private wire at the Norwalk Club quarters and said to friends at the time that he didn't expect to be a candidate again. During the two years that he was out of office, however, he paid considerable attention to his health and was again his party's choice. He made another hard campaign fight and it had its effect, but the successful results buoyed him up and he attended to his duties during the long session of the 64th Congress. In 1916 Mr. Hill was again broken in health and it was not believed that he could make the campaign, but he did, visiting every town of the district many times despite the contrary advice of physicians. Although there was an improvement over his condition as it was after the 1912 election, the effects were not all gone and he was forced to give up often after periods of confining work. The summer of 1916 was a notable occasion, and Mr. Hill was laid up for some time. Again during the previous winter, he became ill and went south for two months. He returned to Washington in April and remained there until about a month ago when he was forced to give up.
On Saturday, September 29th, Congressman Ebenezer J. Hill, who died at his home in Norwalk last Wednesday, was laid at rest in Riverside cemetery in that city, amidst ceremonies that partook of an almost national character. The nation, the state of Connecticut and the county of Fairfield paid tribute in the presence of its officials and men of political prominence who had been closely associated with Mr. Hill. Bridgeport was represented by its Lieut. Gov. Clifford B. Wilson. Senators Brandegee and McLean of Connecticut, Harding of Ohio, Dillingham of Vermont, Fernald of Maine, McKellar of Tennessee and Congressmen Lonergan, Freeman, Tilson and Glynn of Connecticut, Collier of Mississippi, Dickman of Missouri, Crisp of Georgia, Holvering of Kansas, O'Shaunnessy of Rhode Island, Carew, Gillett and Treadwell of New York were among those present. The body lay in state from noon time until 2:30 when services were read by Dr. Robert Moore of Brooklyn, former pastor of the Foundry M. E. church, Washington, who also pronounced the eulogy. About 1,000 persons attended the funeral. A guard of honor was composed of Mayor Carl A. Harstrom, Former Lieut. Gov. Edwin O. Keeler, Judge Henry W. Gregory, Dr. James J Gregory, John P. Treadwell, D. Warren Fitch, William F. Bishop, Arthur C. Wheeler, William C. Baur, Lester Hyatt, Henry P. Price and Eben Hill. They accompanied the body to its final resting place in Riverside Cemetery.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, E. J. Hill was involved with the following bank(s):
- National Bank, Norwalk, CT (Charter 942): President 1915-1917; Vice President 1890...1914
Sources
- Featured Congressional Biography of Ebenezer J. Hill of Connecticut
- Ebenezer J. Hill on Findagrave.com
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- The Meriden Daily Republican, Meriden, CT., Thu., Aug 22, 1889.
- Harford Courant, Hartford, CT, Mon., Mar. 31, 1890.
- Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Mon., Sep. 2, 1907.
- The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer, Bridgeport, CT, Thu., Sep. 27, 1917.
- The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer, Bridgeport, CT, Mon., Oct. 1, 1917.
- Hartford Courant, Hartford, CT, Fri., July 15, 1955.