LARKIN HILL

WORSHIPFUL MASTER

SPRING HILL MASONIC LODGE

1875

 

Larkin Hill was born 1839 Warren Co. Tennessee, the son of  John Alexander and Martha Matilda Killian Hill.  He was six years of age when his father and his uncle, Jesse J Hill, marched off to serve their new country in The Mexican War of 1845.   John Alexander Hill was killed at Monterrey, Mexico Sept. 22, 1846.   Jesse was killed a month later.   Martha was said to have died early and Larkin was raised by an uncle on a Tennessee farm.  His education was said to have been limited.!

 

Larkin Hill enlisted in the CSA Army in 1861 as a member of Co K, 6th Alabama.   He served  in The Army of Virginia under General Stonewall Jackson at Harpers's Ferry and at Gettysburg where he was slightly wounded when a mini ball grazed his head.

 

When the war ended Larkin Hill returned to his Tennessee home for a brief period, then made his way to Dallas, Texas in 1868.  His stay in Dallas was brief and his next stop was Spring Hill, Texas.  Larkin Hill had relatives at Spring Hill.  Benjamin Jefferson C Hill and John Ashley Hill were Texas cousins who had fought with the Dresden Texas Cavalry at Gettysburg.   Their sister, Pernetty Hill, had married William Fullerton in 1858. Larkin Hill had served with his two cousins and, was no doubt, well acquainted with many of the men of The Dresden Texas Cavalry, including William Fullerton.

 

William and Pernetty Hill Fullerton, married in 1858, had the following children.

            Nanna A         b. 1860                  m. F A McSpadden            1876

            Thomas          b/d 1861                Buried Spring Hill Cemetery

            HLB  son      1863                        m. M C

                        dau Emma  1884-1885    Buried Dawson Cemetery

            WE    son      1868-1897              Buried Dawson Cemetery

 

William Fullerton 1839-Jan 26, 1868 was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery.     Pernetty was left with two children and pregnant with another.   She was left to manage a farm.  The 1870 NavCo Census reflects that she had a "hired hand," R Price b. 1848. from Arkansas.  She, also, employed a shepherd, J Johnson b. 1833, Tennessee

 

When Larkin Hill arrived at Spring Hill, he learned of the death of William Fullerton.   Pernetty Hill Fullerton must have been one of the first to greet Larkin Hill upon his arrival at Spring Hill, Texas and Larkin expressed his condolences.    Pernetty was a "Kissin' Cousin" and Larkin must have made the most of that.   The ink has faded on some names of the Navarro County Marriage License Book, but someone transcribed the record of October 17, 1870 with the names of L Hill and Pernittis Fuller.  Larkin Hill was thirty-nine, Pernetty was twenty-eight.

 

Their marriage ended two and one half years later.    A marker stands in the Spring Hill Cemetery that reads,

 

"Pernetty Hill  -   wife of Larkin  -  1842  - March 31, 1873."

 

Larkin Hill must have appreciated marriage.    Nine months following the death of Pernetty, another marriage license was recorded in Navarro Co. Texas.   It read, "Larkin Hill and S J Predy  -  January 8, 1874."     The license was returned stating that they had been married by B E Lewis.  "S J Predy" was Sarah J Priddy, b. 1854, dau. of Richard & Elizabeth Priddy and a sister of Bettie Priddy who married Robert Harve Matthews.

 

The following years were filled with good times and bad times.    Larkin owned six hundred acres of land which may have come from the estate of Pernetty.   He was active in community affairs.   He tilled the soil of his farm land and raised cattle.   Tragedy came when his twin daughters, Katie and Sally, who were born in 1888, died in 1894 and 1891.   Tragedy was overshadowed, however, by the birth of Larkin R. Hill in 1904, the son of Richard H Hill and his wife, Genie K.   

 

The Larkin Hill burial plot in the Dawson Cemetery  contains the following markers:

 

            Larkin Hill                 1838-1918

`           Sarah J Hill               1854-1911

            Katie Hill                   1888-1894

            Sallie Ann Hill           1888-1891

            Richard H Hill           1878-1945

            Genie K Hill              1882-

            Larkin R Hill             1904-1968