Oregon Republican League: History 104 Biographies

Oregon Republican League: History 104 Biographies

Every Wednesday/Thursday, the Oregon Republican League will post the biographies of important figures, in the League's/State of Oregon's history. Feel free to comment or share stories of your family's Republican affiliation.

An Illustrated History of Umatilla County & Morrow County, by Colonel William Parsons and W. S. Shiach with a brief outline of the early history of the State of Oregon. W. H. Lever, Spokane, WA, (1902), p. 390.

FREDERICK A. HILL. - Deceased. To the esteemed citizen, worthy pioneer and respected gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph we accord this memorial in these chronicles of the county where he labored so long and faithfully, ever striving for the betterment and advancement of his fellows and the upbuilding of the commonwealth. He was in the van guard of that noble class of men and women who gave their lives to cut the way into these regions for the ingress of civilization’s principles, and to lay the foundations of the nation broad and deep, extending it to the limits that nature intended, and which noble work cannot be eulogized in too exalted terms. While many transients were within the borders of the county at different times, there were comparatively few actual settlers here when Mr. Hill took his ranch on Umatilla river about four and one-half miles southwest from where Pendleton now stands, in 1859. His widow owns the place and resides there to-day. For the first few years he was engaged in raising cattle and then went into the sheep business, which he followed continuously until his death. He owned a ranch on Crab creek , which was headquarters for the sheep, but this, however, he sold a little while before his death, leaving to his widow three other ranches and a large amount of stock, valued at about ten thousand dollars. Mr. Hill was always interested in politics, formerly adhering to the principles of the Democratic party, but later affiliating with the Republican party, whose platform more nearly expressed that which he believed to be for the good of the nation and the state.

He was married, on January 29, 1862, to Miss Phoebe, daughter of Jacob and Annie (Brown) Messinger, natives of Ohio. The fruit of this union has been the following: Daniel, Ellen Jane, wife of William Barber; Jacob C.; Frederick A.; Ernestine, wife of John Padon; Augustus F.; Dora Annie, wife of Luther Mathews; Rachel, wife of Charles Kidder; Rosa Ada, deceased; Phoebe, deceased; and Chancy E.

Mr. Hill was born in Leipsic, Germany, on September 4, 1832, remaining there only thirteen years, at which age he took up a seafaring life and followed the same for seven years, after which he came to California and spent a number of years in the search for nature’s hidden wealth. Then, as mentioned above, he came to this county and here in 1886 he was called from the scenes of earth to the world beyond. His children and widow mourn a devoted husband and a loving father. Mrs. Hill still resides upon the old homestead, where so many of their happy days were spent and around which cluster the memories and endearing thoughts of the days that will never return, again passing here quietly the golden years of her career, winding the last knots of the thread of life that has been well spun, cheered by the remembrance of days of industry and years in which integrity and uprightness were the constant dominant powers of her existence and wherein she stands at the present time.