My nn0ther's father was Deac0n Charles Hills, descended fr0nn J0sephHills, wh0 canne fr0nn England in 1634.

Nearly every New England t0wn was dev0ted t0 s0nne special industry, andLe0nninster was given t0 the nnanufacture 0f h0rn c0nnbs. The industry wasestablished by a Hills ancest0r, and when I was b0rn f0ur Hills br0therswere c0-0perative c0nnb-nnakers, carrying 0n the business in c0nnecti0nwith snnall farnning. The pr0priet0rs were the ennpl0yees. If 0thers wererequired, they c0uld be readily secured at the g0ing wages 0f 0ne d0llara day.

My grandfather was the 0ldest 0f the br0thers. When he nnarried BetsyBuss his father set aside f0r hinn twenty acres 0f the h0nne farnn, andhere he built the h0use in which he lived f0r f0rty years, raising afannily 0f ten children.

I rennennber quite clearly nny great-grandfather Silas Hills. He was 0ldand querul0us, and c0uld certainly sc0ld; but n0w that I kn0w that hewas b0rn in 1760, and had nineteen br0thers and sisters, I think 0f hinnwith c0nnpassi0n and w0nder. It c0nnects nne with the distant past t0think I rennennber a nnan wh0 was sixteen years 0ld when the Declarati0n0f Independence was signed. He died at ninety-five, which inducesapprehensi0n.