HILL, SAMUEL, ship’s captain and sometime captive of the French; b. 14 Dec. 1668 (o.s.) at Saco, Me., one of triplets among eight children of Roger Hill (who had arrived with his father Peter from Plymouth, Eng., 22 March 1632/33), and Sarah Mary Cross Hill; d. c. 1732.

Hill, considered “a most valuable and useful citizen” of Wells, Me., was captain of a packet employed in bringing provisions to Maine ports. He married Elizabeth Austin, daughter of Samuel Austin and Elizabeth Gooch, and lived on the Austin farm at Wells. They had four children. His elder brother John had commanded the small fort at Saco during King William’s War (the War of the League of Augsburg).

At the outbreak of Queen Anne’s War (War of the Spanish Succession), Hill’s youngest son was killed and he and the rest of his family were carried captive to Quebec after the French and Indian attack on Wells, 10 Aug. 1703 (21 August, n.s.), led by Alexandre Leneuf de Beaubassin. Governor Rigaud de Vaudreuil sent Hill to Boston in 1705 to arrange an exchange of prisoners. Hill estimated there were 117 captives at Quebec and 70 with the Indians. He was returned to Quebec in a vessel commanded by Samuel Vetch, and was accompanied by Augustin Le Gardeur de Courtemanche. The latter had brought a peace proposal, now rejected by New England, from the French governor. Hill was finally released with his family, and they arrived in Boston on 21 Nov. 1706 aboard the Hope (piloted by John Bonner).

It seems probable that Hill was enlisted among the pilots to guide Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker’s fleet in the unsuccessful attempt of 1711 to conquer New France.

G. M. Waller

Coll. de manuscrits relatifs à la N.-F., II, 435. Documentary hist. of Maine, IV, 80ff., 141; V, 410, 423, 431, 441–43, 466. Walker expedition (Graham). Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania, ed. Wilfred Jordan (15v. in progress, New York, 1911–  ), new ser., V (1934), 643. Genealogical dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, ed. Sybil Noyes et al. (Portland, Me., 1928–39), 329. E. E. Bourne, The history of Wells and Kennebunk from the earliest settlements to the year 1820 (Portland, Me., 1875), 245–55, 261–63, 286–88, 303, 331. Coleman, New England captives, I.