Samuel Hill - Personal and Family Life

Personal and Family Life

Hill married Marie Francis Hill (also known as Mamie Hill and, after their marriage, as Mary Hill Hill) on September 6, 1888. Sam Hill was a Quaker, Mary a Catholic. He agreed that their children—Mary Mendenhall Hill, born July 3, 1889 and James Nathan Branson Hill, born August 23, 1893—would be raised Catholic, and over the next decade or two Sam Hill retained excellent relations, sometimes even close friendships, with various Catholic clergymen. A generous wedding gift from her father placed them immediately into the ranks of the wealthy. However, their marriage was never a love match, and by the time Sam had decided to settle in Seattle, the marriage was coming apart. Mary moved back to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and eventually to Washington, D.C. She never returned to Seattle; he continued to visit her in the Midwest or East at least twice a year until 1907 and even bought an estate at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he hoped they would occasionally stay together, but their relationship became increasingly chilly. Furthermore, Mary increasingly withdrew from the world. By 1921 she was described by the St. Paul Pioneer Press as "virtually an invalid," although she lived until 1947.

Because Mary was a Catholic, divorce was out of the question and the possibility may never even have been discussed. It is not clear whether Sam had been unfaithful to his wife before they drifted apart, but he certainly did not remain faithful afterward: he had at least three children by other women, and he provided for them by setting up trusts in their names, insurance policies etc. One of these is identified by Hill biographer John E. Tuhy, writing in 1983, only as a "son who lives in British Columbia". Another was Elizabeth Ehrens, born December 27, 1914, to Annie Laurie Whelan, Sam's secretary at Home Telephone Company. Elizabeth was legitimized by her mother's marriage of convenience to a German Swiss man named Henry Ehrens; he soon went back permanently to Europe, and a divorce was granted in 1918. Finally, there was Sam B. Hill, born August 1928, his son by the flamboyant reporter Mona Bell, a former bareback rider who may have appeared in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Some time before they had a child together, Sam bought Mona 35 acres (140,000 m2) on the Columbia River and built her a 22-room house (eventually lost to the construction of the Bonneville Dam). Sam arranged a marriage of convenience for Mona Bell to his cousin Edgar Hill, again allowing his child to be raised as legitimate.

As for his legitimate children, Mary suffered all of her life from emotional and mental problems, and was institutionalized much of her life. James lived the life of a wealthy man, but never made any particular mark on the world.