The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Birth: 09 May 1750 Windsor Twp / Berks / PA Death: 09 Jan 1824 Muncy Creek / Lycoming / PA
Qualifying Service Description:
He served as a Private and Captain, in the 5th Company of Captain Colebrookdale, Colonel Daniel Hunter's First Battalion, Berks County Militia, Pennsylvania
Additional References:
DAR Patriot Index, pg 329 PA
DAR Bible Records, Vol V, 1964, pg 49
History of Lycoming County, PA, Meginness, 1892, pg 558-559
The attached Find-A-Grave record does not provide an image of a grave stone or marker.
The Find-A-Grave location is Unknown, but the Compatriot's list this as being at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery. It's unclear if there is a marker or monument listed
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Author: Mark Andrew Davis
Current applications state that Jacob Hill was born on 09 May 1750 at Windsor Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Attributing Revolutionary War service to Jacob is problematic. In the 1790 Pennsylvania census and examining the counties surrounding Berks and Lycoming Counties, we find 7 men who were head of household named Jacob Hill. These are the households in Berks County. (1) Maxatawny, (1) Amity, (1) Oley, (1) Greenwich, and (2) Windsor Townships. Additionally, there was 1 in Northumberland County. All these men were in the age range to have possibly served during the war. Northumberland was the county in between Lycoming and Berks.
As we work backward from Jacob’s place of death in Wolf Township, Lycoming County, we only have his implied children’s birth/baptism places to find where he came from. This is also problematic, as we have multiple men named Jacob Hill marrying a woman named Catherine. For example: in 1778, Maria was baptized at New Hanover, Montgomery County, in 1787, John was born in Lower Heidelberg township, Berks County, and in 1796, Christina, in Lycoming County.
Current applications put his birth in Windsor Township, Berks County. And we do find two households in the 1790 census for Windsor. Assuming one of these two people is our Jacob, then we would expect to find him in the 3rd Battalion, which included Windsor township. Instead, we find Jacob serving as a Captain in the 5th Battalion for the township of Colebrookdale. More than fifteen miles separate these two townships, which would represent a full day of travel. Not impossible, but is it probable given Oley and Amity are much closer to Colebrookdale?
There is circumstantial evidence in John Franklin Meginness’s book "History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania." An unsourced story on pages 558-559 states Jacob Hill served in the Army for seven years during the Revolution and that he came to Lycoming County from Berks.
However, the best evidence to support his service is an affidavit by Jacob Hill of Lycoming County made on 1 February 1820 in support of a Pension Application for George Hart S39658. In his document, he states that he "served in the Fifth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line during the Revolutionary War and that, in the year 1781, in the Fifth & Ninth Regiments were united under the command of Colonel Richard Butler. That after such union he became a mess[sp] mate of George Hart and they continued to be so for two years and more until the close of the war when we were both discharged in City of Philadelphia…”
Jacob doesn't state his rank; however, by comparing the Compiled Service Records for both Hart and Hill, we can place them both in the Company of Captain Ereurius Beatty, both in the rank of Private, in the years 1784.
Jacob was married to Christina Gortner in about 1783 and they had the following known children:
Susanna was born on 29 August 1785 and married Henry Dieffenbach.
John was born on 9 November 1787 and married Catherine Steck.
Catherine was born on 13 June 1792 and married Frederick Steck.
Christina was born on 18 February 1796 and married John Houseknecht.
There are likely more children that are possibly in church records.
He died on 9 January 1824 in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and was interned at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery at Muncy.
Sources:
Meginness, John F., History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, Illinois. Chicago: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1892, pages 558-559.
Linn, John B. and William Hegle, Pennsylvania Archives Second Series, Vol. XIV, Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: Clarence M. Busch, State Printers, 1896, pages 259, 276, 289.
Montgomery, Thomas Lynch, History of Berks County, Pennsylvania in the Revolution from 1774 to 1783, Pennsylvania. Reading: Chas. F. Haage, Printer, 1894, pages 60, 70.
Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War. Micropublication M881. Washington: National Archives.
Montgomery, Morton L., History of Berks County, Pennsylvania in the Revolution, from 1774 to 1783, Pennsylvania. Reading: Chas. F. Haage, Printer, 1894.
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