Entered according to an Act of Congress, by

JOHN F. BROWN,

In the Clerk's Office of the District of N. H.

PREFACE.

It was a remark of that celebrated female writer Madame de-Stael-Holstein, that the adventures of almost every individual would, in competent hands, supply the materials for an interesting novel. The truth of this proposition, however paradoxical it may at first seem, can hardly be doubted. It is from the common events of a common life, the excited hopes, the pleasing anticipations, the multiplied disappointments, the numerous vexations, the unavoidable accidents, the unexpected reversions of fortune, which make up the every-day round of human existence, connected with the degree of forbearance, fortitude, patience, resignation, prudence and moderation, with which all these various and varied occurrences have been endured, with their effects upon after life and the developement of character, that useful lessons for the regulation of our own conduct may be deduced and much matter of interest and subject of serious contemplation. On the other hand, the biography of some startling individual, some man of a million, who, like the flashing meteor or wandering comet, dashes his eccentric course across the path of the multitude, overthrowing the results of human calculation, and heedlessly striking down the barriers which mankind have by common consent, erected, as the eternal bounds of human enterprize and man's daring, may serve as a record of this miracle of the age, but would be far more likely to check the rising ambition of youth by the immeasurable distance at which its events must be contemplated, than to nourish their aspirations after fame and the possession of an honorable

memory.

The object of Biographical writing, it has been aptly remarked, is two-fold, both to impart historical information by a sketch of the life and acts of some eminent in

dividual, and by displaying those acts in a true and proper light, devoid of false coloring or mis-statement, to lead others to virtue and honor, by exciting a laudable emulation of the good or an unconquerable disgust and horror of the wicked. To effect this latter and by far the most important end, nothing could be more appropriate, particularly in a country where there is no aristocracy of genius and where political advancement is the chief aim of our young men's ambition, than to note for the consideration of youth and the instruction of all, the progressive steps by which an individual has risen through his own enterprize, and by the most unconquerable perseverance and untiring industry, from the humblest station in life, to an honorable rank and comparative emi

nenee.

Such is the design of this little book-a sketch of the life of a man who has borne no inconsiderable part in the political events of the last twenty years, who, as identified with the interests and success of one party and prominent in his opposition to another, has of course received his share of partizan abuse and the malignity of those whose designs he has skilfully and successfully opposed, but who, all will allow, affords a remarkable instance of what may be effected by the unaided perseverance of a friendless young man, and to whose industry, integrity and public spirit, all his personal acquaintances will bear testimony.

Trusting that such a work may not be altogether useless, this form has been preferred to a newspaper sketch, for which the materials were first collected. The facts stated are of unquestionable authority; of the correctness of the sentiments and opinions which have been introduced by the writer, every one will, of course, form his own judgment.

BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL,

Of New-Hampshire.

ISAAC HILL was born of poor but respectable parentage. His father, also named Isaac, is a native of the present town of West Cambridge, then a part of Cambridge, Mass., and known as the parish of Menotomy. He was a descendant of Abraham Hill of Charlestown, who was admitted freeman 1640, and, leaving two sons, Isaac and Abraham, died at Malden, 13 Feb. 1670. Abraham Hill, the grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was the fourth in descent from the first of that name, (the intermediate generations being Abraham, Abraham and Zachariah,) was a patriot of the French and Revolutionary wars, and died about five and twenty years ago. His wife survived him but a few years. Isaac, their youngest son, and the father of the subject of this memoir, was born about the year 1767, and is still living.

Mr. Hill's mother, Hannah Russell, is a descendant of William Russell, who came from England, lived in Cambridge as early as 1645 and left several sons. She was, likewise, a native of the parish of Menotomy, but of that part which belonged to Charlestown. The Menotomy boys were

far-famed among the "sons of liberty" for their invincible spirit and undaunted courage, and her father, Walter Russell, commanded a company of alarmlist at the battle of Lexington, which did great service in harrassing the enemy, arresting the baggage-wagons, &c. He died 5 March 1783, aged 45.

At the house where this patriot and his immediate ancestors lived and died, Mr. Hill was born on the 6th of April 1788, being but sixteen years younger than his mother and the eldest of a family of nine children, having three brothers and five sisters, all of whom are living, and, with one exception, heads of families. The unfortunate situation of Mr. Hill's family, which might at first view, appear an irreparable injury, in fact proved to him a blessing in disguise. His grandfather returned, at the close of the war, to take charge of a family rendered destitute by the circumstances of the times, and was, in a short time, entirly ruined in his earthly prospects by the depreciation of his wages. The shock proved 'too great

for his mind to bear, and he became subject to that awful calamity, which appears to have been constitutional in the family, partial insanity, which continued in all the gradations from perfect clearness of mind to raging madness, till his death. His father, by nature an industrious, capable man, undertook the charge of a rising family and the care of his ruined parent, when, shocking to relate, scarce six years had elapsed from his marriage, ere he was overtaken by a similar visitation of Providence, and his intellectual faculties almost entirely destroyed.