Z 0217.000 Hill (William Hickman) Diary

William Hickman Hill was born in September 1833, the son of Dr. Daniel Brown and Margaret Jane Stout Hill, in either Williamson or Davidson County, Tennessee. A few years later the Hill family moved to Springfield, Illinois, where Daniel operated a drug store and was elected for a one year term as mayor in 1842. However, before his term in office was over, he suffered financial difficulties, resigned, and moved to Columbus, Mississippi, where he went into business with his brother. In 1846, the Hills moved to the black prairies of then Chickasaw County. There Hill established the Palo Alto Post Office and the first store in the vicinity. The store and post office provided a nucleus for the town which grew up about it (Palo Alto was incorporated in 1852). Hill studied law and by the mid-1850s was practicing this profession in Aberdeen. However, by 1860, he had moved back to Palo Alto. Following his Civil War service as quartermaster clerk, 13th Mississippi Regiment, Evans' Brigade, he again returned home to practice law. Soon after, he married his first cousin on his mother's side, Catherine Stout.

Besides practicing law, Hill was also Palo Alto postmaster (1888–1898), maintained a meteorological station for the U. S. Department of Agriculture (1887–1903), and regularly wrote a community news column for the West Point newspaper. He died in the family home in Palo Alto in 1906 and was buried in the Palo Alto Cemetery.