Susan's Blogue

Frederick Jones Hill: Architect of Grace

by Susan Taylor Block

(The following is an excerpt from an upcoming book, The Moores of Cape Fear. Comments, additions, and images are welcome. – STB.)

Cape Fear’s Moore family tree is a forest, and Frederick Jones Hill’s name sits in the midst of it. Moores and Hills were cousins many times over. Wherever he turned, Frederick found family. It was a network that helped optimize his life. He was a physician, planter, lumber merchant, legislator, university trustee, and architecture aficionado. Distinguished ancestry assured Dr. Hill’s place in local society, but he earned his reputation statewide as a man of good works. By the time of his death, on March 27, 1861, he was known in Cape Fear as the  “Father of Public Schools,” just one of many causes he championed.

Dr. Hill had a good eye for architectural style and beauty. His contributions ranged from steering to controlling and fully funding the creation or alteration of several distinctive buildings in North Carolina locations such as Wilmington, Pittsboro, and Brunswick County – most notably Orton Plantation. In addition, he was involved in less direct ways with two of the Piedmont’s most famous structures.Frederick Hill was a great-great grandson of Gov. James Moore (1650-1706) of South Carolina, and a great-grandson of Roger Moore’s brother, Nathaniel. He was genealogically connected, in one way or several, to all branches of “The Family,” a group of powerful and affluent men who were related by blood or marriage. The Family dominated Lower Cape Fear politics and social calendars from 1725 until 1739, when Governor Gabriel Johnston’s preference for Newton (Wilmington) over Brunswick Town mollified their influence. Countless descendants of the Moore and Hill families have peopled the Carolinas ever since.

William Hill, the Grandfather

Frederick, named for the Hon. Frederick Jones, a Chief Justice of North Carolina, was the son of John Hill and Elizabeth Swann Jones. His paternal grandfather, William Hill (1737-1783) was a Boston native born to John and Elizabeth Maxwell Hill. William first visited Cape Fear to attend the wedding of (Judge) Maurice Moore, King Roger’s nephew. William and Maurice were classmates and close friends at Harvard, and both graduated in the Class of 1756. At Brunswick, William met and fell in love with Margaret, daughter of Nathaniel Moore. They married at Orton Plantation in 1757, and lived in Brunswick Town, and at York, Margaret’s father’s plantation just south of Orton.[1]

 

William Hill, a young man of graceful manners and expression, boarded in the home of President Edward Holyoke during his freshman year at Harvard. His host left an impression on William. President Holyoke was a classical scholar and Congregational church minister who began his career as a tutor. William began his own working life in the same manner when he became schoolmaster in Brunswick Town. He probably conducted classes in various homes and at plantations nearby, just as it is known he conducted religious services as a layperson throughout the area. Soon, William quit teaching school to partner in business with neighbor Parker Quince, son of Richard Quince who owned Orton Plantation. In 1764, another neighbor, Governor Arthur Dobbs, gave Hill crown distinction when he appointed him Collector of Duties for the Brunswick port. In 1775, the Hills moved to Wilmington where he monitored Cape Fear River traffic to the city and to the port of Brunswick.[2]

John Hill, the Father

William and Margaret’s son, John, was born in Brunswick in 1761, and died in 1813. Along with his three illustrious brothers, John lived a rich life, and wore more than one hat. He was a physician, planter, and scholar who built a New England-style town home at 11 South Third Street in Wilmington. Though the structure, known eventually as the Hill-Wright-Wootten House, was razed, it is still known fondly today through vintage photographs. Sadly, there is no known image of Dr. Hill’s plantation, Fairfields, north of Smith’s Creek.

Fairfields Plantation, known originally as Nesses Creek, was owned  by the interrelated Wright family for years before it was sold to Dr. John Hill, who renamed it Fairfields, and built a new house there. Dr. Hill’s wife died at Fairfield and her grave marker has survived. Today, the land is divided between a General Electric plant and property owned by the Hon. and Mrs. James Fox of Wilmington.[3]

Frederick Jones Hill (1792-1861)

Frederick Hill was born March 15, 1792, at Fairfields. His world in Wilmington and Brunswick County was about as picturesque as possible in southeastern North Carolina. There were water views and gardens at Fairfields, and from the top floor of his father’s town home, he could down upon the heart of Wilmington. He had glimpses of the Cape Fear River, and could see the Burgwin-Wright House and the grand Armand John deRosset house that once sat on the opposite corner of Market Street. It would all have been eye candy for a young man with his sensitivity.

Young Frederick’s early schooling came probably through the Rev. Mr. William Bingham, who ran a classical school in Wilmington. It was located conveniently for a time at St. James Church, next door to the boy’s residence. At age 13, he began taking courses at the University of North Carolina, then transferred a few years later to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, now Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City. There, he studied obstetrics, physiology, anatomy, herbal and practical medicine, and wrote his thesis on gout. After graduating in 1812, at age 20, he worked at his studied profession only briefly, sharing a practice with Drs. Nathaniel Hill and James Henderson. Despite abandoning medicine, he was recognized throughout the rest of his life for his medical knowledge, and was made the first honorary member of the North Carolina Medical Society.[4]

 

When Dr. Hill first returned to Wilmington, doubtless, he lived at 11 South Third Street. The large house seemed to be always filled with blood kin, in-laws, and assorted cousins. Often, they migrated together to various Hill family plantations. At one time or another, the first three generations of the William Hill line owned the following: Forceput, Hailbron, York, Kendal, Hilton, Oakmont, Fairfields, Belmont, and Rocky Road plantations in southeastern North Carolina. In addition, they owned at least four plantations in Pittsboro, North Carolina.[5]

It was an elegant life and the “Boston Hills” were known in Cape Fear as elegant people. Frederick, through heredity and environment, was no exception. His taste ran to fine, dressy carriages and objects of gold. He spent considerable time traveling and accumulated friends who mirrored not only his taste, but his appetite for good causes. A reporter for the Raleigh Register summed up his charm, eloquence, and powers of persuasion, after hearing Dr. Hill deliver a political address in support of Whig presidential candidate Henry Clay, in 1844 : “For practical sense, sound judgment, and happy illustrations, I have not heard Dr. Hill’s speech surpassed this season.” [6]

 

Dr. Hill was elected first to the North Carolina Senate in 1835, then re-elected three times. He bonded with several colleagues who were eager to establish and improve public education, and Frederick was one of the most ardent among them. His efforts would earn him the name, “Father of Public Schools in Wilmington,” but his influence was felt throughout the state. Ironically, Dr. Hill, a man who gained such distinction as nurturer to the young, had no children of his own.

In 1839, the North Carolina Legislature passed a school law of Frederick’s authorship. Subsequently, each county held an election to determine if residents were in favor of public education. The counties that approved it paid a tax of $20, then received $40 from the state. There only were 68 counties in the state at that time, and 61 of them approved Frederick’s plan, which also provided that Superintendent of School positions would be established statewide. In 1840, the state’s first public schools began to emerge. Ironically, back home in Wilmington, things proceeded slowly – at least until General Alexander MacRae was appointed Chairman of the Board of  Superintendents. Gen. MacRae, known and respected throughout the county as General of the local militia, moved matters along with military precision.[7]

 

School and church interests engaged Dr. Hill in decades of long meetings and outward service. Politics led to be a delegate to the Harrisburg Convention of 1827, at which William Henry Harrison was nominated to run for the presidency. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1835 until 1860; a trustee of the Episcopal School of North Carolina, in Raleigh; and a laity delegate to conventions of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. His work placed him amidst stimulating company and marvelous networks, for the membership rosters of these groups were laced with likeminded state leaders in the fields of scholarship, religion, business, and the arts.[8]

Banks and budding railroad systems were commercial priorities in those days. Frederick’s bank involvement came primarily through his brother, Dr. John “Bank” Hill, president of the Bank of Cape Fear. Frederick was directly associated with the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, forerunner to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. In 1835, he became a founding contributor to the Wilmington and Weldon, then served as a director from 1841 until 1859.[9]

 

In matters of personal business, Frederick Jones Hill’s chief occupation and most dominant profile was as owner of Orton Plantation, a 4975-acre tract on the Brunswick banks of the Cape Fear River. He purchased Orton in 1826, 101 years after his  great-great uncle, Maurice Moore, established the plantation. The existing residence there was built in 1735 by another of Frederick’s great-great uncles, “King” Roger Moore. Though Dr. Hill spent much time away from the plantation and always had a dwelling place in Wilmington, he considered Orton “home,” and was proud of his position as a representative of Brunswick County.

William Campbell Lord, Frederick’s brother-in-law, managed the plantation and the Orton mill, or mills, rebuilt from those created by Roger Moore, about 1735. Mr. Lord, noted as “agent for Orton Mills,” advertised, in 1839, lumber that was, “quality warranted fully equal to the best steam mill,…no charge for wharfage.” In 1827, soon after purchasing Orton, Dr. Hill felt the first effects of Cape Fear’s quirky weather when Spring storm winds tore the roof off Orton’s “machine and winnowing house, and utterly demolished the barn.” A stronger storm hit Orton in June 1835. It produced thunder, lightning, hailstorms over six inches in circumference, and a whirlwind that lifted the roof of Orton house and carried it a “considerable distance, and very much shattering the body.” Winds also ripping the canvas roof off St. Philip’s Church in Brunswick Town. Perhaps, after the storm of 1835, Dr. Hill began to yearn for a house with more fortitude.[10]

A multitude of trees and easy water access made milling a natural sideline to rice production. In Roger Moore’s day, Orton Mill customers were located chiefly in South Carolina and Barbados, but during Dr. Hill’s ownership, most lumber shipped from Cape Fear was headed to the West Indies. Some of that heart pine stayed close to its birthplace, though – traveling twenty minutes by water, straight to the Wilmington docks.

During the 28 years of Frederick’s ownership, from 1826 until 1854, much fine Orton lumber would have found its way into Wilmington’s historic architecture. Advertisements in local newspapers document the fact that Dr. Hill sought the city’s business, and family and social connections virtually assured sales to certain building projects, such as St. James Episcopal Church and the Armand deRosset House. Orton manager William Lord was Junior Warden and co-chairman of the building committee that commissioned the beautiful church erected at Third and Market streets, in 1839; and Orton owner Frederick Hill was related to Dr. Armand deRosset, who built the deRosset House (City Club) at 23 South Second Street, in 1841. The list goes on and on, but it is possible that any of Wilmington’s historic plaques bearing dates within the 1826 to 1854 range are nailed to buildings made from Orton’s stately pines.[11]

Frederick Jones Hill and the Changes to Orton House

According to author James Laurence Sprunt, it was about 1840 when Dr. Hill altered the Orton residence. He added a full story and an attic, then gave it strength and majestic beauty with the addition of four fluted Doric columns.[12] The result was a Greek Revival facade that has now become one of the most photographed and reproduced sights in the American South.

But what would cause Frederick to make such a change? It is a rare mind that identifies deficiencies and conceptualizes solutions that far surpass the norm. Temple style architecture already had cropped up in commercial buildings, but was used in few residences in North Carolina. Perhaps the building of the State Capitol in Raleigh inspired Dr. Hill. William Nichols, Jr., of the New York architectural firm of Ithiel Town and A. J. Davis, drew the original plans for the capitol that called for columns of the “powerful Doric order of the Parthenon.”[13] Construction began in 1833, and was not completed until 1840. Even before Dr. Hill was elected to the Senate in 1835, he spent time in Raleigh, lobbying for free education. After being elected senator, his time there only increased.

Dr. Hill’s close friend William Gaston was a New Bern attorney and  a powerful political force in advocating adoption  of the architectural design that materialized. The building process then became a consuming passion for him, and during that period, he and Dr. Hill were bonded by like interest. In 1835, both were North Carolina representatives to the Constitutional Convention of 1835, and the two of them worked together as longtime outspoken advocates for internal improvements statewide. How exciting it must have been for such artistically sensitive men to watch the great stone structure rise from the ground.

Architectural historian Catherine Bishir calls the State Capitol, “one of the most beautiful and original neoclassical buildings in America. “[14] By the time it was finished, five different architects were involved and the many changes demanded much budget attention from the North Carolina Senate. Dr. Hill was present for five years’ worth of lengthy discussions.

The North Carolina Capitol building was finished in 1840, the same year Dr. Hill was said to begin the changes to Orton. Maybe someone who worked on the Capitol also made the changes to Orton. One candidate is the original supervisor, William Drummond, who left during the project early. He then worked for Dr. Hill’s friend, Duncan Cameron, before supervising building construction for the Episcopal School in Raleigh, in 1835. The school project would have been  dear to Dr. Hill, because it was a place of education; it bore the name of his denomination of choice; and because of his trusteeship. In addition, his beloved neighbor, old friend, and former rector, the Rev. Dr. Adam Empie, was on his way to Raleigh to supervise the school. As with all the other candidates for Orton’s improvements, proof is lacking: Contractor William Drummond’s whereabouts in 1840 are unknown, but so is the name of the plantation’s 1840 builder.[15]

Another candidate is Thomas Bragg, Sr., known to do design and build, or alter, homes for several plantation owners in Virginia, and numerous folks in North Carolina – including some of Dr. Hill’s acquaintances. Less likely would be David Paton, the brilliant Scottish architect who added the exquisite crowning touches to the Capitol’s interior. At the very least, Mr. Paton and Dr. Hill had potential for rich conversation. [16]

Dr. Hill’s association with the firm of Ithiel Town and A. J. Davis during the State Capitol building process continued  with the construction of Smith Hall (Playmakers’ Theater), on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill. As a school trustee, Frederick would have followed architect A. J. Davis’s reports with interest. As a lover of architectural beauty, he must have exulted in the finished product.

 

Other Buildings, Other Questions

Dr. Hill’s own penchant to build evidenced itself as early as 1831, when he, with brother Nathaniel, gave a quarter of an acre of land, then built a church upon it, in Pittsboro, NC. The brothers hired builders Martin and Wesley Hanks to construct a house of worship that would be church home to them and their two other brothers, Thomas G. and William Henry Hill, while they were in residence in Pittsboro. Like their father and three uncles, each had their own individual Chatham County plantation where they spent a few months of every year. Oddly enough, Frederick’s Pittsboro Plantation was known as “Kentucky.”

The frame church, named St. Bartholomew’s, went over budget and took two years to build. The cost, carried mostly by Dr. Hill, was $1,158.23. What is most interesting is the style: It is one of North Carolina’s earliest examples of Gothic Revival architecture. There are similarities between St. Bartholomew’s and the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church building in Hillsborough ‑ not surprising since the Hanks worked on both projects. Also, Dr. Hill, known as the chief force behind the Pittsboro project, had friends who were parishioners of St. Matthew’s.

St. Bartholomew’s Church is considered a “very faithful advocate of Gothic Revival” style. Stained glass, customized for the space, was made in Boston, then shipped by schooner to Wilmington, and hauled to Pittsboro by wagon.[17] It is possible the same company made some of the original stained glass windows for Dr. Hill’s Wilmington church, St. James Episcopal, built only six years after St. Bartholomew’s.

Connections and the power of bountiful funds are an inescapable part of this story of questions. As mentioned previously, Dr. Hill’s business associate and brother-in-law, William Campbell Lord, was co-chairman of the building committee in Wilmington, and helped lead the years’ long campaign to raze the first building and create a new one. The other co-chairman, Dr. Thomas Henry Wright, was Dr. Hill’s close neighbor, business associate, and a fellow graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.

Martin Hanks and contractor Isaac J. Collier built Pittsboro’s Columbus Lodge No. 102, in 1838-1839. Collier went on to build Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill in 1833. Chapel of the Cross was designed by Thomas U. Walter, the same architect responsible for St. James Church in Wilmington, and the U. S. Capitol dome. Could Isaac Collier and Martin Hanks have made the Orton changes?

A Fayetteville stonecutter, George Lauder, carved the baptismal font for St. Bartholomew Church. Did he also work in Wilmington and Brunswick County. Was he responsible for the baptismal font at St. James Church or the grave marker for Dr. John Hill, brother of Frederick Jones Hill, who died May 9, 1847, and is buried at Orton?

Another building project also began in Pittsboro in 1831: Construction of the Henry Adolphus London residence. London, a younger son of John London of Wilmington, was related to Dr. Hill, and was associated with him in Wilmington and in Pittsboro, where London was a successful merchant. The Greek Revival facade of London’s new house and Dr. Hill’s Orton bear a striking resemblance.

Lastly, Frederick altered another house in 1854, the year he sold Orton to Thomas Miller. Frederick paid $14,000 for a residence on Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth streets. It was built by the late Aaron Lazarus, about 1816, when it was the only house on the block. Since the lot went straight through, Frederick found it convenient to change the entrance from the south-fronting side of Chestnut to the north-facing side of Grace street. He also altered the exterior, creating an Italianate facade. According to architectural historian Tony Wrenn, a center pavilion, three bays wide and one bay deep, apparently served as the new entrance.[18] Today the house is owned by preservationists, Connie and Landon Anderson.

Frederick Jones Hill died March 26, 1861, and was buried at Oakdale Cemetery the following day. His death was attributed only to “sickness,” but may have been due to yellow fever. He was survived by his wife, virtually invisible to local history, Ann Ivie Hill; numerous nieces and nephews, an adopted son named William E. Boudinot, and numerous close cousins. Dr. Hill bequeathed money to St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church; money to St. James; and funds to support “orphans of North Carolina.”[19]

Grace is immeasurable. Though much of Frederick Hill’s work is lost in corporate and organizational anonymity, that he had a huge part in elevating quality of living through education is undeniable. His intangible gifts to orphans and many other service and charitable contributions are uncountable. But material, divergent things do stand nobly to his memory, most importantly the exquisite beauty of his design changes to Orton Plantation; and the distinctive St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church building.  Dr. HIll’s other good deeds may always remain as much a mystery as his very appearance is today.