Biography

08/15/1776 - 11/24/1852

Colonel Rees Bowen Hill (D18) Greene and Washington Counties 1821-1822 (D20) Greene and Washington Counties 1822-1824 

Early Life: 

Colonel Rees Bowen Hill, born August 15, 1776, Frederick County, Virginia; son of Robert and Priscilla Bowen Hill; unsuccessful campaigns, Pennsylvania Sheriff, Greene County, 1805, 1808.elected, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1810-1813; colonel, United States Army, War of 1812, 1812-1813; elected, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Greene County, 1814-1820; Speaker, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1816, 1819; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 18th district, 1821-1822; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 20th district, 1823-1824; unsuccessful Republican Nomination, Pennsylvania Governor, 1823; unsuccessful nomination, Pennsylvania United States Senate, 1824; returned to Virginia; died, November 24, 1852, Frederick County, Virginia; interment, Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia. Burial location unknown.

Early Career:

Colonel, United States Army, War of 1812, 147th Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia stationed, Erie, Pennsylvania, guarding a naval facility; July 30, 1813, his detachment received orders to join the northwestern army in Ohio and Michigan. Commanding officer, General (and future president) William Henry Harrison in a letter to President James Madison. Rees Hill (along with Thomas Sargeant of Harrisburg, Cromwell Pearce of Chester County, and Samuel McKean of Bradford County) appointed an aide de camp to Governor William Findlay, commander in chief of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Unsuccessful campaigns, Pennsylvania Sheriff, Greene County, 1805, 1808.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Greene County, 1810-1811. 

Re-elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Greene County, 1811-1812.  

Re-elected, Democrat-Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Greene County, 1812-1813.  

Elected, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Greene County, 1814-1820; chairman, Committee of Ways and Means, 1820; 16th Speaker, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1816; 18th Speaker, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1818. Unsuccessful, Speaker, 1819. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 18th district, Greene and Washington Counties, 1821-1822; unsuccessful, Speaker of the Senate, 1821. 

Unsuccessful Republican Nomination, Pennsylvania Governor, 1823.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 20th district, Greene and Washington Counties, 1822-1824; replaced by, son-in-law, William George Hawkins Sr., 1824.

Unsuccessful Nomination Pennsylvania United States Senate, 1824.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Rees Hill - PA House of Representatives - PA House of Representatives (state.pa.us)

Legacy: 

On March 3, 1819, United States Congress and President James Monroe approved an act to reimburse Hill for money he had spent for expenses of his troops during the War of 1812. 

Married, Nancy Heaton, 1797, children: Elizabeth (Hawkins), Isaac, Daniel, Bowen, Hannah, Priscilla, Mary (Rosenberry), Heaton, Rees, Amy, Naomi (Rowland). Following Nancy’s death, remarried, widow Louise Beatty Abbott, one child, Louisa Showalter (Fellows).

Daughter, Ellen Hill, married, William George Hawkins Sr, Pennsylvania State Senate, 20th district Greene and Washington Counties 1824-1829, 19th district Greene and Washington Counties, 1829-1830, 19th district, Fayette and Greene Counties 1830-1831, 20th district, Greene and Washington Counties, 1831-1832. 

William George Hawkins Sr. - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov) 

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members H". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)

An Act for relief of Rees Hill Chapter LXVIII United States (1846), The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, vol. 6, Charle C. Little and James Brown, p. 231.

The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America - United States - Google Books