John Wesley Hill

Hill was born on May 8, 1863, in Kalida, Ohio. Hill's father was John Wesley Hill (1831–1913). Hill's mother was Elizabeth Hughes Hill (1838–1926). Hill attended Ohio Northern University and then took classes at the Methodist Boston Theological Seminary."Dr. John Wesley Hill Passes Away Suddenly in New York", Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, Kentucky, October 13, 1936, p. 1

While still taking classes Hill became the pastor of a church in Eggleston Square in Boston. He went on to lead churches in Ogden, Utah; Helena, Montana; and Minneapolis, where he organized and built the Fowler Episcopal Methodist Church. He went on to positions in Fostoria, Ohio, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was appointed chaplain to the Pennsylvania state senate. Around 1905 he moved to the Janes United Methodist Church in Brooklyn, and then to the Metropolitan Temple at 7th Avenue and West 13th Street in New York City."The Church of the Open Door", Mitchell Mannering, National Magazine, volume 30 (April – September 1909), pp. 431–6

File:Taft and Dr. Wesley A. Hill LCCN2014682170.jpg in 1908]]

File:John Hays Hammond at the World Court Congress in 1916 with the other officers.jpg in 1916. Seated from left to right are: Emerson McMillin, John Hays Hammond, and unknown. Standing from left to right are: unknown, Henry Riggs Rathbone, and John Wesley Hill]]

Hill was known for mixing politics and religion, campaigning for example with William H. Taft in 1908. In 1927 he touted the campaign of Illinois governor Frank Orren Lowden for the Republican nomination for president."Warns Republicans of Danger in West", The New York Times, August 19, 1927, p. 8

Hill was also active in civic organizations. In the 1910s Hill was a vice-president of the American Civic Association.https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt7g5035nv/?order=2&brand=oac4 Letterhead of ACA listing John Wesley Hill as a vice-president During World War I Hill was involved with several organizations campaigning for peace and world governance, serving as general secretary of the World's Court League 1915-6 (and editor of their publication, The World's Court) and president of the International Peace Forum. Hill published through the Peace Forum a debate he participated in on May 7, 1913, with Dr. Bouck White on the question "Resolved: That socialism is a peril to the state and the church" (with Hill affirming the proposition). Inez Milholland was the moderator.

Hill was the chancellor of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, from 1916 to 1936.

Hill wrote Twin City Methodism: A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. (1895), Abraham Lincoln: Man of God (1920), and If Lincoln Were Here (1925).

Hill's wife was Sally Harrison Hill.

Hill died on October 12, 1936, at the Commodore Hotel in Manhattan, New York City.{{cite news |title=Funeral Services Wednesday For Dr. John Wesley Hill |newspaper=Lima News |date=October 14, 1936}}{{cite news |title=Rev. John W. Hill, Educator, Is Dead. Retired Two Months Ago After 20 Years as Head of Lincoln Memorial University. Also Noted As Lecturer. Methodist Minister Had Served as Pastor of Metropolitan Temple in New York. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00EED6143DE33BBC4C52DFB667838D629EDE |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 14, 1936 |access-date=2015-03-17 }}

Some of his papers are archived at Columbia University.{{cite web |url=https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078898 |title=John Wesley Hill manuscripts |date=October 14, 1936 |access-date=2015-03-17 |publisher= Columbia University }}

The John Wesley Hill Building at Ohio Northern University was named after Hill's father, at Hill's suggestion.https://library.onu.edu/c.php?g=357885&p=2416816 "Hill Building", Ohio Northern University website

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Category:1863 births

Category:1936 deaths

Category:American Methodist clergy

Category:Ohio Northern University alumni

Category:Lincoln Memorial University

Category:People from Claiborne County, Tennessee

Category:People from Kalida, Ohio