Rees Hill

Hill was born in Frederick County, Virginia to Robert and Priscilla (Bowen) Hill.{{cite book |last1=Leckey |first1=Howard L. |title=The Tenmile Country and Its Pioneer Families |date=1977 |publisher=Greene County Historical Society |location=Waynesburg, Pennsylvania |isbn=0-8063-5097-0 |page=290 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UM7gBFLDzvkC&q=Rees+Hill&pg=PA290 |accessdate=15 November 2019}} He conducted most of his business in Pennsylvania, became a successful merchant in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania and married Nancy Heaton.{{cite web |title=Pennsylvania State Senate - Rees Bowen Hill Biography |url=https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=4750&body=S |website=www.legis.state.pa.us |accessdate=10 November 2019}}

He served as a colonel during the War of 1812 leading the 147th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Militia. His regiment was originally stationed in Erie, Pennsylvania to guard a naval facility. On July 30, 1813, his detachment received orders to join the northwestern army and served in Ohio and Michigan.{{Citation

| title = Erie, July 30, 1813

| newspaper=True American

| page = 3

| date = August 11, 1813 }}{{Citation

| title = (Advertisement)

| newspaper=True American

| page = 4

| date = September 21, 1814 }} He was commended by then-general (and future president) William Henry Harrison in a letter to President James Madison.{{Citation

| last = Lundy's Lane Historical Society

| title = The documentary history of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier ...

|work=Tribune |location=India

| year = 1902

| volume = 5

| pages = 141–142

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uGsSAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Rees+hill%22&pg=PA141 }}

Rees Hill (along with Thomas Sargeant of Harrisburg, Cromwell Pearce of Chester County, and Samuel McKean of Bradford County) was appointed as an aide de camp to Governor William Findlay, the commander in chief of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.{{citation

| title = Appointments by the Governor

| newspaper=Berks and Schuylkill Journal

| date = November 14, 1818

| page = 2 }}

On March 3, 1819, 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.{{citation

| title = The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America

| newspaper=National Advocate

| date = June 7, 1819

| page = 2 }}{{Citation

| last = United States

| title = The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America

| publisher=Charle C. Little and James Brown

| volume = 6

| year = 1846

| page = 231

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ojkFAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Rees+hill%22&pg=PA231 }}

Hill was a member of the Democratic Republican party.{{Citation

| title = From the Waynsburgh Messenger Sept 21 to the Republicans

| newspaper=Washington Reporter

| page = 2

| date = September 30, 1816 }}

Hill was Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in two non-consecutive years (1816 and 1819).{{Citation

| last1 = Scharf

| first1 = John Thomas

| last2 = Westcott

| first2 = Thompson

| title = History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884: 1609–1884

| publisher=Everts

| year = 1884

| page = 1766

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8uYkAAAAYAAJ }} His first election as speaker took place on December 5, 1815.{{Citation

| title = (Legislative)

| newspaper=National Standard

| page=3

| date=December 27, 1815 }} He was elected as speaker a second time on December 10, 1816.{{Citation

| title = (Legislative)

| newspaper=American Beacon

| page=3

| date=December 13, 1816 }} On December 1, 1818, he again won election as speaker with 74 votes (other votes were: John Purdon – 9, Samuel Bond – 1, Phineas Jenks – 1, and William N. Irvine – 1).{{Citation

| newspaper=Spirit of the Times

| volume=1

| issue=6

| page=3

| date=December 8, 1818 }} On December 7, 1819 (for the session beginning in December, 1819 and lasting through most of 1820), he came in third in a vote for speaker with 14 of the 93 votes cast. (The speaker elected was Joseph Lawrence with 56 votes. Other votes were: Phineas Jenks – 21, Wilson Smith – 1, and William Lehman – 1).{{Citation

| newspaper=Carlisle Republican

| volume=1

| issue=6

| page=23

| date=December 14, 1819 }}{{Citation

| title=From the National Intelligencer. State Concerns.

| newspaper=American (New York)

| page=2

| date=December 15, 1819 }}

He served as chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in the Pennsylvania House in 1820.{{Citation

| title = Letters

| newspaper=Franklin Gazette

| page = 2

| date = February 22, 1820 }}

He was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate for the 18th district in November, 1820 and served from 1821 to 1822. He also represented the 20th district from 1823 to 1824.

After his political career ended, Hill returned to Virginia and managed the estates of his father and Uncles. He died on November 24, 1852, in Frederick County, Virginia and was interred in Winchester, Virginia.{{cite web |title=Pennsylvania House of Representatives - Rees P. Hill 1815-1817, 1818-1819 |url=https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/SpeakerBios/SpeakerBio.cfm?id=95 |website=www.legis.state.pa.us |accessdate=12 November 2019}}

• List of speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

{{reflist|1}}

• [https://archive.org/details/troopsundercomma01harr Troops under the command of Col. Fenton, Col. Rees Hill, et al.]
• [http://trees.ancestry.com/view/military.aspx?tid=1228392&pid=-1498196383&gss=seotrees Ancestry.com: Rees Hill Military Page]
• [http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/frederick/wills/b3000001.txt Will of Henry Beatty, father-in-law of Rees Hill]

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Category:1776 births

Category:1852 deaths

Category:United States Army personnel of the War of 1812

Category:Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Category:Pennsylvania Democratic-Republicans

Category:Pennsylvania Democrats

Category:Pennsylvania Republicans

Category:Pennsylvania state senators

Category:People from Frederick County, Virginia

Category:Politicians from Greene County, Pennsylvania

Category:People from Pennsylvania in the War of 1812

Category:Speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Category:19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly