A visitor called the furniture Hill built “specimens of first-rate workmanship, and being made of native wood procured on his land, is far superior to anything of its kind he could import. His skill would command patronage in any city in the world.”
As a blacksmith, Hill made his own tools. “His lathe for turning wood and iron was constructed by himself in a very simple but effective style.” He also built his own house, “a large two story frame building with verandah and attic, and outhouses …some covered (roof and sides) with corrugated iron.”
One of his greatest contributions was as a mentor to area youth. According Edward W. Blyden, who visited in 1889, two Kpelle youth trained by Hill had “their own coffee farms and live in neat frame houses, cultivating from thirty to fifty acres of land. One of them has recently married a highly esteemed colonist, widow of one of the late prominent settlers.”
Footnote: “Visit to Arthington, African Repository, April 1889, p. 44.
Categories