Dr. George Washington Hill

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. Now, there are men who come to Texas and leave hardly a footprint, and then there are men who come to Texas and leave a county. Dr.

George Washington Hill was the second kind. He arrived in 1837, when Texas was still a republic finding its footing, and he did not waste a single year of it. By 1839 he was sitting in the Congress of the Republic of Texas, and he'd hold that seat through 1842.

In 1840 and 1841 he served as an Indian agent, which was no desk job in those days. And somewhere in all that, he rose to become Secretary of War, not once but under two presidents, Sam Houston and Anson Jones. Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas.

Let that settle over you a moment. The man had range. He was a graduate of Transylvania University, born in Tennessee on April 29, 1814, and when he came to Texas he brought every bit of that education and ambition with him.

He died in Navarro County on May 29, 1860, and the marker makes sure you know he rests in the county where his story ended. His wife Katherine M. Hill, born September 23, 1812, died April 24, 1871, outlasting him by years spent in the same Texas ground he'd helped shape.

And Hill County, out there on the map, carrying that name, that's not an accident. The marker says plainly: Hill County was named in his honor. One man, one republic, one county.

That's a legacy that still answers when you call it.

What the marker says

Came to Texas in 1837. Indian agent, 1840-41. Member of the Congress of Texas, 1839-1842. Secretary of war under Presidents Houston and Jones. Hill County was named in his honor. Dr. Hill was a graduate of Transylvania University. Born in Tennessee, April 29, 1814; died in Navarro County, Texas, May 29, 1860. His wife Katherine M. Hill, born September 23, 1812; died April 24, 1871.