From the date of his death and the numeral 59, presumed to be his age at death, it is believed that this is indeed the grave of Henry Hill, born in Caroline County, Virginia, in 1793. A veteran of the War of 1812, he sold his 399-acre farm in Monroe County, Missouri, in April 1852, to accompany his daughters, Martha and Clemencia, and son Joseph, with their families to California.

From the North Platte ferry area, on June 15, 1852, in-law James Hill wrote: “…about thirty five miles below Fort Larame we was called on to pay the last tribute of respect to old Father Hill.” The cause of death was a cholera-like illness. “next morning we buried little black boy Billy.”

Henry’s daughter, Clemencia, died on Forty-mile Desert in Nevada. Nancy J. Hill, the sister-in-law of his son, Joseph, died July 5, 1852, on the Sublette Cutoff. Her marked grave is located northwest of Kemmerer, Wyoming.