Hillis family chips in to help grave situation
One of the fastest growing hobbies these days is genealogy, the study of one’s family history. People who once barely kept track of their second cousins are turning to the Internet, and various sources of family and public records, to trace their lineage as far back as they can manage — even to their European origins in many cases.
Warren County resident Barry Hillis is one who has caught the genealogical bug and has been pouring over old family records and photographs in an effort to explore his roots. And like many, Hillis has gone way back.
“I’ve got it all the way back to 1639,” he said, noting the family didn’t move into this area until the early 1800s.
And while most families have some black sheep somewhere in their history, and in truth, those are usually among the more colorful characters in a family, they probably can’t claim a lynching on their family tree – much less two. But as Hillis found out, with the story of William and Victor Hillis, his family can claim exactly that.
“I don’t consider it a black mark though,” Hillis said. “It’s just history.”
In fact, Hillis discovered an article in the May 2, 1896 edition of the Southern Standard with this incident chronicled in great detail.
The article reads:
“At a few minutes after 12 o’clock midnight last Sunday morning, Victor and William Hillis were taken from the county jail at this place by a mob of about 15 masked men, carried to Shellsford on horses, and both hanged to a small tree about two hundred yards above Mead and DeBard’s saw mill, on the north side of the river.”
Hillis has known about this story for some time, but recently began to delve into it further.
“They were my half-great-uncles,” Hillis said. “This has been passed down through the family over the years. My dad told me about it, and I’m sure his family told him about it.”
The crime the two were charged with was the murder of Carroll Martin. They were convicted in Circuit Court, but due to some questions about the trial and how the jury had been summoned, the state Supreme Court reversed the case and remanded it for another trial.
It was while they were in jail awaiting a second trial, the lynch mob formed and dragged them from their cells and to their deaths.
The morning after the lynching, the boys’ bodies, after having been prepared for burial by well-known local undertaker W.S. Lively, were picked up by their father, Lawson Hillis, who had served in the Civil War and was wounded in the Battle of Murfreesboro. They were taken to a family cemetery in the Rocky River community in Van Buren County. The cemetery is still there today and is named for the boy’s grandfather, B.O. Hillis.
One of the things about the story Barry found unsettling was that the two were buried in unmarked graves, something he and the Hillis family found sad, since they had never been actually proven guilty.
“Every time we’d have a Hillis get-together, they’d say we need to buy those boys a rock,” Hillis said, but no one could agree on what to do. “Hillises are stubborn,” he said, flashing a wide grin. “You can lead ’em anywhere, but you don’t push ’em nowhere.”
Eventually, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“What I did was I took it on myself in August and ordered them a rock,” he said. But once his relatives found out about what he had done, they began to join in, putting Barry in a somewhat awkward situation.
“They started putting in donations,” he said, “and the rock was already paid for.” Unwilling to discourage anyone’s participation, Barry decided on a perfect solution.
“Any more donations that come in, or people wanting to donate, we need to put it on the upkeep of the cemetery,” he said.
The family is obviously pleased with Barry’s efforts on their ancestor’s behalf, as evidenced by their support and interest.
“I think it’s good he’s gone back and researched all this,” said daughter Alysia, “and that he’s helped get the rock.”
Hillis said, though his interest in his heritage came late, he very much wants to preserve his genealogical history and, as a result, has compiled a thick notebook full of information and records.
“I just got interested in it eight or 10 years ago,” he said, noting he is making copies of all his information for his only child, daughter Alysia.
“She’s got copies of everything I’ve got, so it’ll be passed down like it was to me,” he said, adding that the activity can get somewhat addictive.
“The more you dig, the more interesting it gets,” he said.
In any case, Hillis feels his relatives were, in effect, railroaded and deserve the benefit of the doubt, even today.
“See, on the bottom of that rock I put ‘Never proven guilty,'” he said, “which they weren’t. I figured that might start some controversy, but I just went ahead and did it.”