James and Phebe Hill

James Hill (1773-08-27 – 1829-10) and Phebe Cossitt (1781-12-30 – 1863-04-07)⁠^{⟮1⟯FamilySearch}⁠^⟮2⟯⁠^{⟮3⟯Some sources give her birth as the 31st; for now I’m going with the cited church record.}, sometimes Phoebe, were my 4th-great-grandparents, being the parents of Mary Eliza Gesner. James was the son of William Hill and Rebecca Clements, and Phebe was the daughter of Ranna Cossitt and Thankful Brooks.

James was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Loyalists who relocated to Canada when James was a child; see their entry for more about this migration. Phebe was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, and also moved as a child to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, along with her other six siblings who were born in NH, due to her father’s complicated relationship to the Revolution; see his details. She was presumably named after her paternal grandmother Phebe (née Hillyer) Cossitt. They both died in Mira, Cape Breton.

Family

James and Phebe married 1798-10-23⁠^{⟮4⟯FamilySearch} in Sydney, Cape Breton, and had 7 children:⁠^⟮5⟯

Anna Sophia Hill (1800-04-02 – 1815-04-26), drowned in Muggah Creek aged 15.
René/Ranna William Hill (1802-09-17 – 1876-10), married Flora Brown.
Mary Eliza Hill (1803-11-05 – ⊥ 1890-07-17), my great-great-great-grandmother.
John Lewis Hill (1805-10-20 – after 1875), married Margaret White.
James Clement Hill (1807-09-10 – after 1881)⁠^{⟮6⟯FamilySearch}, unmarried.
George Germaine Hill (* 1809-05-29), married Albertina Dumaressy in 1833.
Frances Emily Hill (1811-07-01 – 1838-04-08), unmarried.

Anna, George, and Frances were born in Sydney, while the others were born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.

DNA

Phebe is the matrilineal ancestor of my great-grandfather Robert Huntington and thus shares his mtDNA haplogroup U2e1a. It traces back to Elizabeth (née Welbourne) (Carpenter) (Orvis) Bronson, whose last will is dated 1694.