HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY



him, being now 89 years of age. They were blessed with a family of 13 children,
of whom seven are still living, all of whom were given the best available
education.
   Mr. and Mrs. Conway were typical pioneers in this district and shared
all the
hardships and privations that accompanied the early settler and they lived
to
view the reward that such industry and perseverance guaranteed in the land
of
their adoption. They stood forth in sharp contrast with the agricultural
class in
other lands, in the origin of their title to and the nature of their possession
of, the
soil they cultivated. They entered upon the tremendous task of hewing out
of
the forests of the town of Rudolph a farm and a home, not as the tenant or
villein
of some feudal lord, wearing the collar of servitude and yielding all of
the better
portion of their produce as a return for protection to him as weakling laborers.
Self reliant and self dependent, they took from nature the lease of their
estate, rent
free and bondage free. Not, however, free of cost and without price, but
the price
they paid was the price manhood and womanhood loves to render for the gains
which do it honor. It was the cost of that labor which builds up the true
citizen;
with privations which strengthen rather than enervate; and facing perils
which
exalt the soul. With every trunk they lifted to its place in the cabin wall,'
a new
layer of strength was added to their character; every rood of ground they
subdued
by their joint efforts to cultivation, gave new breadth to their views; every
peril
they surmounted, every conflict they won, refined and sublimated the spirit
of
their lives.
   And when after years of such discipline of labor and trial, standing by
the door
of his castle of logs Patrick Conway heard the sound of the voice of his
loyal and
contented housewife within and the voices of happy children round about while
his eyes swept the fruitful possessions he had wrought from the wilderness,
to their
sufficient support and comfort, he realized the individual independence of
free
manhood, and the blessings of a free country which made possible the accomplish-
ments of the subjects of this sketch, who came to Wood County, a remote wilder-
ness 72 years ago, and who brought with them the best type of Christian civiliza-
tion.
   George Miles Hill, one of the most active factors in the progress and
develop-
ment of the city of Wisconisn Rapids, was born on a farm in Allamakee Township,
Allamakee County, Iowa, Feb. 28, 1857, son of Stephen G. and Axie (Berry)
Hill.
Both parents were from New England, the father being a native of Vermont
and
the mother of Maine. They were married in a town in the eastern part of Ver-
mont and subsequently came West, stopping for a time at Beloit, Wis., and
then
settling in Iowa, Allamakee County being in the northeastern corner of that
state.
There Mrs. Stephen G. Hill died one month after the birth of her son George
Miles,
and her husband survived her but two years. Thus orphaned in infancy, George
M. Hill was received into the home of his maternal grandparents at Waukon,
Iowa, and lived with them until he was ten years old, as a boy attending
district
school. He then came to Centralia, Wood County, Wis., to live with Manley
and Biancy Hill, the former of whom was his uncle. He began business life
as
clerk in the drug store of H. T. Panter & Co., on the west bank of the
river, but
after a few months left them to enter the employ of H. B. Philleo & Co.,
on the
east side of the stream. He thus acquired a knowledge of pharmacy. Two years
later the store and business were purchased by H. W. Jackson, who was then
post-



305,