Reuben A. Hill was born November 5, 1839, in Naples, Cumberland County, Maine. He was the son of John Hill and Rebecca Garland, farmers in the area. Farming did not seem to be in Reuben’s future, however. By 1860, he was already in San Francisco, California, working as a common laborer.
That changed with the outbreak of the Civil War, when Reuben Hill enlisted in the Union Army for a term of three years. On September 29, 1861, he mustered in at Camp Downey, near Oakland, California, as a third corporal in Co. I, 1st California Infantry.
As part of the California Column commanded by Colonel James H. Carleton, Hill’s unit was posted to the New Mexico Territory, where it saw action against the Confederates at Picacho Peak, Arizona. Hill seems to have been an effective soldier. He was promoted to sergeant and then commissioned a captain in Co. K, 1st New Mexico Volunteers (New), at Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory, Feb. 29, 1864. Captain Hill resigned at Fort Union, New Mexico Territory, on February 6, 1866.
After the war, Hill returned to Maine where he married Vesta Marhon Whittier on January 19, 1865, presumably while on leave from his military duties. They remained married until January 1880, when Reuben divorced Vesta so that he could marry a widow, Jane Tyler Burrell Wilson.
Jane later alleged that Hill drank excessively and was abusive. By the time he moved out in 1894, he had spent all of Jane’s money. Destitute, Jane was forced to move in with her married daughter. Although Hill suggested that Jane divorce him, she did not do so—possibly because of the social stigma of being a divorced woman.
Reuben Hill then secured a loan from another widow, Olivia S. W. Payne, with which he purchased a hotel in Strafford, New Hampshire. He remained in New Hampshire until about 1902, when he sold the hotel and moved to Arizona to speculate in mines. Once in Phoenix, Hill was cagey about his past and intimated that he had traveled in Europe on a mission for the U. S. government’s secret service.
On December 7, 1905, Reuben Hill died of a broken neck when thrown from his wagon near his mining property at Cave Creek, Arizona Territory. He was buried in Rosedale Cemetery, North section, Block 168, Grave 7.
Hill’s widow Jane did not learn of his death until her son-in-law saw a notice published in a Boston newspaper. Since she was still legally married to Hill at the time of his death, she applied for and received a widow’s pension based on his Civil War service.
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