Joseph Hills, Jr. is the son of Joseph Hills and Rose Clarke. He was christened 2 August 1629 in Great Burstead, Billericay, Essex, England.1 By 1632, when Joseph, Jr., was about three years old, the family moved to Malden, Essex, England, where his father was a woolen draper and a shareholder in the Massachusetts Bay Company.1 In 1638, the family immigrated to New England on the ship Susan and Ellen. Joseph, Sr. was the "undertaker" of the voyage. 2 Joseph, Jr. would have been almost nine years old when he arrived in New England.
The family settled on a large farm in "Mystick Side," the part of Charlestown north of the Mystic River.1 Joseph’s father played a prominent role in public affairs, and when the area was set off as an independent town, he named it Malden after the area they lived in in England.
Joseph’s mother, Rose Clarke Hills, died in Malden on 24 March 1650/51 when Joseph was 22.3 After her death, his father married Hannah Smith Mellows, the widow of Edward Mellows, on 24 June 1651 in Malden.3 Two years later, in November of 1653, Joseph, Jr. also married a woman named Hannah Smith in Malden.3 It seems likely that the two women were related in some way. (For more about this, see Appendix A at the end of the biography of Joseph Hills Sr. and Rose Clerke.)
Joseph and Hannah (Smith) Hills had eight known children, born at Malden, Massachusetts:1, 3
Joseph, 19 October 1655; died Malden
Hannah, 20 March 1657; died Malden, 30 May 1674
Ebenezer, 1660; died Malden, betw 10 April and 26 May 1727
Elizabeth, 1661; died Malden, 19 January 1699
John, 16 March 1666; died Malden, ---, 1690
Dorothy, 13 April 1667;
Samuel (Julia's ancestor), 16 December 1669; died Dorchester, Massachusetts, 7 January 1704
Joseph, 3 July 1674.
On 19 April 1674, Joseph Hills, Jr., the oldest son of Joseph Hills, died, at 45 years of age.3 1674 was not a propitious year for the Hills family. Joseph’s nephew, Thomas Green, had died four days earlier on 15 April 1674. Joseph, Jr.’s oldest daughter, Hannah, died 30 May 1674, just three and a half months after her marriage to Andrew Grover and a month and a half after the death of her father. His younger sister, Rebecca Hills Green, the mother of Thomas, died 6 June 1674. Joseph Jr.’s wife, Hannah died 11 July 16743, eight days after giving birth, and, while we have no death record for him, it is probable that the baby, Joseph, also died. Joseph Hills, Jr.’s oldest sister, Mary Hills Waite, died 25 November 1674.
Joseph Hills, Jr. had apparently received land from his father. His estate inventory included a dwelling house and 50 acres of upland and meadow, with an additional 60 acres of land to be laid out in Billerica. In his 1687 will, Joseph Hills, Sr. confirmed: "To the children of Joseph Hills and Hannah his wife, deceased, land in his [Joseph Jr.’s] possession at his death as by deed dated 26 Oct. 1674." In addition to the land, Joseph, Jr.’s estate was valued at £49. 72. 5.
Joseph Hills, Jr. and Hannah Smith Hills are buried in the Bell Rock Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.
Hills Family in America by William Sanford Hills p 255
The dates shown in this source may not take into account the shift from the Julian Calendar to the Gregoria Calendar, and may not, therefore, be accurate.
The Ancestry of Abel Lunt 1769-1806, of Newbury Massachusetts pp. 7-8
Vital Records of Malden, Massachusetts
Middlesex, Massachusetts Probate File Papers 1647-1871 p. 11478:3
Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts edited by William Richard Cutter