The Search Begins

Karl Heinrich Hill - Age 21

The search for my family’s history began in the spring of 1966 with a conversation between my grandfather and I on the front porch of our farmhouse in Texas. My fifth grade teacher had given each pupil in my class the assignment of writing a paper on the history of our family. My grandpa seemed the most logical place to start my search and fortunately for me, he still had a pretty good memory. We started with his father and mother, Fritz and Minna Hill. He said that his father Fritz came to Texas from Germany when he was baby and that Fritz’s mother died during the trip over and was buried at sea. Things were starting to get exciting. His father’s father was named George Hill and he was in the Civil War and fought on the confederate side. Now I was really getting excited. Grandpa also seemed to recall that his father told him that George was wounded in the war – shot in the arm. That was the extent of the knowledge he possessed about his family’s history. He suggested I write a cousin who was interested in family history who might have more information. I was off to a good start and I had a new interest brewing.