Thomas E. Hill (author)

Thomas E. Hill
Born
Thomas Edie Hill

(1832-02-29)February 29, 1832
Sandgate, Vermont, U.S.
DiedJuly 13, 1915(1915-07-13) (aged 83)
Glen Ellyn, Illinois, U.S.
Notable workHill's Manual of Social and Business Forms
Spouses
Rebekah J. Pierce
​
​
(m. 1854, divorced)​
Ellen Whitcomb
​
(m. 1878)​
Children4

Thomas Edie Hill (February 29, 1832 – July 13, 1915) was an American writer of popular reference books, the most successful of which was Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms. Several of his books contained practical advice for personal improvement, which made them early examples of the self-help genre.[1]

Biography

Born in rural Sandgate, Vermont in Bennington County, Hill was raised on the family farm.[2] He attended Cambridge Academy in Cambridge, New York before becoming a teacher. He taught evening classes in penmanship and forms, and continued teaching for fifteen years across New York, Vermont, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois.[2] He settled in the latter state.

His breakthrough as a writer came in 1875 with the publication of Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms: Guide to Correct Writing. It was the only standard textbook at the time that helped readers with the preparation of business forms and correspondence.[3] In the Preface to the 1875 edition, he specified the object of his book: "To enable the writer, sitting easily and gracefully at the desk, to express thought plainly, rapidly, elegantly and correctly".[4] The manual went through more than twenty editions over the course of three decades and sold an estimated 400,000 copies.[2]

Cover of Hill's 1894 book

Hill's popular 1894 book on finance, Money Found, contained an early proposal for the nationalization of the U.S. banking system.[2][5]

Throughout his adult life, he pursued entrepreneurial projects that brought him a modest fortune.[5] In 1868 he founded the Hill Standard Book Company. At its peak in the 1880s, the company employed over a thousand agents who circulated Hill's reference books in the U.S. and Canada.[6] He also engaged in land speculation and suburban development. His Suburban Chicago Purchasing Agency "attracted investment capital to varied real estate projects on Chicago's outskirts."[5] He lived in Aurora, Illinois for twelve years. In 1876 he was elected the town's first mayor. While there, he launched the Aurora Herald newspaper, serving as its editor,[1] and also managed the Aurora Silver Plate factory.[2]

In 1885, Hill moved with his second wife Ellen to the village of Prospect Park in DuPage County, Illinois. He quickly became village president and worked to develop the community. He partnered with Philo Stacy in 1889 to dam a nearby creek, thus creating a 50-acre lake that Hill called Lake Glen Ellyn ("Ellyn" being the Welsh spelling of his wife's name).[7] In 1891 he succeeded in changing the village's name to Glen Ellyn.[8] Hill financed the building of a 100-room hotel, overlooking the lake. The Hotel Glen Ellyn opened in 1892.[9]

Hill was an ostentatious figure in the village. He strolled about "in a plum colored overcoat with a cape to it and a black slouch hat."[10] To impress visitors, he would dispatch his expensive private carriage to retrieve them from the local train depot.[11][12]

In 1903, he helped George McAnelly Miller establish Ruskin College in Glen Ellyn. Hill made an arrangement in which the college could utilize several of his buildings, including his 100-room hotel.[13]

Hill lost most of his fortune to unwise speculations.[14] He spent his final years earning money strictly through his writing. He died on July 13, 1915, at age 83.[15] His wife Ellen died the following January. They are both buried in Glen Ellyn's Forest Hill Cemetery.[14]

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ^ a b Carroll, S. R. (February 18, 1996). "A Self-Help Book from the 19th Century". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Album of Genealogy and Biography, Cook County, Illinois: with Portraits (Eighth ed.). Chicago: Calumet Book & Engraving Co. 1897. pp. 584–86. OCLC 679977913.
  3. ^ Ruff, Allen (1997). "We Called Each Other Comrade": Charles H. Kerr & Company, Radical Publishers. The History of Media and Communication. University of Illinois Press. p. 230n26. ISBN 978-0252065828.
  4. ^ Hill, Thomas E. (1875). Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms: Guide to Correct Writing. Moses Warren & Co. p. v – via HathiTrust.
  5. ^ a b c Ruff 1997, p. 63.
  6. ^ Ruff 1997, p. 230n26.
  7. ^ "Hill, Thomas E." Glen Ellyn Historical Society. Characters of Glen Ellyn. December 20, 2024.
  8. ^ "Several Towns Named After Founders and Heroes". The Daily Herald. December 28, 1999. p. 220. Retrieved November 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Teague, Jane S. (February 2006). "Glen Ellyn, IL". Encyclopedia of Chicago.
  10. ^ Harmon, Ada Douglas (1928). Chase, Audrie Alspaugh (ed.). The Story of an Old Town—Glen Ellyn (PDF). Anan Harmon Chapter D.A.R. p. 75.
  11. ^ Ruff 1997, p. 230n27.
  12. ^ Harmon 1928, p. 74.
  13. ^ Ruff 1997, p. 102.
  14. ^ a b Harmon 1928, p. 75.
  15. ^ Hill, Thomas E. (1990) [1968]. Never Give a Lady a Restive Horse: A 19th Century Handbook of Etiquette. Berkeley, California: Diablo Press. p. 6. OCLC 56889753.

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