Samuel HILL was born on 18 January 1818 on a farm in Deerfield Township, Ross County, Ohio, the son of John Benjamin HILL and Kitturiah Voadly HILL. He received an above average education in Pickaway County. He was four years old when his family moved from Ross County to a farm his father purchased near New Holland, Ohio. About 1840, Sam relocated from his parent’s home to Five Points, Ohio, where he opened a grocery store and post office. On 16 January 1843, he married Alice Ann PORTER, a daughter of John PORTER, whose original farm was near what is now the Deercreek State Park, and likely largely under water.

His marriage may have been one of the earliest recorded at the new Hebron AME Church in Grange Hall, performed by the Rev. Phillip Nation. In 1855, Sam was appointed district postmaster, the first person to hold the local post when it was created. A grocer, granger, and postmaster, Samuel HILL became a quite outspoken pro-Union activist, sending scathing letters to the United States Government denouncing anti-Union activities, especially those of some newspapers published in Circleville and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Six children were born to Sam and "Ally Ann" HILL. Milton HILL died in infancy in 1845. Sara Jane HILL, born in 1848, married George Byrd, and lived in Mt. Sterling, Madison County. Elizabeth HILL, born in 1858, married Dr. Samuel RUGG, and lived in Newark, and Outville, in Licking County. Diana Hill, born in 1857, married John Douglass, but is buried with her parents in the Hebron AME Church Cemetery. Samantha HILL, born in 1854, married Austin J. Baker, who died, then James W. Bowman, of Williamsport, Ohio. Charles Fremont HILL, the writer’s paternal great grandfather, was born in 1862, and spent a career as a teacher and school official.

Alice Ann PORTER HILL died at Grange Hall on Thursday, 7 June 1894, and was buried at Hebron AME Church Cemetery. Samuel HILL died on 4 April 1897, following what was called a "lingering illness." He was buried beside his wife at the Hebron AME Church Cemetery.