BENJAMIN SHAUGH HILL was born on his father Robert Hill's farm on 04 Nov 1753. This land was then part of a large estate called Carroll's Manor in Frederick County MD. On 05 Sep 1788, Benjamin married Sarah Scaggs at Apple's Reformed Lutheran Church in the town of Thurmont, ten miles east of Hagerstown.

When my third great-grandfather, John Benjamin Hill, was christened in 1786, the godfather was one John Balfield, who owned land in both Frederick County MD and in Scioto Township, Ross County OH. Balfield later played an important role in the Hill family move to Ohio in 1807. After their sixth child was born, a baby girl named Dorcas in 1793, Sarah Scaggs Hill died, and was likely buried on the family farm.

During the period from about 1796 to 1806, a series of letters held at post offices at both Hagerstown and Frederick MD, showed that a writing courtship was taking place between Benjamin S. Hill and Sarah Scaggs Hill's widowed sister, Elizabeth Scaggs Compton. Benjamin and Elizabeth were married on 30 Sep 1806 in the town of Frederick.

In the spring of 1807, Benjamin Shaugh Hill took his entire family and unspecified others down Zane's Trace by horse cart and flat boat from Maryland to near Chillicothe. I believe the family settled down on a farm owned by John Balfield in Scioto Township for a period of about seven years. Shortly after they arrived, on 16 Jul 1807, Dorcas Hill married Robert Bishop (Bischoff) of Martinsburg VA (later WV), and settled atop a high hill above the little village of Bourneville in Twin Township. This marriage generated a near-dynasty of the Bishop family at their estate, including a church, called Bishop's Hill.

On 22 Feb 1814, Benjamin S. Hill purchased a large tract of land (Plat No. 6837) in Deerfield Township from Henry Massie, son of Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Massie. The Massie family had been granted huge tracts in both Ross and Pickaway Counties by the federal government for their service in the war. By 1819, some of this land had been deeded to Benjamin's son, Robert Hill. In 1825, a portion was sold to his son John Benjamin Hill.

On 28 Apr 1828, the following article appeared in the Scioto Gazette, published in Chillicothe:

"Died on the 15th inst., Mrs. E. Hill, a respectable and pious lady of the county."

Elizabeth's burial site has not been located. Following her death, Benjamin Shaugh Hill left Ross County, and moved onto his son William's farm in Pleasant Township, Fairfield County, north of Lancaster. He died there on 7 Dec 1831, and was buried at the McNamee-Hite family cemetery, near the town of Thurston. His grave stone remains visible against a fence at that site today. In part, this stone reads:

Do Not Cry for Me,
Nor shed your tears in vain,
My face you will not see,
Till called to Rise Again.