I am looking for the family crest/coat of arms for James J. Hill the
19th and early 20th century railroad magnate. He is the founder of the
Great Northern railroad which became the Northern Pacific under his
son Louis and is currently the Burlington Northern. I do know that
there was a crest/coat of arms that was considered correct from seeing
it in Hill's papers in the mid 60's. Hill emigrated to this country
from Canada but his parents emigrated to Canada from Scotland. Thank
you.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 31 Dec 2002 23:16 PST

Hello Makalaka,

There is no ONE Coat of Arms for the surname HILL, rather there are
many, indicative to the place and origin of the family. Coat-of-Arms
and history concerning the surname HILL is gathered here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hillsofsalem/heraldry.html

There are eight coat-of-arms for the surname Hill for you to review
here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hillsofsalem/heraldry2.html

Do any of the above coat of arms look familiar?
If not, can you remember any detail of the coat of arms that you saw?

Thanks
--Bobbie7-ga

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Clarification of Question by makalaka-ga on 03 Jan 2003 21:13 PST

Thank you! I looked at all of them and nothing rang a bell. (At the
time I was 8 and more interested in what was going to be for dinner
and how I could find something to do that wasn't so boring as
listening to the grownups talk forever about Uncle So-and-so and
Cousin Whosit, so my memory is not too long on what it looked like!) I
would suspect that it was not Irish because Hill and his family were
Scots farmers of limited means at the time of their immigration to
Canada. For all I know he simply picked the coat of arms he liked best
and used that! I think that a copy of his choice might be in papers at
the James J. Hill library in St. Paul or that there might be a copy
somewhere in his home either in glass or on a plaque. I know this
isn't much help but I'm afraid that's all I know. On my side of the
family all the people who would know more have passed away.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 03 Jan 2003 22:12 PST

I am working on this and I have established that he did indeed have a
coat of arms. I am expecting some replies to my inqueries soon. I may
be onto something here. Please be patient.

Thank you
tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 04 Jan 2003 17:04 PST

Dear makalaka-ga:

A source has promised to send the the James J. Hill coat-of-arms some
time next week as his busy schedule permits. As soon as it arrives I
will provide it to you. Again, please be patient.

Thank you
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by makalaka-ga on 05 Jan 2003 13:38 PST

Thank you!!! I happily await your results!

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 10 Jan 2003 19:07 PST

Dear makalaka-ga;

I have not yet obtained an image of the coat of arms you are
requesting from my source. I have another email out to him as we speak
and I am awaiting his response. I'll let you know as soon as something
develops. I appreciate your patience.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by makalaka-ga on 15 Jan 2003 19:05 PST

No problem! Thanks for the update!

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Jan 2003 10:53 PST

I am trying to re-establish contact with my source. I'm hoping that he
returns my email requests very soon.

Still working on it here.

tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 26 Jan 2003 10:27 PST

Dear makalaka-ga :

I am still awaiting a response from my source. Hopefully something
will develop before the expiration date. In the meantime, rest assured
that I have already covered the points mentioned by the commenter
below.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 29 Jan 2003 20:33 PST

Dear makalaka-ga:

I do apologize, but apparently my source has abandoned me. I've
recieved no answer to many requests for updates or information. I
realize this may be somewhat disappointing but if our effort accounts
for anything I hope that alone has made your visit with us a positive
experience.

You might consider reposting your question again at a later date.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

The home of J.J. Hill at 240 Summit Avenue in St. Paul is owned by the
Minnesota Historical Society, which operates it as a museum. I sent
them an email and was told that, as far the correspondent knew, Mr.
Hill had no coat of arms.

The MHS has a great number of photographs and other papers of the
family, including those of Jerome Hill (available on the Web),
grandson of J.J. Hill, and has published a couple of books about the
house.

I don't suppose that you were thinking of the mountain goat symbol
that Louis Hill adopted from the railroad?

Jerome Hill Papers Online
http://collections.mnhs.org/jeromehill/

JJHill House
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/index.html

hlabadie-ga

Thank you but no - I am very aware of how he looks, I am sitting here
looking at an early version if him hanging over my desk. I strongly
remember the coat of arms - I just cannot tell you who found it or
much of a description of what it looked like. All I can tell you is
that it was made clear that it was James J.'s coat of arms. Now
whether it was a coat of arms researched by a later family member that
would have been correct for the Hill family or whether it was one
found by, or picked out/invented by James J. himself I don't know. I
can only tell you that I do remember it was a coat of arms complete
with a shield, saying, and name. I know that for many years prior to
the historical society owning the building it was owned by the
archdiocese so that there may have been one that was removed, or
changed that the society may not know about. As I said - I saw it at a
very young age a number of years ago so my knowledge of the origin is
very sketchy.

I will await your info Tutuzdad! Thanks! Makalaka-ga