Gaston, Joseph. "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912." Vol. 2. Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 399. JOHN B. HILLIS is a successful and well known farmer living near Rogue River, Jackson county, where he owns and operates four hundred acres of land, eight acres of which is a part of the old family homestead. He is one of the native sons of Oregon, his birth occurring June 5, 1866, at Rogue River, Jackson county. He was a son of William Peck and Margaret (Stone) Hillis, the father a native of Flemingsburg, Kentucky, where his birth occurred September 3, 1825. The mother was born in Indiana, in which state both parents were reared. The father was one of the early pioneers of Jackson county, having for many years been the only white man on Evans creek, working as a miner and blacksmith, being assisted by a number of Chinamen. He worked at placer mining for many years and meanwhile homesteaded and preempted land, owning property from the Dan Neathamer homestead to the present Hillis farm, a tract of land about six miles in length. His marriage occurred in this county, where he lived for the remainder of his life, passing away on the 6th of May, 1904. He had left his home at Greencastle, Indiana, at the age of twenty-one years, and his family in the east did not hear from him until after his death, when his children were located. He followed the life of a gold miner during all his active years, a vocation in which he met with moderate success. His wife came to Oregon with her first husband, Solomon Manwarring, during the Civil war, and after becoming a widow she married William Peck Hillis. She had four children by her first marriage, all of whom are dead, and by her second union five children were born, namely: John B., of this review; William, who is mentioned on another page of this work; Elizabeth, the wife of James Summerville, of Evans valley; Margaret, who married Charles F. Taylor, of Grants Pass; and Mary, the wife of Samuel H. Moore, of Evans valley. John B. Hillis was reared and educated in Evans valley, Jackson county, and has had no other home. He now owns eighty acres of the original homestead, one hundred and sixty acres which he personally took as a homestead and one hundred and sixty acres of timber land, making his holdings total four hundred acres. He is engaged in general farming and fruit-raising and has been very successful in business. Mr. Hillis was married July 21, 1898, to Caroline Ann Taylor, who was born at Weaverville, California, July 15, 1868, a daughter of David Van Nostrand and Mary (Sheehan) Taylor. The father was a native of New York while the mother was born in Nova Scotia. The father left New York city in 1848 and sailed to California by the way of Cape Horn, the mother coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1864. They were married in California and there lived until after the death of the father, who passed away at Weaverville, August 4, 1903, at the age of seventy-five years. The mother resides with her son, Dr. J. E. Taylor, of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Mrs. Hillis was reared at Weaverville where she acquired her primary education. Later she attended the convent of the Sisters of Charity at Virginia City, Nevada, and previous to her marriage she taught school for a considerable period in California and in eastern Maryland. Mr. Hillis is a cousin of the well known Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, of Brooklyn, New York, one of the foremost American ministers. He is a prominent man in his community, being not only successful in business but a valuable citizen, intellectual and public-spirited. Editor's note: I am researching the Hillis family and am willing to share what I have. Please contact Jenny at jtenlen - at - drizzle.com ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2007 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.