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From the historical files of June E. Tuck, who does not validate or dispute any historical facts in the article.
MOTHER OF REILY SPRINGS WOMAN 99 YEARS OLD
February 1930
The following story is taken from the Prentiss Co., Mississippi News, reprinted in Sulphur Springs Gazette. Mrs. Lucy Floyd Hill is the mother of Mrs. W. R. Smith of Reily Springs and the grandmother of O. S. Smith of Sulphur Springs.
We are presenting you today with a good likeness of Mrs. Lucy Floyd Hill, who is perhaps the oldest living person in Prentiss County. Mrs. Hill was born in Anson Co., North Carolina, April 29, 1831, making her now almost 99 years of age. She was the only daughter of the family of nine children of Mr. & Mrs. John Floyd. Of the eight brothers, only one, James B. Floyd, of near Robertson school house, is now living. Mrs. Hill became the wife of James Jackson Hill in 1851 and moved to Prentiss county in 1860. They first resided in the Blythe’s Chapel community. After six years they moved to the Meadow Creek neighborhood, where she has lived for more than sixty years. When the family moved to Mississippi, they got off the train at Burnsville, on the Southern Railway. This railroad had just been completed. Her first meal in Mississippi was eaten in the home of Uncle Tommy Smith, who was well known to many of our older readers.
Mrs. Hill knew the hardships of the Civil War, having several small children at that time. She is now the oldest pensioner in the county. It is to the magnificent southern womanhood as displayed in those dark days that the South owes a great debt of gratitude.
Mrs. Hill was the mother of 12 children, of whom 11 lived to be grown, nine still living. The oldest is W. A. Hill, 78, who lives in Texas, and the youngest, Ben B. Hill, 56, with whom she makes her home. She has 37 grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren; and 3 great great grandchildren. She joined the Methodist church in North Carolina, and brought her membership certificate with her, and became a member of the Shady Grove Church. Mrs Hill’s memory is clear, but her eyesight and hearing are failing. Though otherwise she is active. We hope she will be spared for many more years.
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