EZRA HILL (1838-1860)

 

This week I went on a quest to construct a biography for Ezra Hill. He is noted as a founding member of the American Numismatic Society in 1858 but not traced after 1860. The quest took me to some surprising places.

On the evening of April 6, 1858, a dozen men (and boys) gathered at the home of Augustus B. Sage for the first official meeting of the American Numismatic Society. Signing in just ahead of Sage was Ezra Hill who gave his address as 248½ Bowery. This is a few blocks west of the Sage apartment at 121 Essex Street in New York City. Sage was born on May 13, 1841, and would have been short of his seventeenth birthday. Ezra Hill would have been 19 or 20.

I wonder how this group found each other. Sage probably developed his interest in numismatics around age fifteen. Hill would not have attended the meeting if he did not have an interest prior to 1858. It is possible that one connection was John K. Curtis with a shop at 83 Bleecker Street. That puts him two blocks northwest of Hill's later store at 6 Bleecker Street.

Sage wrote a recollection of Hill that was published in the American Journal of Numismatics in February 1867.

The Bleecker Street store was in the NOHO district of Manhattan [NOHO is NO of SOHO] near the intersection of Bowery and Houston Streets. This is not far from his home address on Bowery. Sage created a timeline with Hill dead shortly after establishing his business on Bleecker Street in 1860 and long since dead by 1867.

I was interested in the comments about Mickley indicating that young collectors in New York were aware of the Mickley collection several years before it was sold at auction. Sage's recollections indicate he visited Mickley in Philadelphia about that time.

Ezra Hill commissioned storecards produced in 1860 with his address at 6 Bleecker Street in New York City. These were extensively muled with obverse dies that appear on tokens for other dealers of the time. Sage also commissioned several storecards in 1860.

On April 25, 1860, there was an auction conducted by Bangs and attributed to Ezra Hill as owner. The cover text may have promised more than it delivered. Catalog of an Extensive and valuable Cabinet of Coins, Medals and Tokens, Comprising choice Specimens of various Countries, many of them are very scarce and particularly rich in those of America.

Most of the lots sold for less than a dollar. Total realized for the 675 lots was $332.69. The highest price I noted among the American coins was $7.50 for a 1791 Washington Cent with nothing else over $5. A couple of lots that got my attention were eight uncirculated cents of 1850 to 1857 at 2 cents each; 1792 cent, eagle on a rock [fantasy] for $2.63; Dickeson, American Numismatical Manual at $3.53.

The Census can be a great resource for biographical or genealogical research. However, the Census is plagued with errors. I was initially frustrated that I could not find Ezra Hill in the 1860 Census.

I have learned a trick that may work in a situation like this. I found him by looking for listings for his mother and sister. There is an apparent 1860 match for an Edgar Hill. Sometimes Census takers got information from a neighbor that may not have been totally accurate.

I found records for an Ezra D. Hill who may have been the ANS member. He was born in 1838 making him 20 when he joined the ANS. His mother was Sarah Fisk Hill (1814-1873) and his sister was Emma D. Hill Crogan (1839-1919) who was married to Henry A. Crogan. Sarah and Emma are buried with Henry Crogan at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. I have visited there several times visiting the gravesites of numismatists A. M. Smith, William Lanphere and Elias Rasmussen.

Ezra Hill died on December 31, 1860, at age 22, and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. I have not identified any other relative buried there.

Hill and Sage were not the only young numismatists who formed the ANS. Edward Grow was born on June 2, 1837, making him 20 at the time. There may have been other youngsters among those who made little impression during a brief membership.

To read the complete lot description, see:
(1860) E HILL NY-316wm COIN DEALER NEW YORK CITY MERCHANT TOKEN (https://www.ebay.com/itm/354324563088)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web