Individual Details
James Noah Hillman Sr.
(November 6, 1883 - January 8, 1959)
"Dr. Hillman was born and reared in the very region and among the very people that John Fox, Jr., loved to write about. The mountains of Wise were all around. He was one of those little boys and girls who, we are told, look up to the endless mountain tops and wonder what lies beyond them. To find out he used to walk sometimes five miles across a mountain to go to school. At other times he boarded with a relative in the vicinity of the school. Later he went to William and Mary College and then came home to Wise to be superintendent of the county schools as his grandfather had been before him.
"Dr. Hillman has made a great record as president of Emory and Henry in the nineteen years of his service there. Not only in the college, but in church and state affairs his able leadership has been felt. I do not think that he has been very active in politics and am quite sure he has not entertained political ambitions with any serious intent. But during each biennium of the last ten or twelve years of my residence in the Ninth District I heard talk of drafting him to run for Congress. In his work as executive secretary of Education for the Methodist Church he will have a field offering enlarged scope for his very large talents. He has shown himself a worthy successor of a long line of great and worthy men who have served as president of Southwest Virginia's oldest college." (THE SOUTHWEST CORNER by Goodridge Wilson 10/26/41)
"After graduating from Gladeville College in 1902, he entered William and Mary College, Williamsburg, VA where he received his L.I. degree in 1904; his B.A. in 1905; was an instructor there from 1905 to 1908; received his M.A. degree in 1909. In 1926 he received his LL.D. from Hampden-Sydney and in 1931, his LL.D. from William and Mary. He was elected to the Alpha Chapte of Phi Betta Kappa and later served as its president. While president of Emory and Henry College he had the unique distinction of signing and conferring degrees for four of his own children, his son-in-law, his brother and a niece. He was, in 1954, Grand Secretary of A.F. & A., Masons of Virginia, at Richmond. His many outstanding accomplishments and honors are too numerous to recite here, but for a list, see "Who's Who in America," 1950 - 1953, page 1246." (GREGOR, MacGREGOR, MacGHEE, MAGRUDER, GRIERSON, GRIER, GREER, 1954, compiled by Robert M. Torrence, pages 214-215.)
"His was the first funeral service conducted from the Memorial Chapel at Emory and Henry College." (Lois Temple.)
"Dr. Hillman has made a great record as president of Emory and Henry in the nineteen years of his service there. Not only in the college, but in church and state affairs his able leadership has been felt. I do not think that he has been very active in politics and am quite sure he has not entertained political ambitions with any serious intent. But during each biennium of the last ten or twelve years of my residence in the Ninth District I heard talk of drafting him to run for Congress. In his work as executive secretary of Education for the Methodist Church he will have a field offering enlarged scope for his very large talents. He has shown himself a worthy successor of a long line of great and worthy men who have served as president of Southwest Virginia's oldest college." (THE SOUTHWEST CORNER by Goodridge Wilson 10/26/41)
"After graduating from Gladeville College in 1902, he entered William and Mary College, Williamsburg, VA where he received his L.I. degree in 1904; his B.A. in 1905; was an instructor there from 1905 to 1908; received his M.A. degree in 1909. In 1926 he received his LL.D. from Hampden-Sydney and in 1931, his LL.D. from William and Mary. He was elected to the Alpha Chapte of Phi Betta Kappa and later served as its president. While president of Emory and Henry College he had the unique distinction of signing and conferring degrees for four of his own children, his son-in-law, his brother and a niece. He was, in 1954, Grand Secretary of A.F. & A., Masons of Virginia, at Richmond. His many outstanding accomplishments and honors are too numerous to recite here, but for a list, see "Who's Who in America," 1950 - 1953, page 1246." (GREGOR, MacGREGOR, MacGHEE, MAGRUDER, GRIERSON, GRIER, GREER, 1954, compiled by Robert M. Torrence, pages 214-215.)
"His was the first funeral service conducted from the Memorial Chapel at Emory and Henry College." (Lois Temple.)
Events
| Birth | November 6, 1883 | Coeburn, Wise County, Virginia | |||
| Marriage | June 28, 1906 | Ethel Lee Powell | |||
| Death | January 8, 1959 | Richmond (Independent City), Virginia | |||
| Burial | Richmond (Independent City), Virginia |
Families
| Spouse | Ethel Lee Powell (1885 - ) |
| Child | James Noah Hillman Jr. (1907 - 1945) |
| Child | Pauline Elaine Hillman (1912 - ) |
| Child | Franklin Powell Hillman (1915 - ) |
| Child | Shelton Burns Hillman (1920 - ) |
| Father | Benjamin Franklin Hillman (1862 - 1927) |
| Mother | Nancy Susannah Greear (1865 - 1957) |
| Sibling | Bessie Burt Hillman (1885 - 1965) |
| Sibling | Herbert Hugh Hillman (1888 - 1889) |
| Sibling | Charles Wesley Hillman (1891 - 1975) |
| Sibling | Etta Elizabeth Hillman (1898 - 1971) |
| Sibling | Lesslie Wise Hillman (1904 - 1965) |