Jabez Hills was born 4 June 1699 in Malden, Massachusetts, to Samuel and Sarah Hills.1 Samuel was the grandson of the legendary Joseph Hills, Sr., the founder of Malden. Samuel and Sarah moved from Malden to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1703, when Jabez would have been about four years old. Samuel died in Dorchester, 7 January 1704.2 Sarah remarried a Mr. Ferrer or Farrar of Dorchester.2
Sometime before February of 1724/25, Jabez and all of his surviving brothers, Samuel, John, and Ebenezer, moved south to Wrentham, Massachusetts, where they each found a wife.3 Samuel Hills moved on to New Hampshire, but the others all stayed and made Wrentham their new home.3 On 31 January 1726/27, Jabez married Martha Metcalf, one of the twin daughters of Deacon Eliazer Medcalf and Meletiah Fisher Medcalf.4 She was born 27 August 1699 in Wrentham.4 Jabez and Martha were the grandparents of Joseph Hills, the father of Julia Hills Johnson.
At the first reunion of the Hills Family of Franklin, Massachusetts, in 1891, Edwin M. Hills reported, "It is indicated that about 1730 he [Jabez] built a house in what was, at that time, Wrentham, but is now Franklin. Mrs. Lewis Hills, a lady of remarkable memory, told the writer, a few years before her death, that his house was located to the south of Uncas pond and about one mile from this home [the house built by Jabez' son, Capt. Joseph Hills, situated near the foot of "Jones Hill" on the west side of the Sheldonville Road in Franklin Massachusetts]. She said that she had often been there in previous years, and that although the old house had long since disappeared, yet the last time she was there, the roughness of the ground marked the cellar of the building and the stone doorstep remained in its place, indicating where the front door of that old mansion was once located.”5
Jabez and Martha had six sons born in Wrentham:4
Jabez Hills (Julia's ancestor) born 5 November 1727, died 6 December 1768 in Pawtucket, Providence, Rhode Island; he married Margaret Fisher of Wrentham.
Capt. Joseph Hills born 21 April 1730, died 10 June 1815 in Franklin, Massachusetts. (That part of Wrentham was incorporated as Franklin.) He married Mary Ware.
Benjamin Hills born 16 March 1731/32, died 21 November 1766 in Grafton, Massachusetts. He married Molly Metcalf.
Ebenezer Hills, born 7 January 1734/35, died bef. 7 January 1758 in Wrentham.
David Hills born 24 January 1736/37, died 18 December, New Ipswich, Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He married Hannah Fales,
Samuel Hills born 25 Mar 1739.
Jabez’ died on 18 July 1742 in Wrentham.4 Martha was 43 years old at the time of his death. The Wrentham marriage records show a marriage for Martha Hills and John Fales on 3 August 1743.
At the time widow Martha Metcalf Hills married John Fales, her oldest son, Jabez, (Julia's ancestor) was 16. Joseph was 13. Benjamin was 11. Ebenezer was 8, David was 6, and Samuel was 4 years old. When Martha died 11 years later, Jabez, was 27. Joseph was 24. Benjamin was 22. Ebenezer would have been 19 (though there are indications that he may have died previously), David was 17, and Samuel was 15 years old. After Marthan’s death, John Fales apparently continued to raise David and Samuel, her minor children. The fact that David named his oldest son for his stepfather indicates great regard.
John Fales married Mercy Lawrence on 23 December 1754 in Wrentham, which would have been 7 months after Martha’s death.
John Fales' will confirms his marriages to both Martha Hills, and Mercy Lawrence. By coordinating the information in the will with the Wrentham, Massachusetts, vital records, we learn that John Fale/Fales died in Wrentham on 31 March 1758 "in his 69th y." That means he is, in all probability, the John Fales born in Wrentham to John and Abigaell Hawes Fales on 17 April 1689. He would have been 54 at the time he married 44 year old widow, Martha Metcalf Hills. That is not an unreasonable difference in age, but it is unusually late for a first marriage. However, there is no earlier marriage for him recorded in Wrentham, and his will does not mention any other children by an earlier marriage. He gives bequests only to his second wife, Mercy, and to David Hill, his "son-in-law", who receives all his land and buildings. (The designation of David as his “son-in-law” meant simply that David was John’s step-son.) 21-year-old David Hills is named as the executor of John's will and given the responsibility to provide for John’s widow. This implies that John had no living sons of his own. David is also instructed “to give unto his brother, Samuel Hills, provided the said Samuel Hills be living after my decease, the sum of 25 Pounds and 13 Shillings.” And he specifies that his clothing is to be divided between David and Samuel. We have not found a death record for Samuel, but the wording in the will may indicate that Samuel was not well at the time it was written. Martha's older sons are not mentioned in John's will, but that may indicate that they had already been provided for as they reached their majority.6
Massachusetts Vital Records 1620-1850 – Malden Births. P 9.
Hills Family in America p 259
Genealogical data relating to the ancestry and descendants of William Hills,...and of Joseph Hills, the English emigrant to New England in 1638
Massachusetts Vital Records 1620-1850 – Wrentham
Historical Address by Edwin M. Hills included in First re-union of the Hills Family of Franklin, Massachusetts with historical notes (1891)
Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Probate File Papers: Suffolk Wills, FHL Fillm 53 317 493875