Billy Genealogy Main Page

The un-recorded story of the Billy Hill Family begins in the Black Forest regions of the European continent during the Dark Ages. Bilidar Hillus worked in the many courts of Europe playing music that he had refined during his travels through the various regions of the Transvaal. Assumed to be a jester by local authorities, he was escorted from village to village against his will. While searching for a new sound, he fell upon his some-to-be wife, Hilda of Billingham. Upon picking herself up, Hilda remarked that Bildar's future would be secured if he learned to play the lute. So began the musical heritage that would follow the Hill Family through several continents and centuries.
Knotting Hill Circa 1850	Hundreds of years and many musical instruments later, the family found themselves in England, where 2nd Great Grandfather, Knotting Hill serves as a page in the court of Queen Victoria. Pictured with Great Grandfather Knotting Hill is a prototype of an instrument invented by him as a new approach to violin playing. Although ridiculed at the time, Knotting Hill later became famous as the inventor of the industrial-sized cheese slicer. [note the huge pile of sliced cheese pictured in the front left of the photo.]
The first Hill Family immigrant to America was Great Grandfather, Knob Hill, who in 1892 sailed into the Boston harbor, where he was promptly arrested for not using a boat. With just $ 4.00 and a subway token in his pocket, Great Grandfather Hill was able to eat a swell lunch and take the subway to The Palace Theater, where he landed a job playing violin in the orchestra of a new vaudeville show. He was eventually upstaged by newcomer, Benny Kubelsky [later to become known as Jack Benny]. While touring with the Hoboken Follies of 1903, Knob became stranded in Owensburg, Kentucky and decided to fall back on his original career as a wagon wheel polisher and part time lute maker for the Conestoga Wagon Company. Finding no money in wagon wheel polishing, he returned to lute making full time and went on to invent the gas powered guitar. It was here that he met and fell in love with the daughter of his arch enemy, Miss Mattie Jo Squire. Mattie was the only daughter of local guitar maker, Gibson Squire. After many legal entanglements, Knob and Mattie were married and Knob gave up his claim to be the inventor of the gas powered guitar. In recognition of this sacrifice, his father-in-law named the dials on this new invention after his son-in-law. Realizing that they needed a new start and having a bad habit of saving and reading old newspapers, Mattie and Knob moved to sunny Southern California thinking that they would seek their fortune in the gold fields.
Knob Hill Circa 1903		It was here in the mountains of Santa Monica that the Hill family set up house-keeping and began a long standing musical tradition. Falling back on his practice of playing the violin for family occasions, Knob began hosting weekly musical affairs complete with BBQ 'possum suppers.
Billie Mae McCoy's Parents:

Eustis Clement McCoy born in 1910 in Hickory Ridge, Tennessee Occupation: Local Sheriff and Bass player			Miss Sallie Mae O' Bell born in 1917 in Sorrell, Tennessee Occupation: School Marm
William Hill's Parents:

Bunker T. Hill born in 1903 in Owensburg, Kentucky Occupation: Mortician and Banjo player			Miss Clementine Hatfield Born in 1906 in Jaw's Hollow, Kentucky
Billy Hill's Parents:

William Down Hill Born in 1923 in Santa Monica, California

Billie Mae McCoy Born in 1925 in Cucamonga, California
	Working his way through high school as part of the famous acrobatic act of Cling & Jerks, William Hill often appeared at the Santa Monica Pier.
From this humble beginning, William Down Hill and Billie Mae McCoy would met, marry and raise the family of four sons who would later be known as Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.

The Hill Family Tree The following chart shows the four generation family tree of the Billy Hill Family of Santa Monica, California.
Children	Parents	Grandparents	Great-grandparents
			Their great-grandfather, Rev. Knob Hill
		Their paternal grandfather, Bunker T. Hill
	Their father, William Down Hill		Their great-grandmother, Mattie Jo Squire
	Their father, William Down Hill		Their great-grandfather, Martin Hatfield
Billy "Fiddle" Hill born April 1, 1949		Their paternal grandmother, Clementine Hatfield
Billy "Bass" Hill born Labor Day, 1956			Their great-grandmother, Eliza Jane Shoe
Billy "Elvis" Hill born Labor Day, 1957			Their great-grandfather, Cletus E. McCoy
Billy "Mandolin" Hill born April 1, 1959		Their maternal grandfather, Eustis C. McCoy
	Their mother, Billie Mae McCoy		Their great-grandmother, Nancy Skooglin
	Their mother, Billie Mae McCoy		Their great-grandfather, Denis O' Bell
		Their maternal grandmother, Sallie Mae O' Bell
			Their great-grandmother, Lucy Ann Doohickey