Hannah Hood Hill

Hannah Hood Hill

was born on July 9, 1842, in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Archibald Newell Hill and Isabella Hood. Her family converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the early missionary efforts in Canada. They migrated to Nauvoo, Illinois, and eventually joined the exodus westward, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848 when Hannah was six years old.

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In 1862, Hannah married Miles Park Romney. Together they began their family in Salt Lake City, but Miles's skills as a builder and church callings led them through a series of migrations to southern Utah and eventually to the Arizona Territory.

The Physical and Emotional Demands of the Frontier

Hannah's life represents the quiet endurance required of pioneer women. She bore eleven children and raised them in remote settlements under basic conditions. In the early 1880s, the family moved to the volatile town of St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona Territory, where Miles served as sheriff. Hannah managed their household during a period of range conflicts and political tension.

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Hannah also navigated the emotional complexities of plural marriage, managing a household alongside Miles's other wives as they sought to live their religious principles on the frontier. Her daughter, Isabell Hill Romney, married Dr. William Erastus Platt in 1883 and later joined the family in Arizona.

Pioneering in Mexico

In 1885, to avoid federal prosecution under anti-polygamy legislation, the family relocated to Chihuahua, Mexico. Hannah helped establish a new home in Colonia Juárez. She managed their domestic economy, growing vegetables, raising chickens, and sewing clothes for her children and grandchildren.

Her son Gaskell Romney was the father of George W. Romney, who was born in the Mexican colonies and went on to become the Governor of Michigan. Her granddaughter, Clara Platt Goodman, became a prominent pharmacist and civic leader in Mesa.

Hannah survived her husband by twenty-four years, passing away in Colonia Juárez on December 29, 1928, at the age of eighty-six. Her long life spanned the early pioneer treks, the establishment of Arizona towns, and the building of communities in northern Mexico.