KATHARINE LOUISA (SMITH) HILL, 1847-1935

Katharine Louisa (Smith) Hill was the daughter of Augustus William Smith (1802-1866) and Catharine Rachel (Childs) Smith. Her father was the professor of mathematics of the founding faculty of Wesleyan University and became the fifth president of Wesleyan in 1852. KLSH married Walter Nickerson Hill, a civilian research chemist for the U.S. Navy, in 1877; he was killed in an explosion in New Jersey in 1884. As a widow with three small children, KLSH settled in Newport, Rhode Island, where she had relatives, where she taught private school, and was an active church member and director of the Newport Historical Society.

From the guide to the Papers, 1800-1967, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)