Della
(Firestone) Hilling
(1885-1940)
Della T. (Firestone)
Hilling was born on April 26, 1885 in Connellsville, Fayette County, PA, the daughter
of George E. and Barbara (Minerd)
Firestone Sr.
During her teenage years, Della lived with her parents at the Continental No. 2 mine.
Four days before Christmas 1904, at Connellsville, Della married William T. Hilling (1875-1919), the son of Nelson and Catherine Hilling. He was 10 years her senior, and may have been married before. They lived at Chalk Hill near Uniontown, PA.
The Hillings had nine children -- Annabelle Herring, Edward T. 'Bo' Hilling, William Hilling, Arthur Hilling, George N. Hilling, Mabel Bishoff, Nellie G. Hilling, Mary Fordyce and Gertrude Marie Hilling.
William was a 'retail merchant,' working in a grocery.
Sadly, William died at age 44 on Jan. 13,
1919. The cause of his death is unknown. A 2002 search for his obituary in the old
newspaper collection at the Uniontown
(PA) Public Library was unsuccessful.
Della outlived her husband by more than two decades. She passed away in the Uniontown Hospital on Aug. 4, 1940, "after a lingering illness," said a local newspaper. She was buried beside her husband in the cemetery of the Chalk Hill Lutheran Church.
Son Edward was a clerk with
the National Tube Division of U.S. Steel Corporation in McKeesport, near
Pittsburgh, Allegheny
County, PA. The furnaces of the National Tube works are seen at right in
a rare old postcard.
Daughter Annabelle married Paul Eugene Herring and resided in Farmington, Fayette County.
Daughter Gertrude resided in Chalk Hill near Uniontown. She never married, and died at age 30 of heart disease.
Son George married Mabel Staup and worked for the Uniontown School District.
Daughter Mabel married Elmer
W. Bishoff, and resided in Farmington. In 1994, a
photograph of Elmer, of the 1915-1916 elementary school class at Mt. Washington
School, was published in the book, Yesteryear in Ohiopyle and Surrounding
Communities, Vol. II, compiled by author Marci Lynn McGuinness.
Daughter Nellie never
married. She worked for the White Swan Hotel and at the Uniontown Hospital Gift
Shop for decades. The White Swan, along the National Highway (Route 40), is seen
here in the years before it was converted to a personal care home.
Nellie, Gertrude and Edward are buried with their parents at the Chalk Hill Lutheran Church Cemetery.
Granddaughter Frances Bishoff married Louis H. "Spiz" Randlett (1927-2005). Said the Uniontown Herald-Standard, Spiz was a:
...self-made businessmen, ... employed by I.N. Hagan Milk and Ice Cream Company of Uniontown, Pa., during the 1940s. He then ran a service station in Farmington as well as the National Highway Motor Sales auto dealership in Markleysburg, Pa. After serving two years in the United States Army during the Korean Conflict he took over partnership in 1953 of the Uniontown Farm Equipment Company where he remained in successful business for 27 years. While in business, he served four years on the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Farm and Power Association... He was a member of Mount Washington Presbyterian Church, Farmington, for over 60 years where he served as an Elder, Deacon and Trustee, and Property Committee Chairperson and was instrumental in the development and care taking of the church cemetery. He served on the Board of Directors for the Izaak Walton League of Uniontown. He was a Charter Member of the Farmington Volunteer Fire Department.
Copyright © 2001-2002, 2005-2006 Mark A. Miner