Julia Ellis HILLS

"...Julia was the daughter of Joseph Hills and Esther Ellis. While still a child her father Joseph Hills died from tuberculosis. On January 12, 1801 she married Ezekiel Johnson and they became the parents of sixteen children. She was a staunch Presbyterian and taught her children to read the bible and pray. Her oldest son, Joel H. went to Amherst, Ohio where he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). She sent him a letter warning him of the "Mormons" but he wrote back and said he'd already been baptized and sent her a copy of the Book Of Mormon. She read itwith family members and close friends, and when Joel and the missionaries came, she was secretly baptized in the middle of the night. Julia and Ezekiel eventually separated and Julia made hats, neckties, and did needle work to help make ends meet. She wrote the hymn "The Joy and the Song," which was included in the first Church Hymnal and she was also a member of the first Woman's Relief Societyof the Church. She had a strong faith in the Lord and when writing to her half sister of the death of her four children, she said "What can I say, but the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." In allshe did she was faithful. She traveled with "Kirtland Camp" to Missouri. Near Springfield, Illinois, Samuel Hale and his wife died leaving a ten year old daughter. Julia adopted her and raised her asone of her own. When the great migration west started, she stayed in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she died..."

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