The
ancestors of the residents of Oak Hill came from South Carolina and
Virginia in the early 1820s. The English ancestors came from Virginia
and Charlestown. The majority of the people came from Abbeville
District, South Carolina. These people were Associate Reformed
Presbyterians, their ancestors having broken from the Presbyterian
Church in Scotland. They left their homes in South Carolina in covered
wagons with their families, slaves, and farm animals. They had heard
that the soil here was rich and the Indians friendly. These strict
Presbyterians believed in keeping the Sabbath. Even though they were in
a hurry to arrive, they stopped every Saturday at noon to make camp. The
men mended the wagons and tended the horses, while the women washed and
cooked. Then they spent the Sabbath Day studying the Bible.
The
first families to settle near Oak Hill were Robert Jones and his brother
Joseph Jones and Joseph's wife, Mary Bonner Jones. In the fall of 1821
they built big cedar log houses, comfortable and snug. Smaller houses
for a barn, kitchen, smoke house, and slave quarters were built around
the big house. The two houses were not far apart. These families settled
at Hamburg, a beautiful area on Pine Barren Creek.
As more of the extended families moved to this area, the small community
established a church and a school. These settlers were prosperous, but
since the community was in the low-lying areas, there were often cases
of
"the Flux" or malaria. This illness proved fatal for many. The
families began a move to what was then called "The Ridge", now
Oak Hill, Alabama, in search of a more healthful place to live.
The cemetery at Hamburg (below) remains, with evidence of the
prosperity and sorrow experienced by these settlers.
Soon there
was a
flourishing
community at Oak Hill, with many families building big houses. A school,
the Oak Hill Academy, was formed by a small group of investors in 1849.
It was built in a grove of oak trees. It opened its doors to the first
pupils in 1849 with Rev. Cottrell as its first
president
and Miss Sally McCracken as his assistant and supervisor of the girls'
dormitory. This was a large, stately two-storied building with plastered
walls, small rooms and hallways, downstairs porches supported by tall
columns. The rooms,
separated by halls, were small but adequate. Thirty-five pupils were
enrolled. In 1869 the Oak Hill Female Academy closed its doors, and the
building was torn down in the 1940s after falling into decay after years
of non-use.
When Alabama seceded from the Union, the men and boys of Oak Hill began
in 1861 to volunteer for various military units of the
Confederacy.
There were five men lost in the war, the rest were able to return safely
home. After the return of the hungry, destitute men at the end of the
war, the community settled back into a normal life.
After the reconstruction, Oak Hill became a thriving community. At one
time there were three doctors, a drug store, a busy blacksmith shop, and
five general stores.
Wilcox County's only governor, Benjamin
Meek Miller,was born in Oak Hill in 1864.
Nicknamed
the "The Sturdy Oak of Wilcox", Gov. Miller served the state
during the years of the Great Depression and guided the state through
one of the darkest periods in history.
Over the years, this town has seen many changes in the world around it
but the sense of family and community can still be found, much as in the
days of the early settlers.
