Janetta (Smith) Hill
b. 1864-02, Monroe County, Ohio
Janetta (Smith) Hill was the mother of Harvey Hendershot Hill and Josiah Way Hill, and the wife of Josiah W. Hill (Sr.). She is Chuck’s maternal great-great-great-grandmother on the Hill line.
She was born February 1864 in Monroe County, Ohio. Her marriage to Josiah Hill produced at least three children documented in the GEDCOM — including Harvey Hendershot Hill (b. 10 November 1882, the man on the burro at the fair) and Josiah Way Hill (b. 29 September 1893, killed at the Meuse-Argonne 11 October 1918).
She likely outlived her husband (d. 20 March 1918, two months before her son Josiah Way’s deployment to France) and her son Josiah Way (d. October 1918) — receiving in the same year the news of her husband’s death and the War Department telegram about her son. Her own death date is open research.
The “Way” in her son Josiah Way Hill’s middle name signals a Way-family connection on Janetta’s side — the most plausible explanation for the Way-name reappearance one generation later. Whether through her own mother’s surname or through an earlier Smith-Way marriage in southeastern Ohio is open research.
Page is a stub.
Sources: Eesley/Wildermuth GEDCOM tree (June 2026 trace) — FamilySearch tree ID KZZN-8G8.
