Born in Iredell County, North Carolina,[1] Hill was the son of David Hill and Rhoda Andrews, and the grandson of Scottish-Irish forebears who had emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th century and later settled in North Carolina.
[2] Hill read law to enter the bar in 1844.
He was a state district attorney general of Waynesboro from 1847 to 1855, thereafter resuming private practice in Jacinto, Mississippi, until 1858.
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 1, 1866, and received his commission the same day.
[1] Hill died on July 2, 1900, in Oxford, Mississippi.