Ronald Ames Hill (b. Michigan 1934 on a 240-acre fruit farm) received his B.S (Physics, 1957), M.S. (Physics 1958), and Ph.D. (Physics, 1963) degrees from Michigan State University. Employed at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he authored or co-authored fifty publications in plasma physics, atomic and molecular spectroscopy, and optical instrumentation and was awarded three patents. He was manager of the Photometrics and Optics Department until his retirement in 1994.
His interest in family history was encouraged by his mother Leona Ames Hill and by a trove of family letters, the earliest dated 1828, discovered in a shoe box when his great aunt died in 1953. These letters pointed to the English origins of his Hill and Snowden ancestors (Cornwall and Yorkshire) and resulted in 16 genealogical trips to England for 14 months of onsite research. He is a former president of the New Mexico Genealogical Society, a past trustee for the board of Certification of Genealogists, and serves on the Editorial Board for the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. He received his Certified Genealogist credential in 1997 and Certified Genealogist Emeritus award in 2017. In 2020, he was elected a Fellow of the National Genealogical Society.
He may be contacted at Chaghill@gmail.com.
Books published:
The Tumultuous Achym/Fulford Relationship, with Abstracts of Chancery Court Proceedings and Transcripts of Chancery Decrees and Orders (Chaghill Publications, Star, Idaho, 2003). The Achym book was awarded the Jacobus Prize by the American Society of Genealogists as a model family history, October 2004.
The Colwill/Colwell Families of North Cornwall and Northwest Devon, Part I: A Complete Account by Parish; Part II: Colwill Pedigrees and Indexes to Colwill Vital Records (Chaghill Publications, Star, Idaho, 2005).
The Ancestors and Descendants of Christopher Hill, Rector of Michaelstow, The Hill migration: Surrey, London, Cornwall, Ontario, and Michigan, 1540–1900 (Chaghill Publications, Star, Idaho, 2006).
The Ancestors and Descendants of Reuben Ball, The Ball Migration: Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, and Points West, 1695–1900 (Chaghill Publications, Star, Idaho, 2007). [The Reuben Ball book was awarded the 2008 NGS Award of Excellence for a Genealogy and Family History Book.]
The Pearse Families of Davidstow and Warbstow in Cornwall: The Ancestry of Caroline Pearse, Cornish Author and Philanthropist 1535–1900 (Chaghill Publications, Star, Idaho, 2013.
The Manaton Family of Manaton in Cornwall, The Manaton Migration: Cornwall, London, Devon, New Brunswick, Pennsylvania, California, New Zealand and Australia, 1260–1900 (Chaghill Publications, Star, Idaho, 2014).
Articles published:
“Interpreting the Symbols and Abbreviations in 16th and 17th Century English Documents,” Genealogical Journal 21 (1993):1–13, by invitation from David E. Rencher, then President of the Utah Genealogical Association.
“Maximizing Probate Research: An Analysis of Potential, Using English Records from Cornwall,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 84 (1996):261-274.
“Pearce/Pearse IGI Entries,” Cornwall Family History Society Journal 82 (1996):14-15.
“Identification Through Signatures: Using Complex Direct Evidence to Sort Colwills of Cornwall,” Evidence, a Special Issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly 87 (1999):183–198.
“The Tumultuous Achym/Fulford Relationship,” The Genealogist 14 (2000):3–49.
“Who Married Benjamin Penkevell?” Cornwall Family History Society Journal 96 (2000):8,9.
“The Achym Family Revisited: The Discovery of Elizabeth Achym,” The Genealogist 16 (2002): 152-162.
“English Genealogical Research: Using Chancery Court Proceedings,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 91 (2003):111–138.
“Ball Family Migration, Virginia to Kentucky, 1784,” The American Genealogist 78 (2003):103–115, 196–213, 293–305.
“William Colwill of Bridgerule: A Man with no Roots?,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 92 (2004):187–208.
“Using Records to Understand Ancestral Motives: The Thwarted Will of Christopher Lean of Cornwall,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 92 (2004):269–84.
“Using English Manor Records to Document Descent: A Mullis Family of Tregrenwell in Cornwall,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 93 (2005):192–210.
“The Ancestry of Christopher Hill, Rector of Michaelstow,” The Genealogist 19 (2005):131–178.
“The Ball Family Revisited: Discovery of the Wills of Joseph Walsh and Sarah (Owens) (Ball) (Ayres) Welch,” The American Genealogist 80 (2005):188–194.
“Which John Bray of St. Gennys in Cornwall Married Hephzibah Lillicrap at St. Juliot?,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 94 (2006):205–220.
“One Wife Too Many? Two Wives Too Many? How It Is and How It Was,” The American Genealogist 82 (2007):76–77.
“Death Duty Records: The Will of Mary Thomas of St. Winnow in Cornwall,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 95 (2007):55–58.
“Old Letters and Even Older Envelopes: A Hill Family of Cornwall, Wales, and Somerset,”
National Genealogical Society Quarterly 95 (2007):147–50.
“Asa Bacon and the Shaking Quakers: Bacon Migration (1644–1850): Massachusetts–Connecticut–Massachusetts–New York–Indiana,” The American Genealogist 82 (2007):91–105, 214–226, 309–318.
“A Proposed Ancestry for Edward Ball of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Virginia,” The American Genealogist 82 (2007):178–186.
“The Pearce Families of Plymswood and Kerley in Jacobstow, Cornwall,” The Genealogist 22 (2008): 32–61, 192–211.
“Siblings, Religious Brotherhoods, or Neither: Oliver, Pratt, and Fowler or Foley Families of Whitehaven, England” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 96 (2008):283–98.
“From the Pen of an Award-Winning Author,” NGS Magazine 35 (2009):22–24.
“The Parmiter Family Migration: County Cornwall, England, to Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 1570–1900,” The Genealogist 23 (2009): 80–98, 209–231.
“The Ball Family Revisited: Edward Bailey, the Probable Father of Lysander and Judy Ball of Lincoln and Garrard Counties, Kentucky,” The American Genealogist 83 (2009):101–107.
“‘Tout le Monde’: The marriage Consent for William Moyse and Mary Pearse in Cornwall, England,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 98 (2009):211–30.
“Gennys Family of Launceston,” Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries XL (2009):182–84.
“The Remarkable Will of Anna Smith—The Clifton and Colwill Families of Week St. Mary in Cornwall,” The Genealogist 24 (2010):1–28.
“John Dingley, Solicitor, Banker, and Mayor of Launceston,” Cornwall Family History Society Journal 137 (2010):139.
“Enigmas of the 1851 Boucherville, Quebec, Census,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 98 (2010):283-300.
“‘Tout le Monde’ revisited: The Discovery of the William Moyse Family in Saint John, New Brunswick,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 98 (2011):307–313.
“James Snowden, Stonecutter on the Erie Canal: Part 1—The Snowden Letters,” The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 143 (2012):165–185.
“James Snowden, Stonecutter on the Erie Canal: Part 2—The Snawdon/Snowden Family of Farnley, Yorkshire,” The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 143 (2012):292–307.
“The Remarkable Will of Anna Smith Revisited: The Discovery of Richard Colwell” The Genealogist 26 (2012):227–29.
“The Parents of Martha Manaton, Wife of Rear-Admiral Cornthwaite Ommanney, R.N.,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 100 (2012):189–98.
“The Panels of Arms at Kilworthy: The Manaton family of South Hill in Cornwall, 1260–1600” The Genealogist 27 (2013):99–128, 214–233.
“The Maternal Ancestry of Elizabeth Bray, wife of William Hill of St. Kew in Cornwall,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 101 (2013):113–28.
“The Panels of Arms at Kilworthy,” Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries LI (2013):85–95. [This article corrects an article that appeared in Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries in 1928.]
“William and John Knowles, New York Stonecutters: Their Ancestors and Descendants,” coauthored with Barbara Holmes, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 144 (2013):261–272.
“The Ancestry of Richard William Pearse: New Zealand Inventor and Aviation Pioneer,” The Genealogist 28 (2014):3–25.
“Manor Records in the Duchy of Cornwall: The Mullis Families of Nether Tregevenna, Treveighan, and Trevellecke in Michaelstow,” The Genealogist 28 (2014):223–254.
“Francis Manaton and The Tin Bounds Caper—The Trevisa family of Crocadon in Cornwall, 1650–1750,” The Genealogist 29 (2015):3–20.
“Middle Names from 1792 and 1793 Help Reconstruct Ancestry of John Rodda Jr., Butcher at Helston, Cornwall;” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 103 (2015):263–279.
“John Mounsteven of Cornwall and Middlesex, His High Treason Discovered, His Suicide;” The American Society of Genealogists 75th Anniversary Volume (2015):118–132.
“The Ancestry of Mark Guy Pearse, Cornish Author, Methodist Preacher, and Activist,” The Genealogist 30 (2016):90–110, 232–255.
“The Liddicoat Family of Roche in Cornwall: The Ancestry of Richard Thomas Liddicoat Jr., of Michigan, Gemologist, and Originator of the International Diamond Grading System,” The Genealogist 32 (2018):49–82.
“Forest A. Fisher a.k.a. Waltz: Given Away at Birth,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 106 (2018):111–121.
“The Descendants of Sampson Rodda and his Wife Ann (Tonkin) Leggo of Madron in Cornwall;” The Genealogist 33 (2019):81–117.
“1861 Plat Maps and the 1860 Federal Census of Hanover Township, Ashland County, Ohio: A Comparison,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 107 (2019): 55–80.
“James Snowden of Alpine Township, Kent County Pioneer,” Michigana 65, no. 262 (2019):42-53.
“Schnible, Schnidley, Shinble, Shumbly, Snaivley, Snavly, Snawly, Sneely, Sneivly, Snevely, Snible, Snibly, Snivel, Snively, or Swively of Holmes County, Ohio,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 108 (2020): 69–72.
“The Cornish ancestry of William Colwill of Jefferson Co., Wisconsin: His Family Surname—Collins alias Colwell, Cholwill alias Collins, Colwill alias Collins, Collins, Colwell, and Colwill,” The Genealogist 34 (2020): 146-166, 222–244.
“The Records of English Chancery Court Revisited: A New Search Paradigm,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 108 (2020): 213–227.