Harry Hill, born in England, attended church regularly every Sunday and prayer meetings every Wednesday night.
In 1850, he became acquainted with George M. Woolsley, part owner of the sugar manufacturing firm Howland, Aspinwall & Woolsey, and later hired him to run his horse stable in Astoria. In addition to free room and board, Hill would receive a yearly salary of $150. Two years later, Hill moved to New York where he became a successful horse dealer in the neighborhood of Third Avenue and Twenty-Fifth Street.
A determined poet, once a week he paused all activities in the saloon while he gave a recital of his poems.
