Peter Hill

Peter Hill (July 19, 1767 – December 1820) was an American clockmaker. Hill, a former enslaved person, was the first African American clockmaker and the only African American clockmaker working during the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, if we set aside Benjamin Banneker.

Biography

Peter Hill was born into slavery on July 19, 1767, and lived on the land owned by a Quaker and clockmaker, Joseph Hollinshead Jr in Burlington Township, New Jersey. Hill worked as an apprentice to Hollinshead, starting at age 14. Hollingshead helped Hill set up a clockmaking business of his own before freeing him. In 1794, Hill was given a certificate of manumission and was freed by his master. He was certified a free man in 1795.

Hill married Tina Lewis, an educator, on September 9, 1795. One of Hill's clocks is in the collection of the National Museum of American History.