Thomas Edie Hill

Thomas Edie Hill (February 29, 1832 – July 13, 1915) was an American writer of popular reference books, the most successful of which was Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms. Several of his books contained practical advice for personal improvement, which made them early examples of the self-help genre.

Biography Born in rural Sandgate, Vermont in Bennington County, Hill was raised on the family farm. He attended Cambridge Academy in Cambridge, New York before becoming a teacher. He taught evening classes in penmanship and forms, and continued teaching for fifteen years across New York, Vermont, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois. In the Preface to the 1875 edition, he specified the object of his book: "To enable the writer, sitting easily and gracefully at the desk, to express thought plainly, rapidly, elegantly and correctly". The manual went through more than twenty editions over the course of three decades and sold an estimated 400,000 copies. In 1891 he succeeded in changing the village's name to Glen Ellyn. Hill financed the building of a 100-room hotel, overlooking the lake. The Hotel Glen Ellyn opened in 1892.

Hill was an ostentatious figure in the village. He strolled about "in a plum colored overcoat with a cape to it and a black slouch hat." To impress visitors, he would dispatch his expensive private carriage to retrieve them from the local train depot.

In 1903, he helped George McAnelly Miller establish Ruskin College in Glen Ellyn. Hill made an arrangement in which the college could utilize several of his buildings, including his 100-room hotel.

Hill lost most of his fortune to unwise speculations. He spent his final years earning money strictly through his writing. He died on July 13, 1915, at age 83. His wife Ellen died the following January. They are both buried in Glen Ellyn's Forest Hill Cemetery.