American botanist, teacher and minister in Illinois. Ellsworth Jerome Hill was born in Le Roy, New York, and while studying at the local Le Roy academy he worked on his father's farm during the summer months. Hill first took an interest in botany when, suffering from an affliction of the knee, he was told by his physician to study plants as a way to remain active out of doors. With the help of A. Wood's textbook, his interest grew and Hill learnt to collect specimens and classify plants. Moving to Mississippi for a milder climate, he remained there for three years exploring the woods and fields for plant specimens, before entering Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1860. After graduating in 1863 Hill began to work as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in the district of Eastern Illinois.

Unfortunately, by 1869 his illness had returned, this time affecting his hip-joint and forcing him to abandon his work for the church. Over the years that followed Hill was able to continue his botanical exploits thanks to the dedication of his wife, who often went out to gather plant specimens for her husband, who then wrote up the descriptions at home. Between 1870 and 1874 he was able to work at the high school of Kankakee, Illinois, teaching languages, botany and geology. Moving to Chicago in 1874 he taught natural sciences in the high school at Englewood. With his hip greatly improved, Hill collected plants in the Great Lakes region during the summers until he abandoned his teaching career in 1888. At this time, due to the inheritance of property from his father, he was able to pursue the study of botany freely until finally, a year before his death, his ailing health no longer allowed him to leave the house. Hill published numerous papers from his botanical studies, particularly on the ecology, taxonomy, distribution and propagation of various moss species.

Sources:
A.E. Hill and A. Chase, 1917, "Ellsworth Jerome Hill ", The Bryologist, 20 (3): 39-41.