Hilliard House Exhibit

The 1830s Hilliard House

The 1830s Hilliard House was originally located at the intersection of Church Street and Old Stagecoach Road in Waresboro, GA, the former Ware County seat from 1824 until 1873. The house was built and occupied by General Thomas Hilliard, a leader in the Indian Wars of the early 19th century. The Hilliard House was donated to the Okefenokee Heritage Center by Hilliard descendant Louise Mock in 1975 and moved from Waresboro to the Okefenokee Heritage Center in 1982. Visitors to the partially restored home will see period furniture, looms, and tools, giving a strong sense of what life in a plantation era farmhouse was like.

Thomas Hillard, son of Silas Hilliard and Abigail Bulloch Hilliard, was born in Appling, the county seat of Columbia County, Georgia on June. 5, 1805. Thomas married Barbara A. Miller, daughter of William and Amy Barker Miller, on August 20, 1826, in Waresboro, Ware, Georgia. Barbara passed away in 1854, after which Thomas married Sara Neda Wade in 1860. Hilliard earned the rank of General in what is known as the Seminole Wars, which took place along the Georgia/Florida lines during the period from 1836 to 1842 following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Hillard died on 26 March 1866, in Homerville, Clinch County, Georgia, at the age of 60, and was buried in Kettle Creek Cemetery, Waycross, Ware County, Georgia. He lies with his wife, Barbara. Barbara’s maid, Delia, is buried at her feet.

Siblings
Nancy Hilliard 1797 – Deceased
Alfred Henry Hilliard, Sr. 1801 – 1899
Thomas Hilliard 1805 – 1866
James Hilliard 1810 – 1860
Elizabeth L. Howell 1813 – 1843
Eleanor Hilliard 1814 – 1877
Anna E. “Annie” Hilliard 1815 – 1901
James Benjamin Hilliard 1815 – Deceased
Caroline Hilliard 1817 – Deceased
John Magruder Hilliard, Sr. 1818 – 1869