Patrick J. Hill Papers

Patrick J. Hill was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1900. At 16, he lied about his age to join the British Army to fight the Germans during WWI. But when he, like many Irish who were enlisted in the army at the time, was sent back to Ireland to put down a rebellion by the Irish people, his parents arranged for him to be discharged from the army. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (later the Irish Republican Army) in the fight for Irish independence.

In 1923 Hill emigrated first to Canada and then to St. Paul, MN. He worked for many years at the Union Depot. Active in the Twin Cities Irish-American Club, he performed the Irish music he had collected, as well as his own original compositions at numerous local venues. Patrick J. Hill passed away in 1980.