Isaiah T. Hillis, an enterprising and well known farmer of the Fourth Civil District, Warren County, was born in the county October 23, 1839, and is the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Drake) Hillis. Isaac Hillis is of Irish descent, and was born in Warren County, Tenn., in 1806. He had a good education and was a successful man, and died in 1877. His father was a native of North Carolina, and went from that State to Kentucky with Daniel Boone, but came to Tennessee and settled on Rocky River in 1804, thus being one of the first settlers of Warren County. The mother of Isaac T. Hillis was born in Carter County in 1808, and was of English descent. She was a well educated woman, and died in 1878.
The subject of this sketch lived with his parents until the breaking out of the civil war, when he enlisted in Company I, Sixteenth Tennessee (Confederate) Infantry, and was in active service four years and seven days. He was at the battles of Chickamauga, Murfreesboro, Corinth, and numerous smaller battles and skirmishes. During the first two years he was in feeble health, and in different hospitals – Huntersville, Va., Rockbridge, Va., and Columbus, Miss.
After his return from the war he lived with his parents until December 23, 1869, when he was married to Miss Marandie J. Moore, of White County, Tenn., a most worthy and well educated woman. She is the daughter of Alexander and Mary Moore, and is herself the mother of five children, all living: Charles M., Mary M., Ransom M., Isaac H. and Marandie J. When married, Mr. Hillis moved to his present location.
In his youth he secured a collegiate education at Burritt College, situated at Spencer, Van Buren Co., Tenn. He is a very active and decided man, and a Democrat dyed in the wool. He has been elected by that party to the office of justice of the peace and other offices.
Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee, 1887 edition, reprinted by Ben Lomond Press, McMinnville, Tennessee, 1972 as The Goodspeed Histories of Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren and White Counties, p. 898.