Parents were William Hickman and Sarah "Sally" Brown Hill. He was born on the Hill Family Plantation, Garden Hill" near Franklin, TN. m. Margaret J. Stout of Nashville on Feb, 23, 1832. They had six children. He spent most of his life in MS, but moved to Springfield, IL briefly where he ran a drug store he was in partnership with his brother, Dr. Green Hill and was elected mayor in 1843 before returning to MS where he practiced medicine well into his 80's. He knew Pres. Lincoln as a fellow Whig. During the War between the States, all of Dr. D.B.'s sons served in the military. He remained home where he was a local militia known as the Palo Alto Guards whose purpose was home defense. The group consisted of males who were usually either too old or too young to serve in the military. In 1846, he also opened the first store and became postmaster (1846-1852) of the newly founded, Palto Alto post office. Dr. Hill was one of the promoters of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)after converting in 1831 and helped organize the Palto Alto Christian Church. He was a Mason and belonged to the lodge at Palto Alto. In 1850, he utilized his home as a hotel for a short time. One of his boarders was Dr. R. E. Witherspoon whom Dr. Hill had studied under. He also maintained a small farming operation. He was described as "hale and vigorous" in his 92nd year. After suffering several bouts of sickness he died in West Point on May 25, 1904. One obituary in The Leader compared him to "a giant oak of the forest...at last uprooted and fallen." Another lengthy one observed that he was "a man of learning and a skillful physician with other qualities of mind and heart that would have won for him fame and fortune...in some city, he was happy in his country home as the beloved country doctor..."
Additional data provided by Jack D. Elliott.