Charlotte Hill

Charlotte Hill (1849–1930) was a homesteader originally born in Indiana. Charlotte moved to Colorado City in 1863, where she married Adam Hill at the age of 13, they later had several children. Charlotte Hill began a collection of valuable fossils that multiple paleontologists have recognized as significant finds. Florissant fossil bed investigators purchased many quality specimens from Charlotte Hill. The selling of these specimens was one of her side jobs. Her most significant discovery was the Persephone butterfly near Florissant, Colorado. Charlotte's fortunate discoveries brought attention to Florissant as an important location for fossils. Many of her collected fossils now reside in the Harvard University museum and the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History.

Hill was born on February 15, 1849 in Indiana. She migrated west from Indiana, pioneering into the then new settlement of Colorado City. Charlotte married her husband Adam Hill at the very young age of 13 years old. Together the couple raised seven children, two of whom died at very young ages. Colorado City of course is where Hill's interest of fossils first began as the city is just beside the Florissant Fossil Beds.

It has been said that Hill displayed at her home an elegant array of geological specimens and collected many other specimens that were used to describe dozens of newly discovered species of fossils. The Hill's house was build by Adam in 1874. The fossil rich land Florissant is situated just south of Hill's home, beside the large petrified base of a Sequoia stump, also known currently as "The Big Stump". Hill sold a large collection of fossils to the Princeton Scientific Expedition of 1877. In turn, Leo Lesquereux's 1883 monograph described and named many new specimens obtained by Samuel H. Scudder, and the Princeton Scientific Expedition of 1877 which purchased fossils from Hill. Apparently the expedition of Princeton university students encouraged Charlotte and Adam Hill to invest further into the trade of fossils as a side business. This is evident due to the fact that the 1800 consensus showed that Adam became a specimen collector after the Princeton Scientific Expedition of 1877.