The Allen C. Hill family settled on 160 acres about a mile southwest of Springtown in 1855 among the community's early settlers. Allen C. Hill, born in 1814, was a farmer and stock raiser who lived there with his wife Ladusky "Dusky," born in 1826, and their eight children. Though he earned a steady income, he was often in conflict with neighbors and was reputed to be ill-tempered, and he was killed in an 1863 gunfight at a Springtown saloon. Dusky was then left to raise the children alone, and in the lawlessness and hostility that followed the Civil War, the Hill home became a haven for criminals where the women were reportedly heavily armed and dangerous. Violence and revenge for their father's death soon permeated the family. The oldest son, Jack Hill, died in an 1879 gunfight at age nineteen. Daughter Nancy Hill was known for horse stealing and was an alleged accomplice to a murder at Tom Tarkington's dry goods store, after which citizens formed a posse, hanged Nancy, and shot another outlaw. Crimes committed by or attributed to the Hill family continued to provoke vigilante justice among some townspeople. A mob hanged sisters Martha and Kate after they robbed and killed a stagecoach driver. In August 1873, the Hill house was set on fire, and after fleeing, Dusky and daughters Adeline and Eliza were pursued and shot by an angry mob. Dusky and her children were buried at Springtown Cemetery. Two children survived, Allen Hill Jr. and Belle, who were placed in the home of Rev. Pleasant Tackitt before another family took them in. Historical research, often conducted many years later, has sought to document and explain this violent period in local history.