Marguerite Sawyer Hill Davis

Marguerite Sawyer Hill Davis (died 1948) was one of the wealthiest women in the United States in the mid 1900s. Her husband, James Norman Hill, was the son of James J. Hill, a railroad tycoon. She was an art patron, socialite, and heiress to a railroad fortune.

Marguerite, also known as Margaret, was the daughter of Arthur Wilkinson Sawyer, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology class of 1872, and Caroline A. Lodge Sawyer. She had a sister and two brothers. Both of her parents came from wealth background, her mother a member of Boston's Lodge family. Marguerite attended Miss Claggett's School as a young girl and then traveled throughout Europe with a governess for one year. Her father was the son of Joseph Sawyer, part-owner of E. R. Mudge, Sawyer & Company, one of the country's most important dry goods commission houses of the time. Arthur was in business with his father before becoming the Boston Young Men's Christian Association president, a position he held for two years. He retired to the Pacific Coast and Hawaiian Islands.

Marguerite Sawyer was married to Dr. Clarence Fahnestock on June 5, 1906 in Marion, Massachusetts. His parents were M.A. McKinley and banker Harris C. McKinley Fahnestock. Clarence was a physician, and big game hunter. The Fahnestocks divorced, and Marguerite went to Europe. Clarence gave up his practice in New York to join the army during World War I and became the chief surgeon for the 301st Infantry and service in France. He died there of pneumonia in 1918.

Marguerite Sawyer Fahnestock married James Norman Hill (born 1870), the son of railroad tycoon James J. Hill. Hill was the vice-president of Great Northern Railway in 1905, trustee of Great Northern Iron Ore Properties, and president of United Securities Company of St. Paul. Marguerite and James were married in London on August 23, 1912 at a Registry Office and then in Savory at the Chapel Royal. The wedding was a quiet ceremony that was not attended by any of Hill's family members. Margaret wore a large picture hat and a traveling costume. The wife of Admiral Swinburne was one of the half dozen people who attended the wedding. They had a luncheon celebration with the wedding party and Mr. and Mrs. De Lancey Nicoll at Claridge's. The Hills honeymooned on an automobile trip down the south coast of England from Margate. Her sister Pauline married James' brother, Walter.

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