Joseph Hill enslaved at least six individuals, and left them in his estate to his wife Sarah and his son Nathaniel.

On Oct 19, 1741, Joseph and Sarah Hill brought "Tom, a Negro" and "Will, a Negro" to be baptized as infants "in the Church at Wells."

In his 1742 will, Joseph Hill left "my Negro Boy Tom" to his wife Sarah. He also left to Sarah "the service of my Negro man Sharper ... to be for her use during her Widowhood. He left "my Negro man Plato" to his son Nathaniel, and also "after ye term is Ended which my Negro Sharper is to serve my Wife, my Will is that the said Negro shall be ye servant of my said Son Nathaniel."

The 1743 probate abstract states: "1 Negro man named Sharper at £37/10/0, a Negro named Plato at £37/10/0, a Negro boy named Tom at £20." An additional abstract record from 1750 states: "Legacies ment[ion] relations: Sarah Hill, wid, who receives Negro boy and Negro man named Will, Nathaniel Hill, s[on], receives a Negro Man." Note that Will was not mentioned in Joseph Hill's will, only in this probate record.

"Sharper Negro Servant to Joseph Hill Esqr and Hannah Simonds Indian woman their intention of marriage was Entered with me the fifth day of March 1742/3."

"In addition to those stated in his will, Joseph Hill owned Dinah and Scipio." - Bourne, p. 408

"His wife, the mother of his children, was Hannah Littlefield, who died Oct. 10, 1738. Having no sympathy with celibacy, and his own experience concurring with the declaration of Infinite Wisdom that it "is not food for man to be alone," he two months afterward, Dec. 12, 1738, married Sarah, daughter of Daniel Sayer." - Bourne, p. 356

Joseph married Sarah (aka Hanna) Littlefield, daughter of Frances Littlefield and Meribah Wardwell on 24 Jan 1694. Hanna was born about 1670 in Wells, York, Maine. She died on 10 Oct 1738 in Wells. Joseph was predeceased by Joseph, Jr., so Nathaniel was the senior male heir in Joseph's will. Sources: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hill-2970 and Samuel A. Hill

"He was a prominent man among the inhabitants, though he does not appear to have been much in public office. We are inclined to the opinion that he sympathized much with the English aristocracy, and that his intercourse was marked with that courteous and gentlemanly demeanor which the best civilization of that day inculcated. He had a good property, and indulged in a style of life above that of most of the people of that period, and was anxious that the dignity of the family should be maintained through all coming time. He therefore made such an entail of his estate that from generation to generation it should 'bear up' the name of Hill. He was commissioned as a magistrate, and was representative in 1727; collector of the excise in 1734. Various municipal offices were committed to him, and in the disposition of pews in the meeting-house the best appears to have been conceded to him, as a matter of propriety. He had three slaves, Sharper, Plato and the 'negro boy Tom.' In his will he gave the first and the last to his wife, Plato to his son Nathaniel, and to the church and the minister each ten pounds....He had five children, Joseph, Benjamin, Hannah, and Peninah. Joseph married Mary Emery, Nathaniel married Priscilla Littlefield, Hanna married Rev. Samuel Jefferds." - Bourne, pp. 355-56.

In 1728, "a grant was made, by the 'proprietors,' of the old mill lot to Joseph Hill and John Storer, which was laid out and the bounds renewed, 'as formerly of three hundred acres of land on the northeast side of the Mousam River, adjoining the river and falls, and one acre on the west side, with all the privileges of the fall and river, which was formerly granted unto Henry Sayward, of York.'... Hill and Storer built a saw-mill on the old site in 1730, which was very successfully operated for several years ... The business activity of by-gone years was now resumed. Vessels came up to the landing-place bringing such supplies as were desired and taking away the manufactured lumber, or so much of it as was not needed for home consumption." - Remich, pp. 39-40

"In 1730, Joseph Hill, Samuel Wheelwright, John Storer and Francis Littlefield were selectmen of Wells, all of whom were enterprising mill owners. - Remich, p. 88. John Storer and Francis Littlefield were also enslavers.

Whereas Capt James Littlefield is said to have enslaved four individuals (Scipio, Sharper, Dinah and Tom) with the same names as six of the people enslaved earlier by Joseph Hill, the assumption has been made here that these were the same people who were previously enslaved by Joseph Hill.

Bibliography:

The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820 - by Edward Bourne (1875)

History of Kennebunk from its Earliest Settlement to 1890 - by Daniel Remich (1911)

York County Registry of Probate

Maine Probate Abstracts Vol I 1687-1775 - John Eldridge Frost (1991)

Records of the First Church of Wells, as transcribed in 6 issues of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 75-76, 1921-22

Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921

The Hill Family in Maine - 1633-1945 - Samuel A. Hill (1945)