Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/267

 HIESTER

HIESTER

HIESTER, Gabriel, legislator, was born in Bern township, Berks county. Pa., June 14, 1749; son of Daniel and Catharine (Schuler) Hiester. In July, 1776, he was elected a repre- sentative from Berks county to the provisional convention for the formation of a state constitu- tion. He was justice of the court of common pleas, 1778-83; was a representative in the state legislature, 1782-87, 1789-91 and 1803-04, and state senator, 1795-96 and 1805-12. He was married to Elizabeth Bausman. He died in Bern town- ship, Pa., Sept. 1, 1824.

HIESTER, Gabriel, jurist, was born in Bern township, Berks county, Pa., Jan. 5, 1779; son of the Hon. Gabriel and Elizabeth (Bausman) Hiester; and grandson of Daniel and Catharine (Schuler) Hiester. He received a good English and German education. He was man-ied May 13, 1803, to Mary, daughter of John Otto, of Read- ing, Pa. He was prothonotary of the court by appointment of the governor, 1809-17; clerk of the quarter sessions, 1809-13 and 1814-17; and associate judge, 1819-33. During the war of 1813-15 he served as brigade major under Gen. William Adams. He was a presidential elector in 1817 and 1831, casting his vote on both occa- sions for James Monroe. He was appointed by Governor Andrew Shultz surveyor-general of the state, May 11, 1824. He erected the first rolling- mill in the vicinity of Fairview, about 1833. He died at Fairview, Pa., Sept. 14, 1834.

HIESTER, Isaac Ellmaker, representative, was born at New Holland, Pa., May 39, 1824; son of William and Lucy E. (Ellmaker) Hiester; and grandson of William Hiester and of Isaac Ell- maker. He attended a Moravian school at Litiz in early youth and after a period at Abbeville academy entered Bolmar's institute at West Chester, Pa., where he prepared for college. He was graduated from Yale with high honors in 1842; was admitted to the bar, Sept. 13, 1845, and practised in Lancaster, Pa. He was appointed deputy attorney-general in 1848; was a Whig representative in the 33d congress, 1853-55, and failed of re-election in 1854. Having repudiated the " Know-Nothing " movement he united with the Democratic party who nominated him for representative in the 35th congress in 1856 in opposition to Anthony E. Robert then a repre- sentative in congress. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1868 and was appointed a member of the Democratic national executive committee. He several times declined the nomination for justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the bank- ing firm of Reed, Henderson & Co., of Lancaster. He was married, Feb. 18, 1863, to Mary T., daughter of Benjamin Eshleman, of Lancaster. He died in Lancaster, Pa., Feb. 6, 1871.

HIESTER, John, representative, was born in Upper Salford, Pa., April 9, 1745; son of Daniel and Catharine (Schuler) Hiester. He was care- fully educated and served in the Revolutionary war as colonel. He was major-general of the state militia after the war. He represented Chester county in the state senate 1802-06, and in the 10th U.S. congress 1807-09, being suc- ceeded by his son Daniel (q. v.). After his con- gressional term he retired from public life. He was a member and president of the first town council of Pottstown. He was married to Han- nah Pawling and they had three sons and five daughters. The sons were Daniel (q. v.), John, who engaged in farming, and Samuel, a physi- cian, who married Margaret Potts Rutter, whop? sister, Martha Rutter, married Maj. William Brooke, and became the mother of Maj. -Gen. John Rutter Brooke, U.S.A. (q. v.). John Hiester died in Pottstown, Pa., Oct. 15, 1821.

HIESTER, Joseph, governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Bei'n, Berks county, Pa.. Nov. 18, 1752; son of John Hiester, the eldest of three brothers who came from Elsoflf, Wittgenstein, Westphalia, Germany, to Philadelphia. Daniel and Joseph Hiester (or Hi!ister) arrived in September, 1737, John having come in 1732, and they all took up their residence in Goshenhoppen, Pa., where Daniel pur- chased a farm and located permanently, John and Joseph set- tling in Berks county. Joseph Hiester, son of John, was brought up as a farmer and also engaged in merchan- dising. He equipped a company of eighty men at his own expense, joined the Continental army in 1776, was pro- moted colonel and commanded a company in Col. Henry Haller's battalion in the battle of Long Island, where lie was made a prisoner and confined in the prison-ship Jersey, where he used his money liberally in alleviating the sufferings of his companions. He was exchanged, took part in the battle of German town, where he was wounded, and remained in the service till the close of the war. He was a member of the con- stitutional convention of 1776, a state representa- tive five years, and a state senator four j-ears, and a member of tiie convention of 1787 that ratified the Federal constitution and of the state consti- tutional convention of 1790. He represented his district in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th congresses,