Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/284

 HILLER

HILLHOUSE

(Cox) Boude. See MicJiael IliUcgas and his Descemhi Ills, by Eiiuiia St. Clare Whitiu-y (IS'Jl). He tlie.l in Pliiladelpliia, Pa., Sept. 29, 180-1.

HILLER, Alfred, eilucator, was born near Shanin Si>riiigs. X. Y.. April 22, 1831; son of Jolin Frederick and Margaret (Houck) Hiller; grandson of Frederick Hiller, and great-grandson of John Frederick Hiller, who was killed in the battle of Oriskany. war of the Revolution. He attended Ames and Canajoharie academics, and in 1857 was graduated from Ilartwick Theological semi- nary. He was pastor of Lutheran congregations at Fayette, N.Y., 1857-58; and at German Val- ley, N.Y., 1858-81. He resigned his pastorate in 1881 to accept the Dr. George B. Miller professor- ship of systematic theology and Old Testament exegesis in the theological department of Hart- wick seminary, holding also the chair of mental and moral sciences in that institution. Witten- berg college conferred upon him the lionorary degree of D.D. in 1882.

HILLHOUSE, James, senator, was born in Montville. Conn., Oct. 20, 1754; second son of Judge "William and Sarah (Griswold) Hillhouse. He was adopted in the family of his uncle, James Abraham Hillhouse. of New Haven, in 1761; and was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1773, A.M., 1776. He commanded the Governors footguards and was entrusted by Governor Trumbull with promoting enlistments, and on July 5, 1779, when Tryon invaded Connecticut and attacked New Haven, his company stoutly resisted the ad- vance. He was married. Jan. 1, 1779, to Sarah, daughter of John Lloyd, of Stamford, Conn., who died in the same year; and secondly, in 1782, to Rebecca, daughter of Col. Melanchton Woolsey, of Dosoris, Long Island. He was a s-tate repre- sentative, 1780-89; a member of the first city council of New Haven, 1784; was elected, but did not serve, as delegate to the Continental con- gress, 1786 and 1787; was a member of the coun- cil, 1789-91; a representative in the 2d, 3d and 4th U.S. congresses, 1791-96; and U.S. senator as successor to Oliver Ellsworth, resigned, 1796-97, and by election, 1797-1815. He was president pro temprrre of the senate from Feb. 28 to March 3, 1801. In the senate he acted with the Federalist party, but in 1808 proposed amend- ments to the constitution intended to check the growing tendency toward presidential power and patronage, and to protect the independent .self- government of the states within their separate sovereignties. He resigned his seat in the senate in May, 1810, to accept the appointment of first commissioner of the school fund of Connecticut. This fund was acquired by the sale of land on the southern shore of Lake Erie, of the same length and between the same parallels of latitude as old Connecticut, and known as New Connecti-

cut or Western Reserve, which Connecticut re- servet-l when she ceded to the United States all her right and title in the land which she claimed under the charter which made the " South Sea," or Pacific Ocean, her western boundary. This fund, amounting to $1,200,000, consisted chiefly of the debts due from the original purchasers of the Western Reserve, and those substituted securi- ties which had been accepted in their stead by a board of managers. Reports in 1801 showed a large amount of interest unpaid and portions of the capital in danger of being lost by the failure of collateral securities. Mr. Hillhouse straight- ened these affairs, and in fifteen years added to the fund by careful investment, and on liis resig- nation in 1805, had increased it by $500,000. Donations made to him by several of the original purchasers of the Western Re.serve amounting to $9982.02, and earned by extra official labor to which the state had no claim or right, was by him turned over to the Connecticut school fund through a "high sense of lienor" not often ex- hibited in fiduciary history. His wife died Dec. 29, 1813. Of their sons, James Abraham (q. v.), was the well-known poet, and Augustus L. be- came a resident of Paris, France. Senator Hill- house was an early counsellor of Yale college, and his advice largely insured its continuance at the critical period in its history, 1791-92. He was treasurer of Yale, 1782-1832, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from there in 1823. He died in New London, Conn., Dec. 29, 1832.

HILLHOUSE, James Abraham, poet, was born in New Haven, Conn.. Sept. 26, 1789; son of the Hon. James and Rebecca (Woolsey) Hillhouse. He was graduated at Yale A.B. in 1808, A.M. in 1811. He was a clerk in a Boston counting-house, 1808-11; a merchant in New York, 1811-19; and travelled in Europe, 1819-22. He married in 1822 Cornelia, daughter of Isaac Lawrence, of New York city, and retired to his country place, "Sachem's Wood," near New Haven, Conn., where he devoted himself to literature. He pub- lished: The Judgment: a Vision, a poem (1812)J; Percy's Masque, a drama (1820); Hadad, dra- matic poem (1825); Sachem's Wood (1838); Dra- mas, Discourses and Other Pieces (2 vols., 1839). He died in New Haven, Conn., Jan. 4, 1841.

HILLHOUSE, William, delegate, was born in that part of New London, Conn., afterward the town of Montville, Aug. 25. 1728; son of the Rev. James and Mary (Fitch) Hillhouse; grandson of John Hillhouse of Free Hall, Londonderry, Ire- land, and of Daniel Fitch of Connecticut; great- grandson of Abraham Hillhouse of Artikill, Londonderry, Ireland; greats-grandson of the Rev. James and Priscilla Ma.son. of Norwich, Conn., and greats-grandson of Capt. Jolin Mason, the hero of the Pequot war of 1637. His father,