William Hiester Jr. (October 10, 1790 – October 13, 1853) was an American politician from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who served as an Anti-Masonic member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for

Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district Pennsylvania's fourth congressional district, effective January 3, 2019, encompasses the majority of Montgomery County and a small sliver of Berks County in southeastern Pennsylvania. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, the Pennsylvania district ...

from 1831 to 1837. A member of the Hiester Family political dynasty, he was the father of U.S. Congressman

Isaac Ellmaker Hiester Isaac Ellmaker Hiester (May 29, 1824 – February 6, 1871) was a nineteenth century American political leader. A member of the Hiester Family political dynasty, he was also descended from the prominent Ellmaker family. The son of William Hiest ...

and the uncle of Pennsylvania State Senator and U.S. Congressman

Hiester Clymer Hiester Clymer (November 3, 1827 – June 12, 1884) was an American political leader from the state of Pennsylvania. Clymer was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty and the Democratic Party. He was the nephew of William Muhlenberg H ...

Biography

A son of William Hiester, Sr. and Anna Maria (Myer) Hiester, William Hiester Jr. was born in

Berne, Pennsylvania Berne is an unincorporated community in northern Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is approximately three miles outside Hamburg and is served by the Hamburg Area School District. Berne sits near the Schuylkill River, south of ...

on October 10, 1790. After attending the local, public schools, he became a farmer and merchant in Lancaster County. On February 8, 1824, he wed Lucy Ellmaker (1797-1854). A member of the prominent Ellmaker family, she was the only child of Isaac Ellmaker (1762-1830) and Christiana Ellmaker (1764-1802). William and Lucy Hiester's son, Isaac Ellmaker Hiester, who was born in New Holland, Lancaster, Pennsylvania on May 29, 1824, would go on to become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Military service

William Hiester Jr. served as second lieutenant with Captain Jacob Marshall's infantry company of the Pennsylvania Militia's First Regiment, Second Brigade during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. His unit left Reading, Pennsylvania on September 2, 1814, and was assigned to duties in

York, Pennsylvania York (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populatio ...

until March 4, 1815, according to Pennsylvania historian

Morton L. Montgomery Morton Luther Montgomery (1846–1933) was a native-born Pennsylvanian and Harvard-trained lawyer who became a respected military and public historian and author of more than a dozen books, lecture-related content and other materials documenting t ...

Political career

During the early and mid-1820s, Hiester practiced law in Lancaster County. His duties including assisting clients with the resolution of family estate matters. He was also active in local politics and government, serving as Lancaster County Justice of the Peace from 1823 to 1828 and as Secretary of the State Caucus for the Anti-Masonic Convention in 1828. Although Hiester ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1819 and 1828, he was a successful Anti-Masonic Party candidate for Congress in 1830, serving three terms from March 4, 1831 to March 4, 1837. During his tenure, he advocated for various economic reform measures, including tariffs and the "re-establishment of a sound National Currency." Hiester was then appointed as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1837-1838, remained active with Democratic Anti-Masonic politics, subsequently served in the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 6th district from 1840 to 1842, and was elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Pennsylvania Senate in 1842.

Later years

During the final phase of his life, Hiester devoted his time to farming. He also remained active in local politics and in charitable and civic affairs.

Illness, death and burial

Sometime during the final decade of his life, Hiester fell ill with a disease which caused paralysis. After several years of worsening health, he died from

Apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

at his home in

New Holland, Pennsylvania New Holland (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Seischwamm'') is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,762, up from 5,378 in the 2010 census. History New Holland was settled in 1728 by brothers John Michae ...

on October 13, 1853. He was interred at the Lancaster Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1854, a large, four-piece monument was erected above the graves of William Hiester and his wife, Lucy. In addition to a roughly eleven-foot-tall obelisk adorned with a wreath of lillies and roses and marked with the Hiester surname in raised letters, a die "beautifully worked, the top ... finished with scrolls and carving, and on each of the four narrow sides ... a scroll Console highly ornamented," and a roughly four-foot-tall plinth supporting the console, with a roughly five-by-twelve-inch base. Crafted from Italian marble, it reportedly weighed 18,000 pounds.Beautiful Works of Art
" Lancaster, Pennsylvania: ''The Lancaster Examiner'', September 27, 1854, p. 2 (subscription required).

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiester, William 1790 births 1853 deaths People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Hiester family Pennsylvania Dutch people Anti-Masonic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania state senators People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania American militia officers Military personnel from Pennsylvania American militiamen in the War of 1812 Burials in Pennsylvania