William Hiester Jr. (October 10, 1790 – October 13, 1853) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as an Anti-Masonic member of the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district from 1831 to 1837.^[1]

A member of the Hiester Family political dynasty,^[2] he was the father of U.S. Congressman Isaac Ellmaker Hiester and the uncle of Pennsylvania State Senator and U.S. Congressman Hiester Clymer.^[3]

Biography

A son of William Hiester, Sr. and Anna Maria (Myer) Hiester, William Hiester Jr. was born in Berne, Pennsylvania on October 10, 1790. After attending the local, public schools, he became a farmer and merchant in Lancaster County.^[4]

On February 8, 1824, he wed Lucy Ellmaker (1797-1854).^[5] 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.^[6][7]

Military service

William Hiester Jr. served as second lieutenant^[8] with Captain Jacob Marshall's infantry company of the Pennsylvania Militia's First Regiment, Second Brigade during the War of 1812.^[9] His unit left Reading, Pennsylvania on September 2, 1814, and was assigned to duties in York, Pennsylvania until March 4, 1815, according to Pennsylvania historian Morton L. Montgomery.^[10]

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.^[11] 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.^[12]

Although Hiester ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1819^[13] 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.^[14][15][16] During his tenure, he advocated for various economic reform measures, including tariffs^[17] and the "re-establishment of a sound National Currency."^[18]

Hiester was then appointed as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1837-1838,^[19] remained active with Democratic Anti-Masonic politics,^[20] subsequently served in the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 6th district from 1840 to 1842,^[21] and was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate in 1842.^[22]

Later years

During the final phase of his life, Hiester devoted his time to farming.^[23] He also remained active in local politics^[24][25] and in charitable and civic affairs.^[26][27]

Illness, death and burial

Sometime during the final decade of his life, Hiester fell ill with a disease which caused paralysis.^[28] After several years of worsening health, he died from Apoplexy at his home in New Holland, Pennsylvania on October 13, 1853.^[29] 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 lilies 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.^[30]