Joseph Hiester
Joseph Hiester | |
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5th Governor of Pennsylvania | |
In office December 19, 1820 – December 16, 1823 | |
Preceded by | William Findlay |
Succeeded by | John Andrew Shulze |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania | |
In office December 1, 1797 – March 3, 1805 | |
Preceded by | George Ege |
Succeeded by | Isaac Anderson, John Whitehill and Christian Lower |
Constituency | 3rd district (1787–1803) 5th district (1803–1805) |
In office March 4, 1815 – December 1820 | |
Preceded by | Daniel Udree |
Succeeded by | Daniel Udree |
Constituency | 7th district |
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives | |
In office 1787–1790 | |
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 17th district | |
In office 1790–1794 | |
Preceded by | district created |
Succeeded by | Presley Carr Lane |
Personal details | |
Born | Bern Township, Province of Pennsylvania, British America | November 18, 1752
Died | June 10, 1832 Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S. | (aged 79)
Resting place | Charles Evans Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic-Republican |
Spouse | Elizabeth Whitman Hiester (?–1825; her death) |
Signature | ![]() |
Joseph Hiester (November 18, 1752 – June 10, 1832) was an American politician, who served as the fifth governor of Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1823.[1] He was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty, and was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.
Biography
[edit]Hiester was the son of John Hiester and Maria Barbara Epler. He received a common-school education when he was not working on the farm, and became a clerk in a store in Reading run by Adam Whitman. He became a partner in the store in 1771 when he married Elizabeth, Whitman's daughter.[2] He owned slaves.[3]
At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, he raised and equipped in that town a company with which he took part in the battles of Long Island and Germantown. He was then promoted to colonel. He was captured and briefly confined in the prison ship "Jersey," where he did much to alleviate the sufferings of his fellow prisoners. Later he was transferred to New York City where he was exchanged.[2]
He was a member of the convention of 1776 that drafted the Articles of Confederation, of the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention which ratified the United States Constitution, and of the state constitutional convention of 1790. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1787 to 1790 and the Pennsylvania Senate for the 17th district from 1790 to 1794.[4] In 1807, he was appointed one of the two major generals to command the quota of Pennsylvania militia that was called for by the president. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1797 until 1805, and again from 1815 until 1820, 14 years altogether. In 1817, he ran for governor and was defeated by William Findlay. Hiester faced Findlay again in 1820 and narrowly won a single term in office. Refusing on principle to stand for reelection in 1823,[2] he served until 1824 when he retired from public life. During his term, he presided over the dedication of the first state capitol building in the new capital of Harrisburg. He surprised partisans and opponents by making appointments strictly on merit rather than party affiliation.[2]
He was known by the nickname of "Old German Grey" and spoke with a Pennsylvania Dutch German accent.[5]
Initially buried at Reading's Reformed Church cemetery after his death in 1832, his remains were exhumed and reinterred at the Charles Evans Cemetery during the mid-19th century.[6]
Legacy
[edit]A residence hall on the Penn State University Park campus was named after him.
Notes
[edit]- ^ "The Governors of Pennsylvania." Mount Union, Pennsylvania: The Mount Union Times, January 27, 1911, p. 1 (subscription required).
- ^ a b c d Jürgen Heideking (1999). "Hiester, Joseph". American National Biography. Vol. 10 (online ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 749–750. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0200172. (subscription required)
- ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 19, 2022, retrieved July 11, 2022
- ^ "Pennsylvania State Senate - Joseph Hiester Biography". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
- ^ "Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission". www.phmc.state.pa.us. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
- ^ Youker, Darrin. "Were City Graves Relocated to Charles Evans Cemtery?", in "You Ask Youker". Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle, June 10, 2010.
References
[edit]- United States Congress. "Joseph Hiester (id: H000574)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- "Hiester, Daniel" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- The Political Graveyard
External links
[edit]- 1752 births
- 1832 deaths
- 18th-century American politicians
- 19th-century American politicians
- Burials at Charles Evans Cemetery
- Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
- Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States
- Governors of Pennsylvania
- Hiester family
- Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
- Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves
- Pennsylvania Dutch people
- Pennsylvania militiamen in the American Revolution
- Pennsylvania state senators
- People from colonial Pennsylvania
- Politicians from Berks County, Pennsylvania