Biography

11/03/1827 - 06/12/1884

Private Hiester Clymer (D6) Berks County 1860-1864 (D8) Berks County 1865-1866

Early Life: 

Hiester Clymer, born November 3, 1827, Caernarvon Township, Morgantown, Berks County, Pennsylvania; son of Edward T Clymer and Maria Catharine “Mariah” Clymer Heister; attended, Reading primary schools; Princeton College, 1847; studied law; admitted, Berks County bar, 1849; attorney, law practiced; married, Elizabeth M. Brooke  Clymer, 1856 (d.1870) married Elizabeth Amelia W “Eliza” Von Schrader Clymer, 1880, Edward Brooke Clymer (age 1); represented Berks County on the board of revenue commissioners of the State, 1860;  delegate, Democratic National Conventions, Charleston, Baltimore, 1860; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1860-1866; private, Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, 1862; unsuccessful Democratic candidate, Governor, 1866; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1868; member, State Board of Charities, 1870; elected, Democrat, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth Forty-sixth Congresses, 1873-1881; vice president, Union Trust Company, Philadelphia, president, Clymer Iron Company, 1880-1884; died, suicide, morphine, June 12, 1884, (aged 56) Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania; interment, Charles Evans Cemetery, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Practiced law, Reading and Berks County 1849-1851, moved, Pottsville, Schuylkill County; returned, Reading, 1856; represented, Berks County, board of revenue commissioners of the State, 1860.  

Private, 11th Regiment, Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, Civil War, 1862

Vice president, Union Trust Company, Philadelphia, president, Clymer Iron Company, 1880-1884.  

Pennsylvania Politics: 

Delegate, Democratic National Conventions, Charleston, Baltimore, 1860.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 6^th district, Berks County, 1860-1864, vacancy, death Benjamin Nummemacher, 8^th district, Berks County, 1865-1866, resigned; opposed state legislation that supported Civil War effort.   

Unsuccessful Democratic candidate, Governor, 1866. Union Major-General John W. Geary.

Delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1868;

Member, State Board of Charities, 1870.  

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth Forty-sixth Congresses, 1873-1881; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War (Forty-fourth Congress), Committee on Appropriations (Forty-fourth Congress), Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Forty-sixth Congress); not a candidate for renomination, 1880.

Federal Biography:

https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/C000539

Legacy:

Known for his investigation of President Ulysses S. Grant Secretary of War William W. Belknap, 1876. Belknap escaped conviction in a Senate trial, since he resigned his cabinet position before being impeached by the House of Representatives.

Brother, Edward M. Clymer, married actress and poet, Ella Maria Dietz.

Nephew, William Muhlenberg Hiester, Speaker, Pennsylvania State Senate, 5th district, 1853-1857.  United States House of Representatives, fourth congressional district, 1831-1837.

Cousin, Isaac Ellmaker Hiester appointed Deputy Attorney General (District Attorney) Lancaster County, 1848-1851. United States House of Representatives, Whig, 1852-1854.

Relatives: Son of Edwin Tilghman Clymer (1790-1831) and Maria Catharine (Hiester) Clymer (1793-1845); brother of Daniel Robeadeau Clymer; married, April 3, 1856, to Elizabeth Mary Brooke (1825-1870); nephew of William Hiester; grandnephew of John Hiester and Daniel Hiester (1747-1804); great-granduncle of Edward Brooke Lee; second great-granduncle of Blair Lee III and Edward Brooke Lee, Jr. (1917-2004); first cousin of Isaac Ellmaker Hiester; first cousin once removed of Daniel Hiester (1774-1834); first cousin twice removed of Joseph Hiester; third cousin of Henry Augustus Muhlenberg; third cousin twice removed of Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg and Hiester Henry Muhlenberg.

Political families: Lee-Randolph family of Maryland and Virginia; Muhlenberg-Hiester family of Pennsylvania

Cited:

Died, dose of morphine, suicidal intent, of what one newspaper account called financial embarrassment. Ellis Review Headlight (Ellis, Kansas) Tuesday June 24, 1884, Page 2