Biography

11/03/1827 - 06/12/1884

Private Hiester Clymer (D6) Berks County 1861-1864 (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, son, Edward Brooke Clymer; represented Berks County on the board of revenue commissioners of the State, 1860; delegate, Democratic National Conventions, Charleston, Baltimore, 1860; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1861-1866; private, Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, 1862; unsuccessful Democratic candidate, Governor, 1866; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1868; member, State Board of Charities, 1870; elected, Democrat, United States House of Representatives, 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 and Baltimore, 1860.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 6th district, Berks County, 1861-1864, vacancy, death Benjamin Nummemacher. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 8th district, Berks County, 1865- resigned 1866. 

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, United States House of Representatives, 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. 

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.

Legacy:

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.

William Muhlenberg Hiester  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Uncle, William Hiester, Jr., 6th district, Lancaster and York Counties, 1841-1843, elected Speaker Pennsylvania State Senate, 1842. United States House of Representatives, Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses, 1831-1837.

William Hiester  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

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

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

Died, dose of morphine, suicidal intent, of what one newspaper account called financial embarrassment.

Cited:

Cox, Harold "Senate Members "C". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Ellis Review Headlight (Ellis, Kansas) Tuesday June 24, 1884, Page 2.

Hiester Clymer (1827-1884) - Find a Grave Memorial