Governor Joseph Hiester, Distinguished Revolutionary Officer and Statesman, Born November 18, 1872

In the early settlement of that part of Pennsylvania which is now included within the limits of Berks County a large portion of the population was drawn from those parts of Germany bordering on or near the River Rhine.

Among these sturdy emigrants were three brothers, John, Joseph and Daniel Hiester.

John, the eldest, emigrated in 1732, and was followed in 1737 by Joseph and Daniel, who sailed in that year in the ship St. Andrew from Rotterdam.

These three brothers were sons of John and Catherine Hiester and their birthplace was the village of Elcoff in the county of Wittgenstein, in the province of Westphalia, Prussia. The father, John Hiester, was born in January, 1708.

The three brothers first settled in Goshenhoppen, then Philadelphia, now Montgomery County. Soon after the arrival of Joseph and Daniel, they purchased of the Proprietary Government a tract of several thousand acres in Bern Township, now Berks County.

Here John and Joseph settled, and the Hiester family in America are their descendants. Here was born a patriot of the Revolution, distinguished citizen and statesman, who afterwards became a governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Hiester, son of John Hiester, was born in Bern Township, November 18, 1752.

He spent his early days on the farm and in the intervals of the routine from labor, Joseph received the rudiments of an English and German education under the supervision of the pastor of Bern Reformed Church.

In 1771, in his nineteenth year, he married Elizabeth Whitman, daughter of Adam Whitman, of Reading, to which place he soon removed, and went into the mercantile business with his father-in-law.

Joseph Hiester was an ardent Whig in politics and took an aggressive part in espousing the cause of the Revolution.

As a representative of that party he was chosen a member of the Pennsylvania Conference, which met in Philadelphia, June 18, 1776, and which in reality assumed the government of the Province, called a convention to frame a new constitution, gave instructions for the guidance of its representatives in Congress, and authorized the calling 809out of troops for the Continental Army. In all these proceedings he was a warm supporter of the popular cause.

He was then a captain of militia, and no sooner had the conference adjourned, than he hastened home and aroused the young men of Reading and vicinity to the importance of enlisting in the cause of American independence, at that time but feebly supported.

Joseph Hiester called together, by beat of drum, his fellow-townsmen, to take into consideration the alarming state and gloomy prospects of their country. He explained to them the perilous situation of General Washington in New Jersey, and urged them to enlist and march to his support.

He was heard with attention and respect, and his proposition was kindly received. He then laid forty dollars on the drum-head and said: “I will give this sum as a bounty, and the appointment of a sergeant to the first man who will subscribe to the articles of association to form a volunteer company to march forthwith and join the Commander-in-Chief; and I will also pledge myself to furnish the company with blankets and necessary funds for their equipment, and on the march!”

This promise he honorably and faithfully fulfilled.

Matthias Babb stepped forward, signed the article, and took the money from the drumhead. His example, and the further advancement of smaller sums of money, induced twenty men that evening to subscribe to the articles of association. In ten days Captain Joseph Hiester had enrolled a company of eighty men.

The company became a part of the Flying Camp, but soon Captain Hiester was induced to extend his efforts, and a battalion was shortly obtained. He could have been made their colonel but declined to be even a major, so attached was he to his original company.

When his command reached Elizabethtown, N. J., it was learned General Washington had moved to Long Island. Captain Hiester used his best endeavor to induce the men to advance, as they had enlisted only for Pennsylvania service, and following his patriotic lead, they marched to join Washington.

The gallant captain little knew the hard fate that was to be his. In the battle of Long Island he was taken prisoner, with most of his men, and confined in the notorious prison-ship, Jersey, where they were subjected to every indignity which refined cruelty could invent.

After seven months’ imprisonment Captain Hiester was exchanged, and returned in time to take part in the battle of Germantown, where he received a wound in the head.

In the varied fortunes of the patriot army he continued to share until the close of the war.

He was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council one of the 810commissioners of exchange, April 5, 1779, and on October 21, following, one of the committee to seize the personal effects of traitors.

He was chosen to the General Assembly in 1780, and served almost continuously from that date until 1790.

He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1787, and in 1789, he was a member of the convention which framed the State Constitution of 1790. He was chosen a presidential elector in 1792, and again in 1796.

He served in the fifth to eighth Congress, and again in the fifteenth and sixteenth Congresses, and during his last term was elected Governor of Pennsylvania by the Federalists, defeating Governor William Findlay, in a campaign which for personal vituperation has never been equalled in Pennsylvania.

Governor Hiester’s administration was most successful, but he would not allow himself to be nominated for a second term.

Returning to Reading, he retired to private life, and died there June 10, 1832.