George Stillman Hillard (September 22, 1808 – January 21, 1879) was an American lawyer and author. Besides developing his Boston legal practice (with
Charles Sumner as a partner), he served in the
legislature, edited several Boston journals, and wrote on literature, politics and travel.
Biography
Hillard was born at
Machias, Maine on September 22, 1808, and he was educated at the
Boston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
. After graduating at
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
from 1828, he taught in the
Round Hill School at
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571.
Northampton is known as an acade ...
and attended
Northampton Law School Northampton Law School (sometimes called the Howe and Mills Law School) was a school for legal education and was located in Northampton, Massachusetts. Though open for only a few years in the 1820s, it produced several prominent alumni, including P ...
. He graduated at the
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
in 1832, and in 1833 he was admitted to the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
in Boston, where he entered into partnership with
Charles Sumner, and developed an extensive legal practice.
Hillard was a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
who opposed slavery and supported the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. He was a member of the
Massachusetts legislature
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, w ...
: the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
in 1836, and the
Massachusetts Senate in 1850. There he was conspicuous as an orator, and his policies were praised by
Daniel Webster. He was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1853, city solicitor for Boston from 1854 until 1856,
and in 1866–70 was United States
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
for Massachusetts.
Beginning in 1837, Hillard rented rooms to
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
, who had recently taken a job at the customhouse in Boston. Around that time, he was a founding member of an informal social group called the Five of Clubs which also included Sumner, author Henry Russell Cleveland (1809–1843),
Cornelius Conway Felton
Cornelius Conway Felton (November 6, 1807 – February 26, 1862) was an American educator. He was regent of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as professor of Greek literature and president of Harvard University.
Early life
Felton was born in ...
, and
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
.
Hillard was the first Dean of the
Boston University School of Law
Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...
. He was also the recipient of an honorary
LL.D. from
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
.
Hillard devoted a large portion of his time to literature. With
George Ripley, he edited the ''Christian Register'',
a
Unitarian weekly, beginning in 1833; in 1834, in association with Sumner,
he became editor of ''The American Jurist'' (1829–1843), a legal journal to which Sumner,
Simon Greenleaf and
Theron Metcalf
Theron Metcalf (October 16, 1784 – November 12, 1875) was an American attorney and politician from Massachusetts. He was a New England jurist and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Personal life
Me ...
contributed; and from 1856 to 1861 he was an associate editor of the ''
Boston Courier
The ''Boston Courier'' was an American newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded on March 2, 1824, by Joseph T. Buckingham as a daily newspaper which supported protectionism. Buckingham served as editor until he sold out completely ...
''.
He wrote the 19th-century school textbook series Hillard's Readers. "He is credited with having instilled a love of good literature, and a knowledge of the best English writers to generations of Americans."
In Victorian Boston Today edited by M.M Petronella quoting Edwin M. Bacon
Public speaking
In addition to his oratorical contributions in meetings of the Massachusetts legislature, he gave the
July 4
Events Pre-1600
* 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans.
* 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaim ...
oration in Boston in 1835; he spoke on “Dangers and Duties of the Mercantile Profession” to the Mercantile Library Association (1850); he spoke before the New York Pilgrim Society (1851); and he delivered a eulogy on Daniel Webster in 1852.
He gave a series of 12 lectures on the “Life and Writings of Milton” as part of the
Lowell Institute
The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. ...
's lecture series for the 1846–47 season.
Writings
His publications include:
* memoirs of
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
and
Jeremiah Mason (privately printed)
* a life of
Captain John Smith for
Sparks
Sparks may refer to:
Places
*Sparks, Georgia
* Sparks, Kansas
*Sparks, Kentucky
*Sparks, Maryland
* Sparks, Nebraska
*Sparks, Nevada
*Sparks, Oklahoma
*Sparks, Texas
* Sparks, Bell County, Texas
* Sparks, West Virginia
Books
* ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...
's “American Biography”
* ''The Poetical Works of
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
'', with a critical introduction (5 vols., Boston, 1839)
* a translation of
François Guizot
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848.
A conservative liberal who opposed the a ...
's “Essay on the Character and Influence of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
” (1840)
* memoir of Henry Russell Cleveland with a selection from his writings (privately printed, 1845)
''Memorial of Daniel Webster''(1853)
''Six Months in Italy''(2 vols., 1853)
* ''Selections from the Works of
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...
'' (1856)
* ''Life and Campaigns of
George B. McClellan'' (Philadelphia, 1864)
* “Political Duties of the Educated Classes,” a pamphlet (Boston, 1866)
* ''Life, Letters, and Journals of
George Ticknor'', with Mrs. Ticknor (1876)
* a series of school ''Readers''
and many articles in periodicals and encyclopedias.
Death and burial
Hillard died at his home in the
Longwood neighborhood of Boston on January 21, 1879. He was buried at
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
.
Family
In 1834 Hillard married Susan Tracy Howe (1808-1879), the daughter of Northampton Law School founder Judge Samuel Howe. They had one child, George S. Hillard, Jr. (1836-1838).
Notes
References
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillard, George Stillman
1808 births
1879 deaths
People from Machias, Maine
American biographers
American male biographers
Boston Latin School alumni
Northampton Law School alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Massachusetts lawyers
Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators
Boston University School of Law faculty
United States Attorneys for the District of Massachusetts
Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery
19th-century American politicians
Harvard College alumni
Trustees of the Boston Public Library
19th-century American lawyers