Hiland Hall (July 20, 1795 – December 18, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who served as 25th

governor of Vermont The governor of Vermont is the head of government of the U.S. state of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of two years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold guberna ...

from 1858 to 1860. He also served five consecutive terms as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1833 to 1843.

Biography

Hall was born in

Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...

. He attended the common schools, studied law with Bennington attorney Marshall Carter, and was admitted to the bar in 1819 and commenced practice in Bennington.

Family

He married Dolly Tuttle Davis on October 27, 1818, and they had seven children; Marshall Carter (known as M. Carter); Eliza Davis; Henry Davis; Hiland Hubbard; Nathaniel Blatchley; Laura Van Der Spiegle; John Van Der Spiegle; and Charles. Laura was the wife of businessman and lawyer Trenor W. Park. Elizabeth Hall Park, the daughter of Laura Hall and Trenor Park, was the wife of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

John G. McCullough. Hiland Hall originally owned the land where the Park-McCullough Historic House now stands, and sold it to Trenor Park in the 1860s so Park could have a home constructed on it. The Park-McCullough House was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1972.

Career

Hall was a member of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives a ...

in 1827. He served as clerk of Bennington County in 1828 and 1829. He was the county

state’s attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

from 1828 to 1831.

Congress

Hall was elected as an

Anti-Jacksonian The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States which evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John ...

to the Twenty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of

Jonathan Hunt Jonathan Hunt may refer to: * Jonathan Hunt (New Zealand politician) (1938–2024), politician from New Zealand * Jonathan Hunt (Vermont congressman) (1787–1832), U.S. Representative from Vermont * Jonathan Hunt (Vermont lieutenant governor) (1738 ...

. He was re-elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses and elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth through

Twenty-seventh Congress The 27th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., between March 4, ...

es and served from January 1, 1833 to March 3, 1843. While in Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Twenty-seventh Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1842.

Political appointments

Hall served as the State Bank Commissioner from 1843 to 1846. He was a judge of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The court ...

from 1846 to 1850. He was the Second

Comptroller of the Treasury The Comptroller of the Treasury was an official of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1789 to 1817. According to section III of the Act of Congress establishing the Treasury Department, it is the comptroller's duty to :''superintend ...

from November 27, 1850 to September 10, 1851. He served as United States land commissioner for California from 1851 to 1854, and then returned to

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Governor

Hall was the 25th Governor of Vermont from 1858 to 1860. He was also a member of the

Peace Conference of 1861 The Peace Conference of 1861 was a meeting of 131 leading American politicians in February 1861, at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the American Civil War. The conference's purpose was to avoid, if possible, the secession of ...

held in an effort to prevent the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Death and legacy

Hall died in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, and is interred in the Old Bennington Cemetery. The Hiland Hall School in Shaftsbury is named for him.

References

External links

The Hiland Hall School
*
Govtrack US Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Hiland 1795 births 1885 deaths Politicians from Bennington, Vermont Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court Members of the Vermont House of Representatives Governors of Vermont Vermont National Republicans Vermont Republicans Vermont lawyers Republican Party governors of Vermont National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont State's attorneys in Vermont 19th-century Vermont state court judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly