J HILSINGER, b 4 Mar 1835

HILSINGER, CONRAD, SCARBOROUGH

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 5/26/2004 at 08:00:29

Hon. J. Hilsinger, ex-State Senator, banker, County and City Attorney. A native of New York State, the subject of this notice was born at Marathon, March 4, 1835, and is a son of Barnabas and Polly (Conrad) Hilsinger, both natives of the Empire State. Their family consisted of thirteen children - ten of whom are still living - three older and nine younger than our subject.

Mr. Hilsinger was reared to manhood in his native State, where he acquired quite a liberal education, without pecuniary assistance from anyone. He worked on the farm as a farm-hand, and at his trade as carpenter and joiner and millwright in the spring and summer, and attended school in the fall and winter, until 1857. He read law during his leisure time, and finished his law studies with Judge Kingley and Judge Crandall, of Cortland Village, N.Y., and was examined and admitted to the bar at Ithaca, N.Y., in the fall of 1857, after a thorough examination in open court, before the full bench of the Supreme Court of that State. The year following he came West, and located temporarily in Floyd County, Iowa, and some years after was admitted and authorized to practice in the Supreme Court of the State. In July, 1858, he left Floyd County and located in Sabula, Jackson Co., Iowa, where he has ever since resided. He was principal of the Sabula High School for two years, after which he turned his attention to the practice of his chosen profession.

In 1860 Mr. Hilsinger was elected Township Supervisor, which office he held six or eight years, with credit to himself, and profit to the people of the county. He was appointed Postmaster of Sabula in 1861, and held the office the larger part of the time until after the election of President Cleveland, and in the fall of 1885 he resigned the office to enable the President to fill the position with some one who was in harmony with his administration. In 1861, or 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln, or the War Department, as enrolling officer of Jackson County, to enroll all who were subject to military duty in said county, and was a member of the Enrolling Board, to hear and determine claims for exemptions from military duty at the same time, and he made and completed the enrollment in a creditable manner, preparartory to the impending draft, to fill the calls made by the President for men to subdue the rebellion.

Mr. Hilsinger was elected State Senator in 1864, serving four years. In 1883 he was elected on the Republican ticket County Supervisor of his district, which was largely Democratic, for three years, and was re-elected in 1886, which office he resigned in January, 1889, having been elected County Attorney in the fall of 1888. The fact that he, a Republican, was elected by a majority of forty-eight, in a county Democratic by 1000 majority, illustrates in a forcible manner the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens. He has been City Attorney of Sabula ever since its incorporation, in 1863, and Mayor a part of the time.

Our subject has always been a strong, active Republican in politics, having cast his first vote for John C. Fremont for President, in 1856, and has been Chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, and a member of the Republican State Central Committee for several years, and a delegate to the Republican State Convention nearly every year since he became a citizen of the State, and was a delegate from Iowa to the Republican National Convention, which nominated the Hon. James G. Blaine for President in 1884. He has always been satisfied to do what he could do for the success of the Republican party, without himself being an applicant for its favors. He never sought any office, and was never defeated at any election when placed on the ticket by the people for any office.

Socially, Mr. Hilsinger belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he stands high, having taken the Blue Lodge, Royal Arch, and Knight Templar degrees, and up to, and including, the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and was elected and served as Grand Treasurer of the Iowa Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M., from June, 1874, to June, 1875, and was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the A.O.U.W. of Iowa, in 1886, serving two years. He was also elected Grand Treasurer of the Iowa Legion of Honor, in 1885, for two years, and was re-elected in 1887 and 1889, and he is also a member of the V.A.S. of Iowa, a fraternal insurance organization.

In 1872 Mr. Hilsinger opened a bank in Sabula, in connection with his other business, and the same has been in successful operation ever since.

Probably one of the most important events of our subject's life was his marriage with Miss Mary Scarborough, in October, 1867. She is a lady of culture, and, at the date of her marriage, was a very successful teacher of music. The household of our subject and his estimable wife was brightened by the birth of six children, only two of whom are living, George E. and Margaret L. The first-mentioned is a very bright and well-educated youth of his age, and is at present connected with his father's bank, and although only fourteen years of age, seems to understand the business better than many an older head.

And, in short, Mr. Hilsinger is a self-made man in every sense of that term, his early advantages for an education being quite limited; and, in fact, he did not attend school at all until he was fifteen years of age. The history of his life from that time to the present shows what can be accomplished by honesty, industry, and integrity. He has discharged the duties of every station he has been called upon to fill, with ability, and to the entire satisfaction of his constituency; and he has the unlimited confidence of all who know him best. His business habits have been such that he seldom or never made any mistakes in his public or private business; and he has no enemies: unless it be political ones, for political reasons alone.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)