David Hillis

DAVID HILLIS, Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana from 1836 to 1840, was born in 1785, and emigrated to Indiana in 1808, settling in Jefferson county, near Madison. He was, at the time, vigorous and healthy, with a body capable of enduring the privations incident to the life of a pioneer. He entered a large tract of land near Madison, much of it hilly and broken, but enough of it was level to make him a very desirable farm. He built him a cabin on the edge of a ridge that now bears his name, and commenced to open up a farm.

It was on such a spot as I have named that the young pioneer commenced the battle of life. There were no settlers near him; he was alone in the woods. His brother Ebenezer, and the Rykers--Colonel John, Samuel J. and Gerrardus--had come to the Territory about the same time as himself and settled some three miles away, but they lived too far from him to be considered neighbors. With the exception of them, no white man lived nearer than Madison. Christopher Harrison had settled some time before on the bluff of the Ohio river, near where Hanover now is, and the year after Mr. Hillis came to the Territory Williamson Dunn left his Kentucky home and located near the cabin of Harrison. With these and a few other exceptions all the territory now comprised in Jefferson county, outside of the settlement at Madison, was wild and uninhabited.

A short time after Mr. Hillis had built his cabin and commenced clearing up his land, the Indians became hostile. The settlers lived in constant fear of the tomahawk and scalping-knife, and well they might, for they were used with merciless severity. To protect the settlements from Indian incursions, a company of rangers, or mounted men, was organized at Madison and mustered into the service of the government. Williamson Dunn was captain of the company and David Hillis its first lieutenant. This was in the spring of 1813. For some time the rangers were engaged in the building of block-houses and in scouring the woods for Indians, but in June, 1813, they marched to the Indian towns on White river, and in the fall of that year made a campaign to the Wabash country. They went to Fort Harrison, near Terre Haute, where Captain Taylor, afterward President of the United States, was surrounded by the Indians. The presence of the rangers was most opportune, for had they not come when they did the garrison must soon have surrendered to the enemy. In the spring of 1814 Captain Dunn left the service, and from that time until the company disbanded it was commanded by Lieutenant Hillis. This company of rangers rendered great service to the settlers, and its commanders were not forgotten. Both Captain Dunn and Lieutenant Hillis were held in high esteem by the people. Both of them were time and time again given public office, and both of them honored the places given them.

When the company of rangers was mustered out of service, Lieutenant Hillis went back to his farm. He employed a large number of men in clearing his land and putting it in order for the plow and the harrow. No other farmer in the country gave work to so many men.

Lieutenant Hillis was a civil engineer, and one skilled in his profession. He was appointed government surveyor, and for several years was engaged in surveying the public lands of Northern Indiana, Michigan and Illinois.

Soon after the organization of the State government Lieutenant Hillis was elected an Associate Judge of the Jefferson Circuit Court. He displayed a legal acumen unusual in one not bred to the law, and when he left the bench he took with him the good will of the bar and his brother judges.

In 1823 Judge Hillis commenced his legislative career, and it was continued almost uninterruptedly while he lived. In that year he was elected to the State Legislature, and he was re-elected each succeeding year, with one exception, until 1830. Two years afterward, in 1832, he was sent to the State Senate, and in 1835 he was re-elected. At that time there were many able men in the Senate, but Judge Hillis ranked them all, being chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and, therefore, the Senate's leader.

Such was Judge Hillis's prominence and popularity that, in 1837, he was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with David Wallace. His competitor was James Gregory, an able and popular man, but Judge Hillis defeated him at the polls. The issue in his campaign was the internal improvement system, and upon that question Judge Hillis occupied the popular side.

In 1842 Governor Hillis was again elected to the Legislature. When the Legislature met he was nominated for Speaker of the House, but his party being in the minority, he was defeated.

In 1844 Governor Hillis was, for the tenth time, elected to the Legislature. Soon after the election he was taken sick and never recovered. When the Legislature met he was unable to leave his home, but hoping to regain his health, he did not resign his seat. The session ended without his being able to attend a single sitting, or, indeed, to come to the capital. He lingered through the spring and until midsummer, when he died. His death took place at his homestead, on the 8th day of July, 1845. Being known and beloved by almost every man and woman in his county, his death caused great public sorrow. The people from far and near came to his funeral, and many not of his blood wept at his grave. He was buried a few hundred yards north of his dwelling, and all that was mortal of the old pioneer has gone to dust.

Governor Hillis was kind and obliging to all who had dealings with him. He gave largely to the poor and to benevolent and religious purposes. He had the qualities which drew men to him and kept them there. His large estate had many tenants, and these tenants were always the landlord's friends.

In religion Governor Hillis was a Seceder of the straightest sect. Indeed he was the head and front of the Seceders' church at Madison. He would come to town on Sunday morning, bringing his family and dinner with him, and devote the day to religious services. He would listen to a two hours' sermon in the morning and return to church to listen to another equally as long. A sermon was never too long for him, if it abounded in gospel unction. The house of God was to him the best of all places. He never tired of being there. Were he now living he would consider the half-hour discourses of our preachers as mere exordiums of what gospel talks should be.

No guest left Governor Hillis's house on the Sabbath. Those who came to it on Saturday remained until Monday. He believed in the Bible injunction and kept holy the Sabbath day, and he saw that all his household obeyed the command. He would not permit his sons to pluck apples from the trees on Sunday. One of them once said to me that when a boy the sound of a falling apple or walnut, on the Sabbath, shocked him, so still was everything about his father's house.

Governor Hillis abhorred secret societies. He held them sinful, and thought no Christian should belong to one. He believed the singing of hymns in worship to be wrong, but took great delight in the singing of psalms of approved rendition. This pleasure was in nowise marred by faulty time or measure, when the words were according to Rouse.

Governor Hillis's old homestead still stands. It was one of the first brick farm-houses built in Jefferson county, and, when new, was the wonder of the people. It is located near a spring of ever-flowing water, and all around and about it great locust trees are growing. These trees were planted by the old pioneer, and he lived to see them grow large enough to protect him from the sun as he walked about his yard or sat under the branches of his trees. But the house has passed into the hands of strangers. Those who tread its halls and rest in its chambers have none of the builder's blood in their veins. They are not to the manor born.

When Governor Hillis died he left surviving him a widow, two sons and several daughters. His oldest son, William C. Hillis, represented Jefferson county in the Legislature of 1849-50, and subsequently served a term as treasurer of his county. He afterwards emigrated to Missouri, and subsequently to Iowa. He is now police judge of Des Moines, and Master Commissioner of the United States Court for the district of Iowa. The youngest son, David Burke Hillis, is a practicing physician of Keokuk, Iowa, and occupies a high place in his profession. The sons detract nothing from their father's well-earned fame.

There are but few men living who knew David Hillis, but there are many who revere his name.

In person, Governor Hillis was about the average size of man. He had black hair and eyes, and a good face. He was well educated for the time in which he lived, but he was not a classical scholar. He was one of the most noted men in his section of the State--a section which has given Indiana several of her most distinguished sons.