David Hillis was an American politician. He served as the 7th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana from 1837 to 1840.
Background
David Hillis was born in November of 1788, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of William Hillis, a soldier in the Revolution, and Jane (Carruthers) Hillis, whose father was a planter on the James River, in Virginia. The family was caught in the westward movement and reached Kentucky in 1791.
Education
Hillis acquired a fair education during his youth.
Career
When twenty years of age, Hillis migrated to Indiana Territory. He obtained a large tract of land near Madison, southwest of Cincinnati, where he built a cabin on the bluffs of the Ohio. In time he became one of the most extensive farmers in his part of the commonwealth. He employed many men to clear his farm and bring it under cultivation, and later a number of tenants lived on his lands.
During the territorial period, the Indian frontier was but a short distance from his home, the natives were hostile, and Hillis of necessity became an Indian fighter. In the War of 1812, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 6th Indiana Militia, and led several attacks on the Indian villages along the forks of the White River. Hillis also went to the relief of Captain Zachary Taylor who was in charge of Fort Harrison, just north of Terre Haute on the Wabash. From 1813 to 1814 he was lieutenant in Captain Dunn's company of rangers.
Having somehow acquired a fair education during his youth, Hillis served as a civil engineer and was employed by the federal government as a surveyor of public lands in Indiana, Illinois, and southern Michigan. A short time after Indiana entered the Union as a state, he was elected an associate judge of the Jefferson County circuit court. He had no training for such an office, but is said to have "displayed a legal acumen unusual in one not bred to the law, " and to have satisfied the attorneys who practised before him. He was elected to the lower branch of the general assembly of Indiana in 1823, and reelected five times before 1832. In the latter year, he was chosen to the upper house and reelected in 1835, the senatorial term being three years.
In the exciting state election of 1837, when both parties were divided over the extensive internal improvement system launched in 1836, Hillis was a candidate for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with David Wallace. Both Wallace and Hillis, who were elected, championed the simultaneous construction of the whole system of public works, while the opposing candidates, also Whigs, called "modifiers" or "classifiers, " advocated the completion of but one or two of the improvements at first, and others later. After his term as lieutenant-governor was finished, Hillis was again elected to the Indiana house of representatives, in 1842 and in 1844.
He died on July 8, 1845.
Achievements
Religion
Hillis belonged to the religious sect known as Seceders, and was the mainstay of the church of that faith in Madison. He also opposed all secret societies, and believed that no Christian could properly belong to one.
Politics
Hillis was a member of the Whig Party.
Connections
Hillis' first wife, whom he married in 1812, was Ealia Werden; they had three children. His second wife was Margaret Burk; together they had two children.