Hiram B. Warner was an American politician, lawyer, educator and jurist from Georgia.
Background
Hiram B. Warner was born in Williamsburg, Hampshire County, Massachussets, the descendant of Andrew Warner, an English emigrant who was in Cambridge, then Newtown, Massachussets, as early as 1632, and the eldest of ten children of Obadiah and Jane (Coffin) Warner. His parents were dependent upon farming for a livelihood and were in moderate circumstances.
Education
He received, in addition to a common-school training, only one year of high school. This one year was spent under the direction of Mr. Thaxter, who very soon removed to Sparta, Ga. , established a school there, and wrote back to young Warner asking him to come to Georgia to help teach in the school.
Career
At Sparta and Blountsville, in Georgia, he taught school and read law until he was admitted to the bar in 1824. From 1828 to 1831 he represented Crawford County in the state legislature. In 1832 he was a delegate to the state's anti-tariff convention, but, becoming dissatisfied with its actions, he withdrew from it. About this time he removed to Talbot County, where he formed a law partnership with George W. B. Towns. In 1833 he was elected by the legislature judge of the newly created Coweta circuit of the superior courts, at that time the highest court in the state. His election was unusual not only on account of his youth, but also because he did not live in the circuit. Shortly afterward, however, he removed into the circuit and settled at Greenville, Meriwether County. He was reëlected at the expiration of his term, but in 1840 he was defeated. He then resumed practice, with his brother Obadiah, and devoted considerable time to farming, at which he was very successful. When the supreme court of Georgia was established in 1845, although a Democrat, he was given a position on the court by a Whig legislature. In 1853 he resigned and returned to general practice. Elected to Congress he served from 1855 to 1857. In 1860 he was a member of the Georgia secession convention, where he opposed secession bitterly but finally signed the ordinance. During the Civil War he lost much of his property as a result of pillage, and, of course, all his slaves. He was also hanged to a tree and left for dead by a band of Wilson's Federal raiders, because he told them he had no gold and could not therefore divulge its place of hiding. Following the war he again became judge of the Coweta circuit, where he served until 1867, when he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Georgia. The "Reconstruction" constitution of 1868 brought about a reorganization of the supreme court, and he was reduced to an associate justice. In January 1872, however, he again became chief justice and remained in that position until 1880, when he resigned. He died in Atlanta and was buried in Meriwether County, near his wife.
Achievements
Religion
He was reared a Presbyterian and was a constant reader of the Bible, but he never became a communicant of any church.
Politics
In politics he was first a Jeffersonian Republican and later a Democrat. Throughout his entire career, however, he stood for the Union against state rights, a manifestation, it is thought, of early training. He opposed nullification but favored the extension of slavery.
Personality
He was widely read in the law and characterized by abundant common sense and rugged convictions.
Connections
He began practice in Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga. , where he married in 1827 Sarah (Abercrombie) Staples. They had one daughter.