MEMORIAL PROCEEDINGS FOR WILLIAM OREN HILLMAN (December 6, 1859 January 7, 1932) RAMSEY COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION Second Judicial District District Court Ramsey County, Minnesota MARCH 26, 1932 1
WILLIAM OREN HILLMAN William Oren Hillman, for many years Court Reporter of the District Court of Ramsey County, died at St. Paul on January 7, 1933. He was the son of George Washington Hillman and Chloe Ann Dayton and was born at Greenwich in Washington County, New York, on December 8, 1889. He was educated at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and while attending that institute became a member of Chi Psi Fraternity. While acting as Court Reporter in the District Court of Ramsey County he attended the evening courses of the University Law School and was graduated therefrom in 1893. In 1883 he married Miss Mattie K. Hooker of Springfield, Vermont. He is survived by two sons, C. Kirk Hillman, William Raymond Hillman, a daughter, Mrs. Alice Crawford, and by his brother, Mr. George N. Hillman. Early in life he became interested in stenography and assiduously studied and practiced the art of shorthand reporting and soon became an expert therein. In 1881 he came to Minnesota and was by Judge John L. McDonald appointed Court Reporter for the Eighth Judicial District of Minnesota, in which office he remained until Judge McDonald was elected to Congress from the Third Congressional District in 1886. In the year 1886 he came to St. Paul and joined the reportorial staff of his brother, George N. Hillman, official Court Reporter of the District Court of Ramsey County, and remained in that capacity until his death. For more than 45 years Mr. Hillman has been a familiar figure in the District Court of Ramsey 2
County, quite intimately associated with and known by all the lawyers who practiced in the Court and all the judges who presided over its proceedings. There is no more important office connected with judicial proceedings than that of the Court Reporter. On his integrity and accuracy depend many important rights, and a reporter whose honesty in unquestioned and whose accuracy is perfect is of the highest value to the bench and bar, and to those of the community at large who become involved in judicial proceedings. Mr. Hillman was a reporter of this type. His integrity was beyond question. His accuracy was complete. He never lost or misplaced an exhibit. He never made an inaccurate note of testimony or proceedings. His transcripts were never questioned or criticized by either bench or bar, and the well deserved confidence of both bench and bar in the correctness of his notes and transcripts saved both the judges and lawyers many hours of laborious drudgery, for no one ever felt it necessary to check over his transcripts to ascertain if they correctly reported the testimony given. His demeanor in court was fair and disinterested and he at all times refrained from indicating in any way his own opinion as to the merits or demerits of any case under consideration. In addition to this he was most accommodating and ready at any stage of a case to promptly furnish transcripts of desired testimony. Mr. Hillman was a sincere end devout christian, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and charter member of Trinity Methodist Church of St. Paul. He was a well educated and well read man and an interesting and delightful companion to those who enjoyed his intimate social acquaintance. His 3
splendid service, his fine and admirable character his clean and useful life are well worthy of commemoration by the bench end bar of Ramsey County. Ḣ Hillman s death on January 7, 1932, was reported in the St. Paul Pioneer Press: W. O. HILLMAN, 72 COURT REPORTER FOR 46 YEARS DIES Ramsey District Bench Employe Here Stricken With Heart Disease. William O. Hillman, a reporter in Ramsey County for 45 years, died at 1:30 P.M. Thursday of a heart attack. He was stricken at Sixth and Robert streets by what physicians believed was a recurrence of an attack suffered about a year ago. 4
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Mattie M. Hillman, 396 Dewey avenue, two sons, C. Kirk Hillman of Seattle and William R. Hillman of Kansas City, and a daughter, Mrs. Alice Crawford of White Bear Lake. Mr. Hillman was a brother of George N. Hillman of St. Paul, veteran reporter who retired three years ago after completing more than 54 years of service in the Ramsey county district court. Mr. Hillman was 72 years old. He was born in Greenwich, N. Y., where he attended the Union school of that city and later Wesleyan Theological seminary. He came to St. Paul in 1882 and was appointed reporter in the Eighth judicial district by Judge John L. MacDonald in whose court he served at Shakopee until Judge Mac- Donald was elected to Congress in 1886. Mr. Hillman then joined the staff of Ramsey county district court reporters where he was serving at the time of his death. In addition to his work as a reporter, Mr. Hillman studied law and in 1882 (sic) was graduated from the law school of the University of Minnesota.... When the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, Dewey and Marshall avenues, was founded in 1885 Mr. Hillman was named a trustee and elected treasurer of the church. He was chairman of the committee in charge of the building of the church and has been a trustee continuously and has held the offices of secretary or treasurer numerous times. He was particularly active in the work of the Sunday 5
school and for many years taught a class of boys. 1 Ḣ The following self-sketch is from the Fourth Volume of Theodore Christianson s Minnesota: The Land of Sky-Tinted Waters (1935). GEORGE N. HILLMAN came to Minnesota sixty years ago and it was his great distinction and honor to give more than a half a century to the important profession of court reporting. It was a work and profession which made him especially well known, of course, among lawyers and court officials. His was a career of duty gladly performed, a life of service by which he merited and received the respect and esteem of his fellow men. Mr. Hillman was born near Center Falls, Washington County, New York, July 14, 1852, and he represents an American family that was established in early Colonial times, on the shores of New England. His ancestor, John Hillman, was an Englishman. The tradition is that he was stolen or impressed from a fishing boat on the River Thames, was carried across the ocean to America, and made his escape and settled permanently on the Island of Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast. This occurred in the later years of the seventeenth century. There have Hillmans in New England for over two centuries who claimed descent from him. George Washington Hillman was born in Washington County, New York, and his wife 1 St. Paul Pioneer Press, January 8, 1932, at 10 (funeral arrangements and photo omitted).the St. Paul Daily News reported Hillman s death on its front page. January 7, 1932 ( W. O. Hillman, Court Reporter, Dies Suddenly ). 6
was a native of Saratoga County in the same state. George N. Hillman acquired a liberal academic education. He was one of few comparatively young men at that time who decided upon mastering shorthand as a means toward a business or professional career. He had been a proficient shorthand writer for years before the typewriting machine was invented, and his notes were for years transcribed in longhand. He was a short reporter when there was comparatively limited competition in that field. Mr. Hillman came West in 1874. His first year in Minnesota was spent at Minneapolis, where he was appointed the first court reporter of the district court under a general law providing for such service. In 1875 he removed to St. Paul, which has been his home ever since. Here Judges Westcott Wilkin, Hascal Brill and Orlando Simons appointed him court reporter for the district court, and by repeated reappointments he gave a continuous service in that capacity until his retirement on September 1, 1929. The hundreds of lawyers and laymen who learned to appreciate the fidelity and the competence of his work during these years had fully subscribed to the tribute paid him when he retired by his fellow reporters, who presented him a loving cup, accompanied by a handsome scroll. This scroll states that it was bestowed upon Mr. George N. Hillman, "Dean of the Minnesota Reporters by his reporting friends, on the completion of fifty years continuous service. Recognizing the ability and accuracy required of shorthand reporters, and desiring to show appreciation of the skill demonstrated for half a century by one who has encountered and 7
overcome all difficulties and one who is regarded as a leader in verbatim reporting, the undersigned officials and shorthand reporters of the State of Minnesota present this loving cup to our friend and associate as a tribute to his worth and high place in the ranks of the shorthand profession." Mr. Hillman as a matter of routine duty reported many famous trials in Minnesota courts, including the impeachment trials of Judges Sherman Page and E. St. Julien Cox. He also reported a number of historical events. One of these was the occasion of the driving of the golden spike, celebrating the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad at Gold Creek, Montana, September 8, 1883. The Northern Pacific officials selected him for this purpose. He accompanied the president, Henry Villard, in his special train, and the many other distinguished guests, including General Grant, William M. Evarts, Frederick Billings, Henry M. Teller, and a group of foreign diplomats and stockholders of the road. This ceremony, marking the completion of one of the great transcontinental railroads, was recalled by the recent publication in 1932 of a little thirty-two page book entitled Driving the Golden Spike, Story of a Great Achievement, of which Mr. Hillman is the author. Another small book written and published by Mr. Hillman, replete with illuminating sidelights on the legal profession, was entitled Some Judges and Lawyers I Have Known, and since his retirement he has written Wheel of Fortune, Recollections of a Shorthand Reporter, containing more than 200 pages Here Mr. Hillman has had opportunity to express himself more fully in recounting numerous great trials and historic events within the realm of his experience. He has drawn 8
heavily upon his own shorthand notes and also his unfailing memory in giving the vivid pictures of events that have gone into Minnesota history during the sixty years of his life and experience in the state. Mr. Hillman since early youth has been a member of the Methodist Church. He is a Republican, though never an active participant in practical politics.his successful professional career has been matched by a very happy home life. He married July 4, 1872, Mary E. Cutter of Washington County, New York. She had been a student of shorthand under him. Their three children are: Homer C., Minnie A. and Mrs. Edna Hillman Roney. Mr. and Mrs. Hillman have occupied a home at 615 Lincoln Avenue for fifty-five years. Ḣ This is entry on Hillman as a member of the Class of 1893 in the Alumni Directory of the University of Minnesota Law School: William Oren Hillman, LL. B., 93; attended Wesleyan Univ. 84 (Middletown, Conn.) Alpha Alpha Chi Psi (Wesleyan); Court Reporter at St. Paul, Ramsay Co., Minn; trustee Trinity M. E. Ch. (St. Paul) and sec. Official Bd.; memo Chess and Whist Club; Modern Woodmen and Fraternal Mystic Circle (insurance). Room 70 Court House and 396 Dewey Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 2 Ḣ 2 Alumni of the College of Law, 1889-1915 247 (1916). 9
Related Articles George N. Hillman: Some Judges and Lawyers I Have Known. (MLHP, 2016) (Published first,1927). George N. Hillman: Reminiscences (MLHP, 2016 (Published first,1926). Jackie Young, A History of Court Reporting in Minnesota. (MLHP,2014). Ḣ Posted MLHP: November 16, 2016; expanded with biographical sketch from Theodore Christianson s history, November 22, 2018. 10