[1] He graduated from Bristol College in Pennsylvania, studied law at Harvard University and was admitted to the bar.
He practiced law in Erie, Pennsylvania and later in Reading with his partner Henry A.
[2][3] Hiester served in the Pennsylvania State Senate as a Democrat from 1853 to 1855 and was Speaker in 1855.
[6] During the American Civil War invasion of Pennsylvania by Robert E. Lee in the summer of 1863, Hiester was commissioned a Major in the Militia by Governor Andrew Curtin and raised 8,000 troops for the state's defense.
[7] During the war, Hiester switched to the Republican Party and ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1864.