Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-29
NEW CLERK or rur crncrrr COURT.
Something About the Successor 90
Elmer ~. Ernuls.

Something About the Successor 60
Elmer ~, Frank,
Oscar n. Hills, at present clerk of the
United States circuit court at st. Paul, will
be transferred to Omaha January l. 10 take
the place left vacant by the resignation Of
Elmer ID. Frank. Oscar II. Hills was born
at Brownstown, Jackson county Ind. June
&C. 1857, and is the youngest OF four children
born to Davis Burk Hills and Mrs Laura
Hills ncc Kiscr Tho Hnlis family was
originally from England, the name there
being spelled Ellis but his immediate
ancestors were from northern Ireland (wherc
the name was spelled Hills and OF the
Protestant faith.
Oscars greatgrandfather, William Hills
of Maryland, near Mount Washington, was
a soldier in the revolutionary war; his
grandfather David Hills of Madison. Ind,
was prominent man and politician in
Indiana from 1923 to 1915, being elected
judge of the circuit court. serving ten
terms in the legislature, one term as senator.
and in 1897 was elected lieutenant governor
OF Indiana, Oscars father, General David
II, Hills, is a physician II Keokuk. Ia. and
well known man in Iowa. He was colonel
of the seventeenth Iowa volunteers
breveted brigadier general-and a warm
| friend of Judges Samuel +. Miller and George
| w. McCrary, deceased, also an old acquaint-
ance OF Judge Henry c. Caldwell, one of
the judges of the present circuit court CT
appeals; and of Governor Drake of Iowa, eX-
Governors Wright and Sherman and other
noted Iowans.
Oscars grandfather, William Phillip Kiser
OF Rockford, Ind. was a physician and
surgeon, and contributed many important
writings to the literature of his profession.
His mother Laura Hills nee Kiser), now
deceased. was said by those who knew her
to be intellectually a great
Oscar, when an infant, was taken by his
parents in September 1858, to Bloomfield.
Davis county, Ia, where they lived until the
summer of 1860. when they moved to Keo-
kuk, Lee county, la. There he spent his
boyhood days and attended the private and
public schools of that place until the fall or
1872, when he went to live with his uncle,
William c. Hills, at La Grange, Mo. to at
tend La Grange college After completing
n scientific course he returned to his home
in Keokuk in 1874. The first opportunities
offered him for business were cerkships in
a grocery store and wholesale and retail
book and stationery store respectively; he
served in both, and finally acted as a travel
ing salesman for the book store.
In the spring of 1877 he quit the mercan-
tile business, and after spending the sum
mer in travel, he returned home the fall of
the same year and began the study of law
in the Office of p. T. LomaX. In October Of
1879 he passed an examination and was ad-
mitted to practice law at the bar of the
various courts of Iowa. Entering upon the
practice of his profession he was fairly sue
cessful, and was assistant prosecuting attor-
new of Lee county, when in November, 1881
he resigned that position and went to Kan
sas City Mo-. as deputy clerk of the United
States circuit court in that city. While at
Kansas City he was also appointed a United
States commissioner. Resigning both Of
these positions in December, 1882, he left
Kansas City and went to St. Paul arriving
there January g 1888, and served as deputy
clerk of the United States circuit court for
the district of Minnesota. Six months later