Matthias Bernard Hildreth (ca. 1774 – July 7, 1812) was an American lawyer and politician.

Life

His family moved in 1797 from Southampton, Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 to Johnstown

Johnstown (town), New York

Johnstown is a town located in Fulton County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 7,166. The name of the town is from landowner William Johnson....

, then in Montgomery County, New York

Montgomery County, New York

As of the census of 2000, there were 49,708 people, 20,038 households, and 13,104 families residing in the county. The population density was 123 people per square mile . There were 22,522 housing units at an average density of 56 per square mile...

, where his father James Hildreth (d. 1818) became judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

Hildreth was a presidential elector in 1804

United States presidential election, 1804

The United States presidential election of 1804 pitted incumbent Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson against Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney...

, voting for Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 and George Clinton

George Clinton (vice president)

George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...

. On March 13, 1808, he married Ann Rust (ca. 1769-1821), and they had two children: James Tallmage Hildreth (1809–1857) and Catherine Mary Hildreth.

He was New York State Attorney General

New York State Attorney General

The New York State Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of New York. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of New York.The current Attorney General is Eric Schneiderman...

 from 1808 to 1810, and from 1811 until his death.

He was buried at the Old Colonial Cemetery at Johnstown, N.Y.

Sources

• http://www.fortklock.com/frothinghamch14.pdf Counties' history with civil lists
• http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/higginson-hilger.html Political Graveyard
• http://www.oag.state.ny.us/previous_aglist.html List of NY State Attorneys General, at Office of the Att. Gal. of NY
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~twigs2000/leftovers.html Info at rootsweb
• http://files.usgwarchives.org/ny/fulton/newspapers/hildreth-matthiasb.txt Hildreth genealogy, by County Historian Dr. R. M. Palmer, at USGW archives
• http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/file33.html His son's obit in Iowa State Democrat, Davenport, Iowa
  Davenport, Iowa
  Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
  
  
• http://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/cem-ny-fulton-johnstown-oldcolonial.htm Transcribed cemetery records