1737 - 1823

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• Title	Capt.
  Birth	1 Apr 1737	Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Died	26 Feb 1823	Amenia, Dutchess County, New York
  Person ID	I44763	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	11 Sep 2003 00:00:00
  Father	Oliver HILLARD, b. 1708, Stonington, New London County, Connecticut
  Mother	Sarah WILBORE, b. 28 Feb 1712/1713, Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island
  Family ID	F4173	Group Sheet
  Family	Sarah WHITE, b. 28 Sep 1740, Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island
  Married	28 Feb 1759	Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island   [2]
  Children	1. William HILLARD, b. 6 Dec 1759, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut   2. Mary HILLARD, b. 20 Nov 1760, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut   3. Thurston HILLARD, b. 4 Jul 1762, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut   4. Zoa HILLARD, b. 8 Jul 1764, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut   5. Charles HILLARD, b. Between 1764 and 1771, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut   6. Isaac HILLARD, b. EST 1771, Connecticut   7. John Wilkes HILLARD, b. Between 1759 and 1774, Connecticut   8. Sarah HILLARD, b. Abt 1776, Redding, Fairfield County, Connecticut   9. Betsey HILLARD, b. 11 Sep 1780, Redding, Fairfield County, Connecticut   10. Mabel HILLARD, b. Aft 1780   11. Isaac HILLARD, b. EST 1780, Redding, Fairfield County, Connecticut (possibly)
  Family ID	F19625	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Isaac was commissioned in 1st Battalion, Connecticut State troops to serve from NOV 1776 to MAR 1777. Resided in Stratford Co., then Redding Co., CT. He was a poet of local celebrity and espoused the cause of the people and was a Whig. Following is a review of a pamphlet that he published by a traducer, the "New England Republican" of 29 AUG 1804. 'ISAAC HILLIARD, a wretched vagabond, originally of Reading, in Fairfield Co., has lately published a large pamphlet, in which he warmly advocates the cause of democracy. To criticise such a work, one must sink himself to a level with the author; that is, he must become an idiot, or a lunatic, or a brute. The composition is just about on a level with Peter St. John;s poetry. The pitiable but wrong- headed writer is now busied in hawking his pamphlets about the streets. He presents them to every man whom he is not afraid to insult, and tells those to whom he delivers them, to pay him twenty- five cents each, if they like the work; otherwise to return it. Never was a man better fitted to any cause than Hilliard to democracy; and never was a cause better adapted to the man engaged in it than democracy to Hilliard." The pamphlet referred to above, entitled the Rights of Suffrage and "a brief examination would force one to conclude that, however brilliant a poet Mr. Hilliard may have been, he was not a master of prose. His nouns, adjectives, nominatives, and verbs are so co-mingled, that it is difficult to separate them; but in his preface Mr. Hilliard observes that he has written for persons of limited education, and had not therefore adopted a lofty and flourishing style-a fact which explains, perhaps, the somewhat ungrammatical construction of his sentences." An extract from his poem The Federal Pye is presented. It was used to open the proceedings of a Federal "caucus". "BRETHREN, I know you see my tears, The strong expression of my fears. There's no one here that is a stranger- Then every one must know our danger. Poor people all begin to see Their rights are gone, they are not free; Some wicked men espouse their cause, And say they're lost by cruel laws. They have found out, as sure as death, That they are taxed for their breath. I am very sorry that our youth Should ever find out so much truth; The poor old men now make a noise And say we tax all their boys Somehow or other, those poor souls Find other States don't tax their polls. They say 'tis cruel, and a sin To pay for breath which they breathe in- And now they all set up this note, If they pay taxes they will vote: They say they've found what we're about- We taxed their polls and left ours out. That faculties, and the poll tax They wish were under the French axe, Together with all those that like 'em, Why, they might just as well have said They wished all Federal rulers dead. The poor will rise in every nation When they are drove to desperation." Etc., etc. Published in Marriages in Dutchess County, page 54. Died on Wed., 26 Feb, 1823. Lately, in Amenia, Capt. Isaac Hillard, aged 79 years. The deceased was a soldier of the Revolution and through life a warm friend of civil and religious liberty; he possessed a strong but uncultivated mind and was the author of many political phamplets, written in poetry and prose.

• Sources

  [S204] James N. Arnold, Arnold Collection, Vital Records of Rhode Island; 1636-1850 (Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Pub, Volume 4. Newport County, Little Compton, page 128. [S204] James N. Arnold, Arnold Collection, Vital Records of Rhode Island; 1636-1850 (Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Pub, Volume 4. Newport County, Little Compton, page 34.