How could a frequent visitor to Melville's house in his last years be all but unknown, his only known writing being the 6 October 1891 New York TIMES piece? Milwaukee in his young manhood, a forwarding agent and real estate broker, an auctioneer [and assessor?] in NYC before the War, an officer in a Honduran land scheme, a lifelong boarder, a "lodger" rather than a homeowner, a bachelor with absolutely no known literary interests. How could he have been one of Melville's intimates? What was the connection? He read HM from the start, 1846. Did he know any of the Cramers in Milwaukee? Can anyone find anything he wrote other than the TIMES piece?
Looking at his family we find Oliver's eldest brother George Stillman Hillard -- longtime law partner of Charles Sumner; shared offices at 4 Court St Boston until 1856. Conservative Democrat in Congress with an editorial background.
ReplyDeleteOliver's youngest brother Francis Allen Hillard was "an intimate friend of E.C. Stedman" [per NY Times obit 12 Feb 1885]. The obit has Francis working for A.T. Stewart before retiring an invalid for the last twenty years of his life. We find a book of poetry published after his death.
In Milwaukee, Oliver Hillard boarded with quite possibly the most enterprising man in the state, Nelson Ludington. I imagine Oliver's role as transfer agent involved lumber transfers from the Ludington mills to Chicago & eastern markets. In 1851, Oliver was associated with newspaper owners Rufus King and Wm Cramer in the foundation of the North-Western Art Union.