HIESTER H. MUHLENBERG was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, January 15th, 1812. His father was Henry A. Muhlenberg and his mother was a daughter of Governor Hiester of this State. His primary education was received in his native city. Subsequently, he entered and attended the sophomore class, at Dickinson College, where he graduated in 1829. He then studied medicine, under Dr. Thomas Harris and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1832. Thereupon he commenced the practice of his profession in Reading, continuing the same for about eight years. After the panic of 1837 his remarkable financial ability was first brought into prominent notice, as he then took charge of the affairs of the Farmers' Bank of Reading for the purpose of restoring them to a proper condition, expecting to resume his practice in the course of a year or two. This intention, however, was not carried out, as in March 1842, he was elected cashier of the bank, a position he continues to hold (1874). His capacity carried the bank successfully through the great panic of 1857, through the troubles incident to the Rebellion, and, finally, through the severe crisis of 1873. He served in the first councils, which changed the borough of Reading to a city, and had been previously a member of the Borough Councils for nine or ten years. He entered the army, under the old volunteer system, as a private, but worked his way up from the ranks to be Lieutenant; and during the riots of 1844 proceeded to Philadelphia from Reading with that rank, as a part of William H. Keim's command. In the late war, though somewhat advanced in years, the same patriotic spirit impelled him to enter the emergency volunteers at the battle of Antietam, and subsequently to join the thirty days' re-enlistment during the excitement caused by the battle of Gettysburg. He has been a member of the Vestry of the Lutheran Church since 1835. Since about 1860, he has been interested in the Leesport Iron Works, at Leesport, and with Mr. Eckert's Iron Works. Besides his other attainments, he is a good German scholar and a fair French one. He has been married twice: first to Amelia Harold, whose father was a citizen of Louisiana at the time of its purchase, and afterwards to Catharine S. Hunter, of Berks County, by whom he has seven children, all young.