Born in
Granville,
Ohio, Hillyer attended
Denison University. He
read law to enter the bar in 1856 and was in private practice in
Placer County,
California from 1856 to 1861. He was a lieutenant colonel in the
United States Army during the
American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, and in the
JAG Corps, Department of the Pacific from 1865 to 1866. He returned to private practice in
Nevada starting in 1866 and was District Attorney of
Storey County, Nevada from 1866 to 1869. ==Federal judicial service==