newspaperman, politician, b. Fort Covington, N.Y. He learned the printing trade in the offices of the Ogdensburg (N.Y.) St. Lawrence Gazette, and in 1836 moved to Wisconsin, settling in Milwaukee. A Democrat, he was associated from the time of his arrival with the Democratic press in Wisconsin, and was connected with a number of newspapers in southeastern Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee Advertiser (1836), the Madison Wisconsin Enquirer (1838-1842), the Milwaukee Courier (1842-1843), the Madison Democrat (1844), the Watertown Rock River Pilot (1847), Waukesha Democrat (1848-1850), and the Milwaukee Commercial Advertiser (1851-1854). He was a delegate to the first constitutional convention (1846), and served as state senator (1851) but resigned before the expiration of his term. He served in the state assembly in 1863. In 1867 Hyer moved to Oshkosh where, with D. W. Fernandez, he purchased the Oshkosh Democrat. The paper was restyled the Oshkosh City Times and Hyer was co-publisher with Fernandez (1867-1872). Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 6 (1872); M. M. Quaife, ed., Convention of I846 (Madison, 1919); Oshkosh City Times, Apr. 24, 1872; WPA MS.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the George A. Hyer Newsclippings for details.

View a biographical sketch of Hyer at Wisconsin Historical Collections.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]