Hinds, Asher Crosby (1863-1919)

US politician. While the Republicans were in control of the House of Representative, he served as clerk of the Speaker's table (1895-1911), studying parliamentary law and procedure, while serving under Speakers Reed, Cannon, and Clark. During that time he wrote Hinds' Precedents of the House of Representatives of the USA (1907-08), which expanded into five volumes and covered the entire history of the House. A Republican representing Maine, he was elected to the House (1911-17) but was an undistinguished representative, in failing health, and unable to write a projected biography of Speaker Reed.

Hinds was born in Benton, Maine. Orphaned as a boy, he graduated from Colby College in 1883 before joining the Portland Daily Advertiser as a printer's apprentice. By 1885 he was a reporter for the Portland Daily Press, covering the Maine legislature where he attracted the attention of Republican leader Thomas Reed, who briefly appointed him Speaker's clerk in the US House of Representatives in 1889, a post to which he would return when the part regained control of the House.