He was born in Pitcher, Chenango County, New York on September 17, 1864. In 1893, Hinman, who had come to Binghamton in 1889, went to work as a clerk for a lawyer named George F. Lyon. Later that same year, Lyon took on another law clerk, Archibald Howard, just out of Lafayette College. In 1894, Thomas B. Kattell went with Lyon as a law clerk. On 27 November 1901 he married Phebe Anna Brown. In 1901-1902, the three joined together to form Hinman, Howard & Kattell, an upstate New York law firm that continues under the same name today.

Hinman was a member of the New York State Senate from 1905 to 1912, sitting in the 128th, 129th (both 38th D.), 130th, 131st, 132nd, 133rd, 134th and 135th New York State Legislatures (all six 39th D.). During his service as a New York State Senator, he became a key strategist and confidant of Governor Charles Evans Hughes. In 1914, it was former New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt who encouraged him to run for governor. Although he was defeated in 1914 in the Republican primary for Governor of New York by Charles S. Whitman, his political connections and influence in New York State only deepened over the years.

Returning to the practice of law full-time, but continuing his call to public service, Senator Hinman was also influential in the establishment in 1949 of Harpur College, which would eventually become Binghamton University, and B.U.’s Hinman College pays respect to his leadership in this regard. He died on July 11, 1954 in Binghamton, New York.^[1]