John A. Hiestand was born in East Donegal Township, Pennsylvania. He attended the common schools, an academy in Marietta, Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849 and commenced practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Hiestand was elected as a Whig to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1852, 1853, and 1856. He purchased an interest in the Lancaster Examiner in 1858 and relinquished the practice of law. He served in the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 16th district in 1861.^[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1868 to Congress to fill the unexpired term of Thaddeus Stevens. He was appointed by President Ulysses Grant in 1871 naval officer at the port of Philadelphia. He was reappointed in 1875 and served until 1879.

Hiestand was elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888. He died in Lancaster in 1890 and was interred in Marietta Cemetery, Marietta, Pennsylvania.

• United States Congress. "John A. Hiestand (id: H000569)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• John Andrew Hiestand at The Political Graveyard