George Miles CHILCOTT, a Delegate from the Territory of Colorado and a Senator from Colorado; born near Cassville, Huntingdon County, Pa., January 2, 1828; moved with his parents to Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1844; studied medicine until 1850; sheriff of Jefferson County in 1853; moved to the Territory of Nebraska in 1856; member, Territorial house of representatives 1856; moved to the Territory of Colorado in 1859; member, Territorial council 1861-1862; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1863; register of the United States land office 1863-1867; elected as a Republican Delegate to the Fortieth Congress (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1869); member, Territorial council 1872-1874; member, State house of representatives 1878; appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry M. Teller and served from April 17, 1882, to January 27, 1883; died in St. Louis, Mo., March 6, 1891; interment in Masonic Cemetery, Pueblo, Colo.
Contributed by Karen Mitchell and Jean Griesan. Photo by Floyd Kelling.
George M. Chilcott 1828 – 1891
George M. Chilcott during a 30 year period, served a term in the Nebraska legislature, in both the house of delegates and the legislative council for Colorado territory. In the house and senate of the Colorado legislature, and in the house and senate of the United States Congress. He came to Pueblo in 1860, was a rancher, a lawyer, investor in real estate, and was one of those instrumental in bringing the railroads to the area. He was appointed Register of the United States Land Office for the District of Colorado in 1863 and while in that position lived in Golden. In 1871 Chilcott built Pueblo's first good hotel. In 1879 he donated land and the state purchased his mansard-roofed home in the western part of Pueblo for the insane asylum. He died in 1891 in St. Louis where he had gone for medical treatment.
HON. GEORGE M. CHILCOTT.
The name of Mr. Chilcott is inseparably connected with the annals of Colorado. He was born in Trough Creek Valley, Huntingdon County, Penn., January 2, 1828. He was raised on a farm, and received his education in such schools as the country afforded. In the spring of 1844, he removed with his parents to Jefferson County, Iowa, where he lived, working upon a farm, about two years. He subsequently taught school, and also pursued the study of medicine, until the spring of 1850. He was married March 21, 1850, to Miss Jennie Cox, after which he located near his father, and engaged in farming. In 1853, he was elected on the Whig ticket Sheriff of Jefferson County, which office he held one term. In 1856, he removed to Burt County, Neb., where he was shortly afterward elected to represent the counties of Burt and Cumming in the Lower House of the Legislature, which met in session at Omaha, in the winter of 1856-57. But not yet content with his situation, and with face still westward, Mr. Chilcott started, in the spring of 1859, for the famous " Pike's Peak country," arriving at Denver in the month of May. He engaged in prospecting during the summer, and in the fall following he was elected from the town of Arapahoe to the Constitutional Convention, which met at Denver. Near the close of the year, Mr. Chilcott returned to his family in Nebraska, where he remained through the winter, returning to Colorado the next spring. The summer of 1860, he spent upon Cherry Creek, and in October of that year he removed to Southern Colorado, to the section now Pueblo County. Soon afterward he met with a serious misfortune. Everything he had, consisting of wagon and team and other property, was stolen from him by his only acquaintance, who left for parts unknown. Being left penniless among strangers in a strange land, Mr. Chilcott had to resort to his experience in farming for a livelihood, and he hired to work by the day for a farmer. He engaged in farming during 1861-62, and in 1863 he located upon a farm of his own, twelve miles east of Pueblo. Then returning to Nebraska, he brought out his family in May, 1863. He served as a member of the Territorial Legislature in the first two sessions of that body. In 1863, he received from President Lincoln the appointment of Register of the United States Land Office for the District of Colorado. The office was first located at Golden, and subsequently at Denver. Mr. Chilcott held the position nearly four years, until he was, in 1866, elected to Congress under the State organization then formed, and which sought admission into the Union. But Congress refused to receive Colorado as a State at that time, and Mr. Chilcott could not take his seat. In 1867, he was elected a Delegate to Congress for the Territory of Colorado, and served the people one term. It was he who introduced and got Congress to pass a bill repealing the act which discriminated against all the territory west of the west line of Kansas, and east of the east line of California, by charging letter postage on all printed matter between the two
boundaries. He also succeeded in getting larger appropriations for surveys than was ever before obtained, and was instrumental in getting passed an important bill in regard to the St. Vrain and Vigil Land Grant. Mr. Chilcott was a member of the Territorial Council, and President of that body during the session of 1872– 73. He was also a member in 1874. In 1878, he was elected to the State Legislature from Pueblo County, and during the session of 1878 –79, he was prominently before the Legislature as a candidate for United States Senator, Mr. Hill, however, securing the place. In politics, Mr. Chilcott has been a sterling Republican. He is popular with his party, and is held in universal esteem by the people of his section; but having determined to quit public life he has recently declined to accept any nomination for office, his individual interest requiring his undivided attention. Being a man of unusual energy and enterprise, he has accumulated a large and valuable property. His interests are chiefly at Pueblo, where he now resides.
History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado
O L Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1881
to the Pueblo County Index Page.
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