Melvin Clark George

Melvin Clark George ( born May 13, 1849 in Caldwell, Ohio; † February 22, 1933 in Portland, Oregon ) was an American politician. Between 1881 and 1885 he represented the state of Oregon in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Even in childhood Melvin George moved with his parents in 1851 on the Oregon Trail in the Oregon Territory. The family settled near Lebanon in Linn County. Melvin attended the public schools of his new home and then the Willamette University. After a subsequent study of law and qualifying as a lawyer, he began to work in his new job in 1875 in Portland.

George was a member of the Republican Party. Between 1876 and 1880 he was a member of the Senate of Oregon. In 1880 he was elected against the incumbent John Whiteaker in the U.S. House of Representatives. After a re-election in 1882 he was able to complete a total of two terms in Congress between March 4, 1881 and March 3, 1885. He was the first Congressman from Oregon, who was elected to a second term. Another candidate, he refused in 1884. In Congress, he campaigned for the construction of jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River.

After the end of his political activity in Washington, DC Melvin George again worked as a lawyer in Portland. From 1885 to 1889 he lectured in the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Willamette University; 1897-1907 he worked as a judge. He has also been appointed Chairman of the Bridge Commission of the city of Portland. In this capacity, he was supervisor of the construction of the Burnside Bridge over the Willamette River. Until his death in 1933, he worked as a lawyer. George was married in 1873 to Mary Eckler, with whom he had three children.