lawyer, newspaper editor, Acting Governor of Kansas Territory, U.S. Congressman

George Monroe Beebe was born in New Vernon, New York, on October 28, 1836. He attended the common schools and then entered Walkill Academy in Middletown, New York. He graduated from the Albany Law University in 1857, was admitted to the bar the same year, and commenced practice in Monticello, New York.

In 1857, Beebe moved to Peoria, Illinois, where he became editor of the Central Illinois Democrat. He worked on Stephen Douglas' re-election campaign against Abraham Lincoln in 1858, and, following Douglas' victory, moved to Troy, in Kansas Territory, where he established a law practice.

Beebe was elected to the Kansas Territorial Council in 1858 and 1859. In 1859, President James Buchanan appointed him Secretary of the Territory. A few months later, he was appointed Acting Governor of the Territory, and served until 1861, when Kansas was admitted to the Union.

Upon completion of his duties in Kansas, Beebe relocated his law practice to St. Joseph, Missouri; in 1863, he moved to Virginia City, Nevada.

In 1865, Beebe ran unsuccessfully for Associate Judge on the Nevada Supreme Court. Following his defeat, he was appointed Internal Revenue Collector for the state by President Andrew Johnson. He resigned that position in 1866 and returned to Monticello, New York, where he purchased the Republican Watchman newspaper.

Beebe was defeated in his run for the New York State Senate in 1871, but was elected to the State Assembly in 1872 and 1873. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1874 and 1876, but was defeated for a third term in 1878. During his tenure in the House he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy and of the Committee on Mines and Mining.

After leaving Congress, Beebe returned to his newspaper pursuits. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1878, 1880 and 1892. In 1883, Governor Grover Cleveland appointed him to the New York State Court of Claims, where he served until retiring from public life in 1900.

George Monroe Beebe died in Ellenville, New York (to where he had moved in 1892), on March 1, 1927; he is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery, in Newburgh, New York.

SEE ALSO
New York
Illinois
Stephen Douglas
Abraham Lincoln
Kansas
President James Buchanan
President Andrew Johnson
Grover Cleveland

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SKC Films Library >> American History >> United States: General History and Description >> Revolution to the Civil War, 1775/1783-1861 >> Middle 19th Century, 1845-1861 >> Individual Biography, A-Z

This page was last updated on January 13, 2017.