George Hall (September 21, 1795 - April 16, 1868) was an American businessman and politician who served as the first

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Biography

George Hall was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York on September 21, 1795. When he was a child his family moved to the town of Flatbush, where his father had purchased a farm. The family later relocated to Brooklyn, then a village, and after finishing his education at Erasmus Hall Academy Hall completed training to follow his father into the trades of painter and

glazier A glazier is a tradesman responsible for cutting, installing, and removing glass (and materials used as substitutes for glass, such as some plastics).Elizabeth H. Oakes, ''Ferguson Career Resource Guide to Apprenticeship Programs'' ( Infobase: ...

. Hall became active in politics as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

, was elected a village trustee in 1826 and 1832, and village president in 1833. He later joined the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

, and became a member of first the Whig Party and later the American Party ( Know Nothings). In 1834 the village of Brooklyn merged with the village of Williamsburgh to form the city of Brooklyn, and Hall was elected the first mayor, serving from 1834 to 1835. Hall ran unsuccessfully for Mayor in 1844 and 1845. In 1855 he was again elected mayor, and he served until 1856. His second term was marked by efforts to combat a cholera epidemic, and grateful citizens undertook a subscription to purchase a house for him. He joined the Republican Party in the 1850s, and in 1861 ran unsuccessfully for city recorder. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

he was active in efforts to recruit soldiers for the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

. In his later years Hall served as president of the Fireman's Trust Insurance Company. Hall died in Brooklyn on April 16, 1868. He was buried at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

in Brooklyn.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, George 1795 births 1868 deaths New York (state) Democratic-Republicans New York (state) Whigs 19th-century American politicians New York (state) Know Nothings New York (state) Republicans Mayors of Brooklyn Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery