George Earle Chamberlain Sr. (January 1, 1854 – July 9, 1928) was an American attorney, politician, and public official in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. A native of

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and member of the Democratic Party, Chamberlain's political achievements included appointment followed by election as the first

attorney general of Oregon The Oregon attorney general is a statutory officer within the executive branch of the state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Department of Justice with its six operating divisions. The attorney general is ...

, a stint as the state's 11th governor, and two terms in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Biography

Early life

George Earle Chamberlain was born in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the only city in and the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia, Louisiana, Natchez was ...

, on January 1, 1854. The Chamberlain family were early immigrants to North America from England, helping to pioneer in the state of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

.Chapman Publishing Company
"Hon. George E. Chamberlain "
''Portrait and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon'', 1903, Part 1/2, pp. 36–39 His father, Dr. Charles Thomson Chamberlain, was born in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

and attended medical school in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

before moving to the small southern town of Natchez in 1837, attracted by the prospects offered there for a newly coined medical practitioner. Dr. Chamberlain quickly built a large and prosperous practice, which enabled him to maintain his

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

-born wife, the former Pamelia H. Archer, and family in comfort. Pamelia Archer herself hailed from an illustrious pioneer family, being the granddaughter of Maryland Congressman John Archer, the daughter of Maryland Congressman Stevenson Archer Sr., and the sister of Maryland Congressman Stevenson Archer Jr.. George Earle Chamberlain was the couple's third child. George Earle Chamberlain attended public schools in Natchez, completing his secondary education in 1870 at the age of 16. Following graduation he first worked two years as a clerk in a general merchandise store before leaving for

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

in 1872. Chamberlain successfully complete the course of work there, graduating with dual degrees of

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and

Bachelor of Law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in July 1876, gaining membership in

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...

fraternity in the process. Following graduation from Washington and Lee, Chamberlain briefly returned home to Natchez but decided that professional prospects in the post-bellum South were marginal at best and he departed for a new life in

, arriving on December 6, 1876. Chamberlain's first job in the west was a brief and poor-paying stint as the teacher of a country school in

Linn County, Oregon Linn County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2023 census population estimates, the population was 131,496. The county seat is Albany, Oregon, Albany. The county Oreg ...

. Late in 1877 he was appointed deputy

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

of Linn County, remaining in that position until the summer of 1879. In the interim he passed the Oregon state bar, enabling him to practice law in the state. In 1879, Chamberlain married Sallie Newman Welch, with whom he would have seven children. He was widowed on May 26, 1925. In 1878 he served in the Linn County Rifles, a volunteer militia formed to fight against belligerents from the

Bannock Bannock may mean: * Bannock (British and Irish food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle served mainly in Scotland but consumed throughout the British Isles * Bannock (Indigenous American food), various types of bread, usually prepare ...

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

, and

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

peoples in the so-called

Bannock War The Bannock War of 1878 was an armed conflict between the U.S. military and Bannock and Paiute warriors in Idaho and northeastern Oregon from June to August 1878. The Bannock totaled about 600 to 800 in 1870 because of other Shoshone peoples ...

Political career

A member of the Democratic Party, Chamberlain ran for the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

in November 1880, winning election to a two-year term. In 1884, Chamberlain was named

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

for Oregon's 3rd judicial district. His skill in that position gained the notice of Democratic Governor

Sylvester Pennoyer Sylvester Pennoyer (July 6, 1831May 30, 1902) was an American educator, attorney, and politician in Oregon. He was born in Groton (town), New York, Groton, New York, attended Harvard Law School, and moved to Oregon at age 25. A History of the Demo ...

and when in 1891 the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

established the new position of

Oregon Attorney General The Oregon attorney general is a statutory officer within the executive branch of the U.S. state, state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Oregon Department of Justice, Department of Justice with its six op ...

, Chamberlain was appointed in May as the first to serve that position. He stood for election to the position in the fall, winning at the polls despite being the candidate of the minority party in the state. Chamberlain would remain Oregon's Attorney General until January 1895, following the expiration of his term. He would be the only Democrat to serve that position for 58 years, until Robert Y. Thornton was elected in 1952. After leaving the Oregon Attorney General's position, Chamberlain went into the banking business, taking positions with the First National Bank and later the Linn County National Bank in his new hometown of Albany. Chamberlain next moved north to Portland and in 1900 stood for election as the district attorney for

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

. He won by more than 1,000 votes, despite the county's 4,000 vote Republican majority. This again put Chamberlain in the public eye for a run at statewide office.

Governor of Oregon

In 1902, he was nominated by the

Democratic Party of Oregon The Democratic Party of Oregon is the Oregon affiliate of the Democratic Party. The State Central Committee, made up of two delegates elected from each of Oregon's 36 counties and one additional delegate for every 15,000 registered Democrats, is ...

for Governor by acclamation at the party's nominating convention. Chamberlain was elected

governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

in a tight election by just 256 votes, this in a state which delivered 15,000 more votes to the Republicans in the concurrent congressional elections. Chamberlain was reelected in 1906, resigning his term when elected to the Senate. George E Chamberlain 2

United States Senator

In 1908 he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate; he was reelected in 1914 and served from March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1921. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920. He was chairman of the Committee on Geological Survey (Sixty-second Congress) and a member of the Committee on Military Affairs (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), the Committee on Public Lands (Sixty-third Congress), and the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Sixty-sixth Congress). The Chamberlain Military Preparedness Bill of 1918, which he wrote, bears his name.

Death and legacy

He was a member of the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was a corporation established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting ...

from 1921 to 1923 and engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C. Chamberlain married his longtime personal secretary, Carolyn B. Shelton, on July 12, 1926, in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. Chamberlain died there on July 9, 1928, and interment was in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

.Frank Livezey Roberts. "The Public Speaking of George Earle Chamberlain: a Study of the Utilization of Speech by a Prominent Politician", Department of Speech and Drama. Stanford University., (1954), p. 71. During his life Chamberlain was a member of the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Odd Fellows, Order ...

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias was the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an Act of Co ...

, and was a 32nd degree

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...

in Portland. He was also a member of the Commercial Club of Portland, the

Multnomah Athletic Club The Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC) is a private social club, social and sports club, athletic club in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1891 as the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, a coordinating body for team and individual spor ...

, the

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the State of Oregon, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, pres ...

, and was a life member of the

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), commonly known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks, is an American fraternal order and charitable organization founded in 1868 in New York City. Originally established as a social club for m ...

Footnotes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, George E. 1854 births 1928 deaths Democratic Party governors of Oregon Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Oregon attorneys general Politicians from Natchez, Mississippi Politicians from Washington, D.C. Democratic Party United States senators from Oregon Politicians from Albany, Oregon Washington and Lee University alumni Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Multnomah County district attorneys Archer family (Maryland) 20th-century Oregon politicians 20th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly