Biographical Sketch

George Frisbie Hoar (29 Aug. 1826-30 Sep. 1904) was a lawyer, U.S. representative, and senator. He was born in Concord, Mass., the son of Samuel and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar and educated at Concord Academy and Harvard College (B.A. 1846, LL.B. 1849). In 1849, he began practicing law in Worcester, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

Hoar was intimately associated with the planning and early organization of the Republican Party in Massachusetts and continued that work for half a century, presiding over the Republican state conventions in 1871, 1877, 1882, and 1885. In 1852, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and, five years later, served a term in the state Senate. In 1869, he was elected as a Republican to Congress and served in the House until 1877, when he was elected to the Senate. Re-elected four times, Hoar represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate until his death.

During his seven years in the House, Hoar served on the Judiciary Committee. He was one of the managers of the House in the impeachment of William Belknap and presented a vigorous argument for conviction, even though Belknap was no longer serving as secretary of war. In 1873, he was chairman of the special committee investigating governmental conditions in Louisiana. He was also a member of the electoral commission that determined the outcome of the Hayes-Tilden controversy in 1877.

In Hoar's own opinion, his most important service to the country was as a member of the Committee on Claims, where he exercised great influence in determining the Senate's policies on the Civil War claims of individuals, corporate bodies, and states. For more than 25 years, he served on the committee on privileges and elections, and his opinions are cited as authoritative. For 20 years, he was a member of the committee on the judiciary. He was the author of the 1887 law which repealed a portion of the tenure-in-office act, and of the presidential succession act of 1886, and he had a large part in framing bankruptcy and anti-trust legislation.

Particularly concerned with moral issues, Hoar was the Senate's chief opposition to lotteries. He also opposed the Republican administration's policy on the Philippines, but despite disapproval of his position in his home state, he was easily re-elected to a final term in 1901.

For 12 years, Hoar served as overseer of Harvard College. He helped to establish Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Clark University, also in Worcester, and was an influential trustee to both institutions from their organization until his death. He served as a regent of the Smithsonian and president of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. He maintained an extensive personal library and took an active interest in the Library of Congress.

Hoar married twice: first to Mary Louisa Spurr in 1853, with whom he had two children, Rockwood and Mary Hoar; and second to Ruth Ann Miller in 1862.