George Frisbie Hoar

George Frisbie Hoar (August 29, 1826 – September 30, 1904) was a prominent United States politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. Hoar was born in Concord, Massachusetts. He was a member of an extended family that was politically prominent in 18th and 19th century New England.

Political and legal career

Hoar graduated from Harvard University in 1846, then studied at Harvard Law School and settled in Worcester, Massachusetts where he practiced law before entering politics. Initially a member of the Free Soil Party, he joined the Republican Party shortly after its founding, and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1852), and the Massachusetts Senate (1857).

In 1865, Hoar was one of the founders of the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science, now the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He represented Massachusetts as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1869 through 1877, then served in the U.S. Senate until his death. He was a Republican, who generally avoided party partisanship and did not hesitate to criticize other members of his party whose actions or policies he believed were in error.