George Cochrane Hazelton

Born in Chester, New Hampshire, Hazelton attended the district schools and prepared for college at Pinkerton Academy in New Hampshire and Dummer Academy in Massachusetts. Hazelton graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1858,[1] studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Malone, New York.

Hazelton then settled at Boscobel, Wisconsin where he became prosecuting attorney of Grant County, Wisconsin from 1864 - 1868. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1867 and was reelected in 1869 and served as president pro tempore.[2]

Elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses representing Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district, Hazelton served from March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1883.[3] He was unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1882 and settled in Washington, D.C., where he practiced law as attorney for the District of Columbia during the Harrison administration.

Hazelton was among a large group of congressmen who advocated doctrines of racial superiority. He argued against the immigration of "unworthy" races, and said of the Chinese "I know that if the segment of her population now upon the Pacific shores is the standard and measure of her home civilization, it is of the lowest order.”[4]

Ellen Van Antwerp

Hazelton was son of William and Mercy Jane Hazelton. He married Ellen Van Antwerp and they had two sons, George Jr. and John Hampden.[5] Gerry Whiting Hazelton, also a representative from Wisconsin, was his brother; and Clark Betton Cochrane was his nephew.

Hazelton died in Chester, New Hampshire on September 4, 1922 (age 90 years, 244 days). He is interred at Vale Cemetery, Schenectady, New York.

• United States Congress. "George Cochrane Hazelton (id: H000418)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.