An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893 GEORGE J. STONEMAN, City Clerk of Seattle, was born in Petersburg, Virginia. May 4, 1808. His parents, General George and Mary O. (Hardesty) Stoneman, were natives of New York and Maryland respectively. From Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography we copy the following sketch of General Stoneman: "General George Stoneman was born in Busti, Chautauqua county, New York. He was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1846, and entered the First Dragoons. He acted as Quartermaster to the Mormon battalion at Santa Fe; was sent with it to California in 1847, and remained actively engaged on the Pacific coast till 1857. In March of this year he became Captain in the Second Cavalry, and served till 1861, chiefly in Texas. In February of that year, while in command of Fort Brown, he refused to obey the order of his superior, General David F. Twiggs, for the surrender of the Government property to the secessionists, evacuated the fort, and went to New York by steamer. He became Major of the First Cavalry on May 9, 1861, and served in Western Virginia till August 13, when he was appointed Brigadier General of volunteers and chief of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. He organized the cavalry of that army and commanded during the Virginia peninsular campaign of 1862. After the evacuation of Yorktown by the Confederate troops, his cavalry and artillery pursued and overtook them, and thus brought on the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. He took command of General Philip Kearny's division after the second battle of Bull Run, succeeded General Samuel P. Heintzelman as commander of the Third Army Corps, November 15, 1862, and led it at Fredericksburg on December 13. He was promoted to Major General November 29, 1862, led a cavalry corps in the raid toward Richmond from April 13 to May 2, 1863, and commanded the Twenty-third Corps from January to April, 1864. On the reorganization of the armies operating against Richmond by General Grant, General Stoneman was appointed to a cavalry corps in the Department of the Ohio; was engaged in the operations of the Atlanta campaign from May to July, 1864, and conducted a raid for the capture of Macon and Andersonville and the liberation of prisoners, but was captured at Clinton, Georgia, July 31, and held a captive till October 27. He led a raid to southwestern Virginia in December, 1804; commanded the District of East Tennessee in February and March, 1865; conducted an expedition to Asheville, North Carolina, in March and April, 1865, and was engaged at Wytheville, the capture of Salisbury, North Carolina, and at Asheville. He became Colonel of the Twenty-first Infantry, July 28, 1866, and was brevetted Colonel, Brigadier and Major General for gallant conduct. He retired from the army August 16, 1871, and has since resided in California, of which State he was Governor in 1883-'87, having been chosen as a Democrat." The earliest recollection of George J. Stoneman is connected with California, where his father located after his retirement from the army in 1871. He was primarily educated in the schools of Los Angeles, and then entered the University of Michigan, pursuing studies in both the literary and law departments, and graduating in the law department in 1889. He was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Courts of Michigan and Washington, and coming at once to Seattle he entered into the practice of his profession, from the law office of Hon. W. Lair Hill, prominent in the profession throughout the Northwest, and who has manifested great interest in the advancement of the young legal graduate. After about one year of practice, Mr. Stoneman entered upon literary work as a member of the editorial staff of the Telegraph, the especial duties of his department being the local politics and municipal affairs of the city. This naturally led Mr. Stoneman into politics, and in the spring of 1892 he was the nominee of the Democratic party, and elected in March, 1892, to the office of City Clerk for the term of two years. He is discharging the duties of his office with honor and distinction, having at heart the honest and impartial management of the trusts imposed upon him. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.