Bergen, George I.

Born: 1827-12-31 Illinois

Died: 1870-02-28 Galesburg, Illinois

Flourished: Galesburg, Illinois

George I. Bergen was a carriage and wagon manufacturer, inventor, and city government official in Galesburg, Illinois. In October 1849, he married Sylvia M. Field. A supporter of the Republican Party, Bergen represented Knox County at the Illinois State Republican Convention in June 1858. In 1860, Bergen owned real property valued at $6,675 and had a personal estate of $2,000. In 1862, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for Illinois Senate on the Republican/Union ticket. He was a member of the Galesburg Common Council in 1864. Bergen invented a corn and seed planter.

Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 June 1858, 2:3; Teunis G. Bergen, The Bergen Family: or the Descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen, One of the Early Settlers of New York (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1876), 459; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Knox County, 9 October 1849, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Galesburg, Knox County, IL, 391; The Evening Argus (Rock Island, IL), 2 March 1870, 1:2.