Chumasero, William C.

Born: 1818-07-09 England, United Kingdom

Died: 1893-02-23 California

Flourished: La Salle County, Illinois

William C. Chumasero was a lawyer, judge, and pioneer settler of the Montana Territory. In 1829, Chumasero immigrated with his family from England to Rochester, New York, where he read law. In 1839, he earned admission to the New York bar, and shortly thereafter moved to La Salle County, Illinois, where he gained admission to the Illinois bar and opened a law practice in Peru. In January 1845, he married Mary E. Brown, with whom he had three children. In 1860, Chumasero was judge of the La Salle County Recorders' Court and owned real property valued at $30,000 and a personal estate of $6,000. He continued to practice law in La Salle County until 1864, when he emigrated to the Montana Territory by way of Atchison, Kansas and Salt Lake City. Chumasero opened a law practice in Virginia City and served as district attorney of Madison County. After a year, he moved to Helena, where he practiced law for the remainder of his life. In the 1870s, he served a term in the Montana Territorial Legislature.

Obituary, Great Falls Tribune (MT), 25 February 1893, 4:2; Cyrus Henry Brown, Brown Genealogy: Many of the Descendants of Thomas, John, and Eleazer Brown, sons of Thomas and Mary (Newhall) Brown, of Lynn, Mass., 1628-1915 (Boston: Everett, 1915), 2:162; U. J. Hoffman, History of La Salle County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1906), 183; Progressive Men of the State of Montana (Chicago: A. W. Bowen, 1901), 1329-30; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Peru, La Salle County, IL, 378; Gravestone, Forestvale Cemetery, Helena, MT.