Fisher, George P.

Born: 1817-10-13 Delaware

Died: 1899-02-10 Washington, D.C.

George P. Fisher was a lawyer, state legislator, clerk, diplomat, attorney general, judge, and district attorney. Fisher attended public schools in Kent County, Delaware, and Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, before matriculating to Dickinson College, graduating in 1838. He read law and earned admission to the Delaware bar, commencing a law practice in Dover. Gravitating to politics, Fisher served in the Delaware House of Representatives in 1843 and 1844, and in 1846, he became Delaware's secretary of state. In 1849, he received appointment as the commission clerk in the U.S. State Department, and he also served as confidential clerk to Secretary of State John M. Clayton. In 1850, President Zachary Taylor appointed Fisher as a commissioner to adjudicate claims against Brazil, a position he held until 1852. From 1857 to 1860, Fisher was attorney general of Delaware. In 1860, he won election, as a Unionist, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from March 1861 to March 1863. Fisher was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1862. In March 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him a judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, remaining in that position until he resigned to become district attorney for the District of Columbia, a job he retained until 1875.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1031; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 2; Gravestone, Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery, Dover, DE.