George French Ecton (1846 – September 19, 1929) was a civil rights activist and the second African American state legislator in Illinois. He was born a slave in

Winchester, Kentucky Winchester is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Clark County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 18,368 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winchester is located ro ...

, in 1846 to Antonio Ecton and Martha George. In June 1865, after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, George and a friend received free papers in the mail and set off to escape slavery, as they were still being held in bondage. When they arrived in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, they were hired as deck hands on the steam packet ''Sherman'', working a route between Cincinnati and

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

. Later, in Cincinnati, George worked at hotels, including the Broadway House, Walnut Street House, Burnett House, and Spencer House. He became ill with

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

while at the Walnut Street House, but recovered. He also began to attend night school taught by Luella Brown. He was reported to be a college graduate. On October 28, 1873, he moved to Chicago and took charge of the dining room at the Hotel Woodruff. In 1877 he married Patti R. Allen, also from Winchester.Smith, Gerald L., Karen Cotton McDaniel, and John A. Hardin, eds. The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky, 2015. p161 In Chicago, Ecton became active in Republican politics. He held his job as a waitor until being elected to the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

, serving from 1887 to 1889.Williams, Erma Brooks. Political Empowerment of Illinois' African-American State Lawmakers from 1877 to 2005. University Press of America, 2008. p3 Ecton was elected from the third district to the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

, and replaced

John W. E. Thomas John William Edinburgh Thomas ( May 1, 1847 – December 18, 1899) was an American businessman, educator, and Illinois politician. Born into slavery in Alabama, he moved to Chicago after the Civil War, where he became a prominent community leade ...

, Illinois' first black state representative. He introduced legislation that protected former slaves. After his term, he became owner of a baseball league. He continued to be a leader in Chicago Republican politics into the 1910s. In Chicago, he was a member of Bethesda Baptist Church and was a

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. He died on September 19, 1929, in Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecton, George French 1846 births 1929 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights Politicians from Chicago People from Winchester, Kentucky Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Illinois 20th-century African-American people