George Earle Chamberlain Sr. (January 1, 1854 – July 9, 1928) was an American attorney, politician, and public official in Oregon. A native of Mississippi and member of the Democratic Party, Chamberlain's political achievements included appointment followed by election as the first Attorney General of Oregon, a stint as the state's 11th Governor, and two terms in the United States Senate in Washington, DC. Biography Early life George Earle Chamberlain was born in Natchez, Mississippi, on January 1, 1854. The Chamberlain family were early immigrants to North America from England, helping to pioneer in the state of Massachusetts. His father, Dr. Charles Thomson Chamberlain, was born in Delaware and attended medical school in Philadelphia before moving to the small southern town of Natchez in 1837, attracted by the prospects offered there for a newly coined medical practitioner. Dr. Chamberlain quickly built a large and prosperous practice, which enabled him to maintain his Maryland-born wife, the former Pamelia H. Archer, and family in comfort. Pamelia Archer herself hailed from an illustrious pioneer family, being the granddaughter of Maryland Congressman John Archer (1741–1810), the daughter of Maryland Congressman Stevenson Archer Sr. (1786–1848), and the sister of Maryland Congressman Stevenson Archer Jr. (1827–1898). George Earle Chamberlain was the couple's third child. George Earle Chamberlain attended public schools in Natchez, completing his secondary education in 1870 at the age of 16. Following graduation he first worked two years as a clerk in a general merchandise store before leaving for Washington and Lee University in 1872. Chamberlain successfully complete the course of work there, graduating with dual degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law in July 1876, gaining membership in Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in the process. Following graduation from Washington and Lee, Chamberlain briefly returned home to Natchez but decided that professional prospects in the post-bellum South were marginal at best and he departed for a new life in Oregon, arriving on December 6, 1876. Chamberlain's first job in the west was a brief and poor-paying stint as the teacher of a country school in Linn County, Oregon. Late in 1877 he was appointed deputy clerk of Linn County, remaining in that position until the summer of 1879. In the interim he passed the Oregon state bar, enabling him to practice law in the state. In 1879, Chamberlain married Sallie Newman Welch, with whom he would have seven children. He was widowed