George Barstow

Candidate Biography:

Born: 1824 in New Hampshire
Married.
Military Service: ARMY
Died: September 9, 1883 in San Francisco, CA

1842: Author of "The History of New Hampshire, from its Discovery, in 1614, to the Passage of the Toleration Act, in 1819"
Previous: [Democratic] Candidate for Massachusetts State Legislature (Lost)
Previous: [Democratic] Candidate for Congress [Massachusetts] (Lost) 
1862: Speaker, California State Assembly

• The shortest member of the Legislature in the 1870s, Barstow was nicknamed "Little Ironsides". 
• MORMONS: According to a number of sources, Barstow played a part in the history of the Mormon church while writing his The History of New Hampshire, when he contacted a friend, John Wentworth, to get more information about the Mormons. "Mr. Wentworth asked Joseph Smith about the beliefs and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet answered with a letter that has become known as the Wentworth Letter. In it he told Mr. Wentworth about the First Vision and how he received and translated the gold plates, and he also described the organization of the Church and the persecution and history of the Saints. In the last part of this important letter, the Prophet listed some of the basic beliefs of the Church. This list has become known as the Articles of Faith." [Source: "Joseph Smith Writes the Articles of Faith", LDS Gospel Library Support Materials]

• Legislative Altercation: On April 9, 1860, Speaker Barstow was assaulted by Assemblyman R. D. Ferguson

Source: "Pen Portraits" Compiled by R.R. Parkinson, Submitted by Nancy Pratt Melton as part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
Source: History of Political Conventions in California, 1849-1892 by Winfield J. Davis (1893)